Time-Varying Daily Gratitude-Affect Links Across the Adult Lifespan

Abstract: Everyday gratitude may shape affect intensity, particularly during challenging times like a pandemic. A group of 140 community-dwelling Canadian participants ( M age = 40.49 years, range: 18–83; 80% women) provided up to 10 days of daily gratitude and affect ratings during the first pandemic wave. Multilevel models show that everyday gratitude was associated with higher positive affect and lower negative affect, independent of age; age was positively correlated with the number of social gratitude events. Participants reported lower negative affect if a social gratitude event involved more than less diverse social partners. The findings point to the merit of examining time-varying associations in gratitude as a potential resource for everyday affect across the adult lifespan.