Gratitude, positive emotion, and satisfaction with life: A test of mediated effect

I examined the relationships among gratitude, positive emotion, and satisfaction with life, and whether positive emotion mediated associations between gratitude and satisfaction with life. Participants were 375 university students in Taiwan, who completed 3 instruments assessing the above constructs. Based on structural equation modeling, results showed that gratitude was positively associated with both positive emotion and satisfaction with life. Further, the effect of gratitude on satisfaction with life was found to be partially mediated by positive emotion. The findings thus suggest that gratitude not only has a direct impact on satisfaction with life but also indirectly affects satisfaction with life via the experience of positive emotion.