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ResumoInvestigam-se relações entre o desenvolvimento da gratidão e tipos de valores. Trezentos e noventa e seis jovens de 7 a 14 anos responderam a Wishes and Gratitude Survey. Previu-se que, com o aumento da idade, haveria (a) uma diminuição de valores hedonistas; (b) uma diminuição de gratidão concreta e um aumento de gratidão conectiva. A terceira hipótese foi a de que seria mais provável que jovens com valores hedonistas expressassem gratidão concreta e aqueles com valores relacionados ao bem-estar de outros (BEO) expressassem gratidão conectiva. Para testar essas hipóteses, utilizou-se análise de regressão (estimativa de curva e regressão logística). Com o aumento da idade, os valores hedonistas e a gratidão concreta diminuíram; não se verificou aumento de gratidão conectiva. Valores hedonistas relacionaram-se positivamente à gratidão concreta. Todavia, valores BEO não se associaram à gratidão conectiva. Palavras-chave: gratidão, valores, desenvolvimento moral, crianças, adolescentes The Relations between the Development of Gratitude and Types of Values in Youth AbstractWe studied the relations between the development of gratitude and types of values. A total of 396 7-to 14-year-old youth group responded to the Wishes and Gratitude Survey. We expected that, with the increase in age, there would be (a) a decrease of hedonistic values and (b) a decrease of concrete gratitude and an increase in connective gratitude. Our third hypothesis was that it would be more likely for the young with hedonistic values express concrete gratitude and those with values related to the well-being of others (WBO) to express connective gratitude. To test these hypotheses we used regression analysis (curve estimation and logistic regression). With an increase in age, hedonistic values and concrete gratitude declined; there was no increase in connective gratitude. Hedonistic values were related positively to concrete gratitude. However WBO values were not related to connective gratitude. Keywords: gratitude, values, moral development, children, adolescents Relaciones entre el Desarrollo de Gratitud y Tipos de Valores en JóvenesResumen Se investigan las relaciones entre el desarrollo de gratitud y tipos de valores. Respondieron a la encuesta Wishes and Gratitude Survey 396 jóvenes de edades entre 7 y 14 años. Fue previsto que con el aumento de edad habría, (a) disminución de los valores hedonistas; (b) disminución de gratitud concreta y aumento de gratitud conectiva. La tercera hipótesis fue que sería más probable que jóvenes con valores hedonistas expresaran gratitud concreta y aquellos con valores relacionados al bienestar de otros (BEO) expresaran gratitud conectiva. Para testar estas hipótesis, se utilizó el análisis de regresión (estimación de curva y regresión logística). Con el aumento de edad, los valores hedonistas y la gratitud concreta disminuyen; no se verificó aumento de gratitud conectiva. Valores hedonistas se relacionaron positivamente con gratitud concreta. Aún los valores BEO no se asociaron a gratitud conectiva.

This study aimed to examine age-related changes in gratitude expression and spending preferences and the associations between children's greatest wish and gratitude expression. Participants were 285 children of ages 7 to 14 (M = 10.87, SD = 2.27, 54% girls) from public and private schools in Porto Alegre, a large urban center of Brazil. We found that verbal gratitude was the most common type of gratitude expression. Older children were more likely to express verbal and less likely to express concrete gratitude than were younger participants; they were also more likely to choose saving money for the future and less likely to choose donating to the poor. We also found a positive correlation between hedonistic wishes and concrete gratitude and between social well-being wishes and connective gratitude. Our results suggest that gratitude is linked to the ability of thinking about others, and may be hindered by a focus on immediate pleasure.

Children are not born grateful; their understanding and expression of gratitude develops during childhood and adolescence. We used a qualitative measure designed to assess how youth would respond to a benefactor, hypothesizing that their types of responses would systematically alter with age, and were able to test the reliability of this measure via replication across three cohorts. Participants (N = 1101) aged 7 to 14 constituted three independent cohorts (2008, 2012, and 2015-2017) from the same southern Brazilian city. Participants' responses were reliably coded into three types of gratitude (verbal, concrete, and connective); across samples, older youth were more likely to express verbal and connective gratitude; younger youth were more likely to express concrete gratitude. The age-related patterns of expression were very similar in each of the three samples (one discrepant result from nine possible), suggesting that it is a reliable measure with which to assess age-related changes in the expression of youth gratitude. Gratitude, we suggest, is not simply a unidimensional construct allowing judgments of how grateful individuals are; instead, our research suggests that youth of different ages express different types of gratitude, increasingly more complex, the most sophisticated of which comes closest to gratitude as a virtue.

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