Receiving a gift from God in times of trouble: links between gratitude to God, the affective circumplex, and perceived closeness to God

ABSTRACT

We investigated how gratitude to God (GTG) functions within the context of negative events. Specifically, we sought to locate the position of GTG within the affective circumplex and to test whether GTG relates to higher levels of perceived closeness to God (PCTG). In a cross-sectional study, participants (N = 142 U.S. undergraduate believers in God) completed self-report measures pertaining to a negative event (and positive event, for comparison purposes). Supporting preregistered hypotheses, (a) GTG was located in the pleasant half of the affective circumplex (in the activated quadrant for the negative event and the deactivated quadrant for the positive event), and (b) GTG associated with higher levels of PCTG uniquely from affect, general gratitude, and the tendency to draw close to God when stressed (for both events). These results contribute to nascent knowledge about GTG and underscore the potential importance of GTG in the process of growing spiritually through adversity..

KEYWORDS:

• Gratitude to God
• affective circumplex
• closeness to god
• gratitude
• spiritual growth
• adversity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 We did not make hypotheses about mean levels of GTG and general gratitude. However, the pattern of mean levels across the negative and positive event (more extreme levels of general gratitude and moderate levels of GTG) dovetails with the findings from the circumplex analyses in suggesting that these variables may be distinguished from one another. Furthermore, it is interesting that general gratitude was very low in the negative event, whereas GTG could be characterized as “modest” (halfway between not at all and moderate on the scale). Thus, although gratitude in general for negative events is low (unsurprisingly), believers may find some benefits that can be attributed to God. This is consistent with the idea that believers view God as facilitating positive outcomes during times of stress (Khan & Aslam, 2020).

Additional information

Funding

We gratefully acknowledge funding support from Gratitude to God: Psychological, Philosophical, and Theological Investigations, Biola University, #61513, and from the John Templeton Foundation, grant #59916.