Study on Relationship Between Gratitude, Optimism and Personal Growth Initiative Among Adolescents and Young Adults

Gratitude is a sense of thankfulness and happiness in response to receiving a gift, either a tangible benefit given by someone or a fortunate happenstance. Optimism is the tendency to expect that good things will happen in future. Personal Growth initiative is the motive of a person to develop himself in all aspects of life. The objective of the study is to find out the relationship between Gratitude, Optimism and Personal Growth Initiative among the youth people and to study the mean differences in gratitude, optimism and personal growth initiative with regard to socio-demographic factors. Descriptive research design is used for the present study. 201 peoples fulfilling both inclusion and exclusion criteria were selected as samples for the study, through convenient sampling. The Gratitude Questionnaire developed by Dr. Micheal E. McCullough and Dr. Robert A. Emmons (2002) which consists of 6 items is used. To measure the level of optimism, The Optimism Scale constructed by the Youth Mental Health Measure (1997) which consists of 4 items is used. Personal Growth Initiative Scale developed by Dr. Christine Robitsheck which consists of 9 items is used. It was observed that the level of gratitude, optimism and personal growth initiative does not differ with regard to age, gender, educational qualification, place of living and type of family. The results indicate that the higher the level of gratitude and optimism, higher will be the initiative of personal growth. The Research shows that there exists a positive correlation between gratitude, optimism and personal growth initiative. This study helps to create awareness about the wellness of gratitude, optimism and personal growth initiative to the adolescents and young adults and promotes to develop them.