Gratitude, Compassion, and Spiritual Well-being: Associations and Gender Differences among Young Adults

Background: Positive psychology emphasizes strengths and processes that promote human flourishing and well-being. Building on this perspective, Aim: The present study investigates associations among gratitude, compassion, and spiritual well-being, as well as gender differences in these constructs. Methods: This study used a cross-sectional correlational design on a sample of 140 young adults (70 males, 70 females; aged 22–32 years). Participants completed standardized self-report measures of the Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ-6) (McCullough et al., 2002), the Dispositional Positive Emotions Scale (DPES) – compassion subscale (Shiota et al., 2006), and the Spiritual Well-being Questionnaire (SWBQ) (Fisher, 2010). Pearson product–moment correlations and independent samples t-tests were conducted to examine relationships among variables and to assess gender differences. Results: Gratitude, compassion, and spiritual well-being were all moderately and positively correlated (gratitude–compassion r=.51; gratitude–spiritual well-being r=.47; compassion–spiritual well-being r=.54; all p<.001). Conclusion: The findings reveal that Females reported significantly higher gratitude and compassion than males, whereas gender differences in spiritual well-being were in the expected direction but did not reach statistical significance. Overall, the findings highlight a link between interrelated positive traits and partial gender differentiation, emphasizing the value of considering gratitude, compassion, and spiritual well-being together in research on young adults.