College students’ trait gratitude and subjective well-being mediated by basic psychological needs

I explored how trait gratitude affects subjective well-being and whether this relationship is mediated by the fulfillment of basic psychological needs. Participants were 481 Chinese undergraduate students, who responded to measures of trait gratitude, basic psychological needs fulfillment, and subjective well-being (SWB). The results revealed that trait gratitude, fulfillment of basic psychological needs, and SWB were significantly correlated with each other. Further, structural equation modeling results indicated that trait gratitude was a significant predictor of SWB, and this effect was partially mediated by the fulfillment of basic psychological needs. My findings provide new insight into the mechanism of how gratitude can promote SWB.