DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF GRATITUDE SCALE FOR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Abstract

The study aims to explore the nature of gratitude in university students. To achieve this objective, this study was comprised of three phases. In phase 1, the nature of gratitude was explored through focus groups with university students and review of literature. Two focus groups were conducted to generate a comprehensive pool of items. Verbatim of participants was compiled in the form of statements (35 items) and dubious content was deleted from the list of items. Content validity of Gratitude Scale (GS) was established through experts (psychologists) ratings (N=4). Eight items were excluded from the scale through experts’ ratings. Pilot study was conducted on a student sample (N=20) to check the ease of understanding. In phase 2, construct validity was explored through exploratory factor analysis (N=300). Two factors emerged on 27 items and named as Gratitude towards Others and Gratitude towards Allah. In phase 3, psychometric properties of GS were established. Convergent validity (N=150) was explored through using Satisfaction with Life scale (Ghani et al., 2004) (r=.50, p<0.01). Discriminant validity (N=150) was explored using Depression Scale of DASS-21 (Aslam & Kamal, 2017) (r=-.23, p<0.01). GS is a reliable and valid scale for assessing gratitude among university students of Pakistan.

Keywords: Nature, gratitude, life satisfaction and depression.