Gratitude among Depressed and Non-Depressed Adolescents: A Comparative Study

Abstract

The present study examined the gratitude among the depressed and non-depressed adolescents. This study also examined the impact of gender and depression on the gratitude of adolescents. Quantitative technique was used for investigation having two factors: the first factor having two levels of “Gender” (Boys and Girls) and the second factor having two levels of “Adolescents” (Depressed and Non-Depressed). This study adopted a 2×2 factorial design. After screening 320 participants, 120 adolescents: 60 depressed (30 male and 30 female) and 60 non-depressed (30 male and 30 female) were selected from different colleges of Cuttack district of Odisha, (18-20 years) having ‘moderate level depression’ (within the score range of 20-28 in the screening test of BDI-II) in case of 60 depressed adolescents. Beck’s Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) (for screening) developed by Aron T. Beck and “Gratitude Questionnaire-Six-Item Form” (GQ-6) developed by McCullough et al. (2002) were used for the study. Two-Way ANOVA statistical technique was utilized and analysis was done through SPSS Version-20. Results revealed significant differences between depressed and non-depressed adolescents for gratitude, but no significant differences were found among male and female adolescents in their gratitude. The interaction effect was also not significant.