This article reports the development and validation of a scale to measure global life satisfaction, the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS). Among the various components of subjective well-being, the SWLS is narrowly focused to assess global life satisfaction and does not tap related constructs such as positive affect or loneliness. The SWLS is shown to have favorable psychometric properties, including high internal consistency and high temporal reliability. Scores on the SWLS correlate moderately to highly with other measures of subjective well-being, and correlate predictably with specific personality characteristics. It is noted that the SWLS is Suited for use with different age groups, and other potential uses of the scale are discussed.

In four studies, the authors examined the correlates of the disposition toward gratitude. Study 1 revealed that self-ratings and observer ratings of the grateful disposition are associated with positive affect and well-being, prosocial behaviors and traits, and religiousness/spirituality. Study 2 replicated these findings in a large nonstudent sample. Study 3 yielded similar results to Studies 1 and 2 and provided evidence that gratitude is negatively associated with envy and materialistic attitudes. Study 4 yielded evidence that these associations persist after controlling for Extraversion/positive affectivity, Neuroticism/negative affectivity, and Agreeableness. The development of the Gratitude Questionnaire, a unidimensional measure with good psychometric properties, is also described.Gratitude, as it were, is the moral memory of mankind.

The effect of a grateful outlook on psychological and physical well-being was examined. In Studies 1 and 2, participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 experimental conditions (hassles, gratitude listing, and either neutral life events or social comparison); they then kept weekly (Study 1) or daily (Study 2) records of their moods, coping behaviors, health behaviors, physical symptoms, and overall life appraisals. In a 3rd study, persons with neuromuscular disease were randomly assigned to either the gratitude condition or to a control condition. The gratitude-outlook groups exhibited heightened well-being across several, though not all, of the outcome measures across the 3 studies, relative to the comparison groups. The effect on positive affect appeared to be the most robust finding. Results suggest that a conscious focus on blessings may have emotional and interpersonal benefits.Reflect on your present blessings, on which every man has many, not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.-Charles Dickens (M. Dickens, 1897, p. 45)The construct of gratitude has inspired considerable interest in the general public. The prevalence of books targeted to general audiences on the topic (

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Personal strivings refer to the characteristic types of goals that individuals try to achieve through This article is based on the author's doctoral dissertation submitted to the University of Illinois. Portions of it were presented at the 93rd annual convention of the American Psychological Association, Los Angeles, August 1985.Sincere gratitude is expressed to John Valentine, Norman Frederiksen, Theodore Vallance, Arnold Tannenbaum, Richard Solomon, and Ray S. Musgrave for making Floyd Allport's unpublished work available to me. I am also grateful to Eric Klinger and two anonymous reviewers for their thorough and constructive suggestions. Finally, I thank Ed Diener, who served as chair of the dissertation committee.