Prior research has revealed the relationship between gratitude and prosocial behavior, but less is known about the predictive effects of cognitive and affective aspects of gratitude on prosocial behavior. The objective of this study was to explore the cross-sectional and longitudinal effects of affective gratitude and cognitive gratitude on prosocial behavior applying the bi-factor model. Study 1 employed a cross-sectional approach including measurements of affective gratitude, cognitive gratitude and prosocial behavior in a sample of 329 participants (294 females, Mage = 20.02, SDage = 2.38) and revealed that general gratitude but not affective gratitude or cognitive gratitude positively predicted prosocial behavior even after controlling for relevant demographic variables. In study 2, a total of 237 college students (213 females, Mage = 20.43, SDage = 2.12) participated in a two-wave longitudinal study and the results showed the same pattern that only general gratitude, neither affective gratitude nor cognitive gratitude, independently predicted subsequent prosocial behavior over 6 months. These findings provide preliminary evidence for the link between the bi-factor structure of gratitude and prosocial behavior, highlight the essential role of overall tendency to experience gratitude in predicting prosocial behavior, and offer new perspectives in promoting prosocial behavior via gratitude interventions.

During the past decade, research on the association between childhood maltreatment (CM) and gratitude has been accumulating, but there is a lack of systematic, quantitative evaluation of existing literature. The present systematic review aims to fill this gap by conducting a three-level meta-analysis. After a comprehensive search in five English and three Chinese databases, we retrieved 33 effect sizes from 16 studies with a total sample of 13,818 participants. The results showed that CM (aggregated across forms) was negatively and moderately linked to gratitude (r=−.311, 95% CI [−0.382, −0.235]). Childhood neglect (i.e., physical and emotional neglect) exhibited more substantial effects on gratitude than emotional abuse, while the effects of childhood physical and sexual abuse were insignificant. In addition, the mean effect sizes were larger in studies with younger samples. However, the effect did not vary as functions of CM measurement, methodological rigor, whether the sample included college students only, publication type, or region of the sample. Last, we highlighted the limitations of existing research, proposed agendas for future studies, and discussed practical implications.

Previous studies have found that self-esteem is linked to subjective well-being (SWB), but little is known about the longitudinal relationship between self-esteem and the bi-factor structure of SWB which has been demonstrated to include three specific factors and a general factor of SWB. This study used four competing structural models of SWB (i.e., the three-factor model, the causal model, the hierarchical model and the bi-factor model) to investigate the relationships between self-esteem and SWB in a total of 997 emerging Chinese adults (Mage = 19.79 years; 65.20% females) through a two-wave longitudinal study. From the point of view of the fit index, the results showed that the bi-factor model fitted our data better than the other three models. Importantly, results for the vast majority of models demonstrated the existence of the reciprocal link between self-esteem and subjective well-being in emerging Chinese adults. Specially, the results of bi-factor model suggested that there was a bidirectional link between self-esteem and the general factor of subjective well-being. To sum up, our findings provide new support for studying the longitudinal relationship between self-esteem and SWB using four models including the bi-factor model.

Background: Childhood maltreatment has well-documented relations with depressed mood. However, few studies have used a daily diary methodology to investigate the association between all five forms of childhood maltreatment (emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, emotional and physical neglect) and depressed mood, and the mechanisms underlying the association remain unclear. Objective: The current study sought to examine the associations of multiple forms of childhood maltreatment with depressed mood via a 14-day daily diary methodology, and investigate the mediating effects of self-compassion and perceived social support. Methods: A sample of 220 Chinese female college students (Mage = 19.13 years) participated in this study and completed questionnaires regarding childhood maltreatment, self-compassion, perceived social support and depressed mood. Results: The multilevel regression analysis indicated that only emotional abuse was slightly associated with depressed mood, while emotional neglect, physical abuse, physical neglect, or sexual abuse were not associated with depressed mood. The multilevel mediation analysis further revealed that self-compassion and perceived social support independently mediated the association of childhood emotional abuse with depressed mood. Conclusions: Overall, these results emphasize the specific association between childhood emotional abuse and daily depressed mood, and further support self-compassion and perceived social support as explanatory mechanisms linking childhood emotional abuse with later depressed mood.

Childhood maltreatment (CM), including physical, emotional, and sexual maltreatment, is detrimental to adolescents' psychological and behavioral outcomes. However, most studies on the relationship between CM and prosocial behavior focused on the overall experience of CM. Since different forms of CM exert various influences on adolescents, it is essential to find out which form of CM has the strongest link with prosocial behavior and the underlying mechanism behind it to fully understand this relationship and design a specific intervention for promoting prosocial behavior.Guided by internal working model theory and hopelessness theory, this study aimed to investigate the connections of multiple forms of CM with prosocial behavior, and explore the mediating mechanism of gratitude from the perspective of the broaden-and-build theory through a 14-day daily diary study.

Gratitude is considered to be a multidimensional construct consisting of both cognitive (cognitive appraisals of benefaction) and affective (feelings of gratitude) components, which is crucial for health and well-being. However, few studies have examined the cognitive-affective structure of gratitude and its associations with subjective well-being. Thus, the present study explored the two-dimensional structure of gratitude and its predictive effects on subjective well-being. Study 1 showed that the bi-factor structure of gratitude had the best fit with the data compared with the one- and two-factor models, and both general and affective gratitude positively predicted subjective well-being at the cross-sectional level. Study 2 further found that general gratitude positively predicted life satisfaction and positive affect after 3 months. However, cognitive gratitude negatively predicted subjective well-being at both cross-sectional and longitudinal levels. Therefore, future gratitude studies should consider the two-dimensional structure of gratitude.

Prior research has reported that childhood maltreatment is associated with poor well-being, but few studies have examined the association between childhood maltreatment and well-being including hedonic and eudaimonic well-being using a daily diary method.The present study investigated the association between childhood maltreatment and hedonic and eudaimonic well-being, and explored the mediating effects of social support and self-esteem.

Hedonic and eudaimonic motives have been shown to have different effects on well-being, but most prior studies concentrated on hedonic well-being. To further verify the predictive associations between happiness motives (i.e., hedonic and eudaimonic motives) and well-being, especially eudaimonic well-being, we used a two-wave cross-lagged longitudinal design in a sample of 419 teenagers (mean age = 15.17 years, SD = 0.43 years) with an interval of eight months. The results showed that eudaimonic motives significantly predicted later hedonic and eudaimonic well-being, while only eudaimonic well-being, in turn, predicted later eudaimonic motives. There were no predictive associations between hedonic motives and two dimensions of well-being. After controlling the effects of age, gender, and subjective socioeconomic status, these results remained significant. Furthermore, after adding the lagged paths between two types of well-being, only eudaimonic well-being predicted eudaimonic motives, while eudaimonic motives could not predict hedonic and eudaimonic well-being.

Prior research has shown that trait resilience is linked with subjective well-being, however, less is revealed about the longitudinal relationship between trait resilience and subjective well-being in emerging adulthood. This study used a two-wave cross-lagged design ((N = 563 for Time 1; N = 509 for Time 2) to explore the relationship between these two variables in emerging adults. The cross-lagged path analysis found that trait resilience predicted the three components of subjective well-being (i.e., life satisfaction, positive affect and negative affect) over five months. Additionally, positive affect but not life satisfaction and negative affect predicted trait resilience over five months. The present study provides further evidence for the longitudinal relationship between trait resilience and subjective well-being in Chinese emerging adults. Limitations and future directions of the research were discussed.