Thanks, mom and dad! An experimental study of gratitude letter writing for Asian and White American emerging adults

This study examined the effects of a gratitude writing intervention on Asian American and White American emerging adults' positive and negative affect and experience of gratitude. A total of 581 emerging adults completed an online survey twice, 2 weeks apart. In the first survey, participants were randomly assigned to either a control condition (writing objective facts about their parents) or a gratitude condition (writing a gratitude letter to their parents) after completing measures on their demographics, well-being, and experience of gratitude. In the second survey, participants completed measures on well-being and experience of gratitude. Gratitude writing had a significant buffering effect on participants' positive affect 2 weeks after the intervention, but not on other outcomes. Several significant interaction effects indicated that gratitude writing was more effective for individuals who had low quality parent-child relationship and those who endorsed high levels of familial collectivism and had low quality parent-child relationships. Gratitude writing could benefit emerging adults and their parents by acting as a protective factor for positive affect, which may provide space for Asian American emerging adults and their parents to explore ways to understand issues revolving around their relationship. Further implications for research and clinical practice were discussed.