Expressions of Gratitude, Wishes, and Spending Preferences Among Chinese Children and Adolescents

Abstract

The present study investigated age-related differences in gratitude expression and spending preferences, as well as their relations with wishes among 520 7-to 14-year-old Chinese children and adolescents. Results suggested that older Chinese children were more likely than younger ones to express connective gratitude and that the probability of expressing verbal and concrete gratitude remained stable across ages. In addition, older children tended to spend less money on buying things for others as compared with younger children. Regarding the relations between wish types and gratitude and spending preferences, we found that children who wished for social well-being were more likely to express connective gratitude, and to spend a larger amount of money on charity. In addition, children who had hedonistic wishes were more likely to express concrete gratitude. Findings of the present study contribute to the theoretical understanding of gratitude development among Chinese children and adolescents.

Children’s and Adolescents’ Gratitude Expression and its Association with their Greatest Wishes across Ethnic Groups in the United States

“…For instance, expressing hedonistic wishes was linked to a lesser likelihood of expressing connective than verbal gratitude for Brazilians in comparison to Hispanics. This finding supports the view that hedonistic values hamper reciprocation involving perspective taking, at least for Brazilians (Freitas et al 2016;Liang and Kiang 2018;Mendonça et al 2018;Palhares et al 2018). This result may also suggest that, for Hispanics, there are other cultural values strengthening the expression of connective gratitude despite wishing for hedonistic things.…”

“…Specifically, Tudge et al (2015a) found a significant inverse association between connective gratitude and hedonistic wishes among children and adolescents in the United States. Moreover, other results indicated that concrete gratitude was positively associated with hedonistic wishes, and connective gratitude was positively associated with social-oriented wishes among Brazilian and Chinese children and adolescents (e.g., Freitas et al 2016;Liang and Kiang 2018;Mendonça et al 2018;Palhares et al 2018). Based on that, in the present study, we hypothesized that participants across ethnic groups who expressed hedonistic wishes would be more likely to express concrete than connective gratitude.…”

“…For example, in the case of 7-to 14-year-old Brazilians, younger children were more likely to express concrete gratitude than were older youth (Merçon-Vargas et al 2016;Palhares et al 2018). Also, for same aged Guatemalan and Chinese children and adolescents, younger participants were less likely to express connective gratitude than were older ones (Liang and Kiang 2018;Poelker and Gibbons 2018;Wang et al 2015). In the present study, we hypothesize similar trends across ethnic groups (no interaction is expected), in which older children and adolescents will be more likely to express connective and less likely to express concrete gratitude than will younger children.…”

The Development of Gratitude in South Korean Youth

“…Due to its population being vastly understudied in the field, South Korea represents a unique context in which to examine gratitude development. However, similar to work done in other countries, such as China and Guatemala (see Kiang, 2018, andGibbons, 2018), this population also allows us to understand gratitude through a lens characterized by the intertwining of independent and interdependent values. Traditionally, Korean culture has emphasized Confucian values around prioritizing the group's goals and responsibilities of the family over those of the individual (Hyun, 2001).…”

How gratitude improves relationship marketing outcomes for young consumers

“…Following this line of argument, Liang and Kiang (2018) support that gratitude is an experience and, as with other emotions, one may feel gratitude without actually expressing it. They also argue that common expressive aspects (e.g.…”