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Validation of the Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ) in Taiwanese Undergraduate Students

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to translate and validate the Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ; McCullough et al. 2002) using Taiwanese undergraduate students. A total of 608 college students (M age = 20.19, SD = 2.08) were recruited for the current study and they completed the GQ, optimism, happiness, and big five personality questionnaires. Confirmation factor analysis indicated that a five item model was a better fit than the original six item model. Cross-validation also supported the modified Chinese version of the GQ. In addition, the Chinese version of the GQ was, as expected, positively correlated with optimism, happiness, agreeableness, and extraversion, which supported its construct validity. The Cronbach’s α was .80 for the Chinese version of the GQ, indicating satisfactory validity and reliability in a Taiwanese student sample. It was concluded that the Chinese version of the GQ would be useful for assessing individual differences in dispositional gratitude.

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Acknowledgements

This study was partially supported by a grant from the Central Taiwan University of Science and Technology (CTU97-P-24) to Ying-Mei Tsai. We are grateful to Fong-Chou Kuo for his kind assistance during data collection and to Chia-Huei Wu for his insightful comments on the draft of this article. Besides, we thank one of the reviewers for encouraging us to think more deeply about the possible differences in the sources, manifestations and social aspects of the gratitude.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Institute of Physical Education, National Taiwan Sport University, Taoyuan, Taiwan

    Lung Hung Chen

  2. Department of Recreation and Leisure Industry Management, National Taiwan Sport University, Taoyuan, 250, Wen Hua 1st Road, Kueishan, Taoyuan County, Taiwan

    Mei-Yen Chen

  3. Department of Physical Education, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Ying Hwa Kee

  4. Office of Physical Education, Central Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taichung, Taiwan

    Ying-Mei Tsai

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  1. Lung Hung Chen
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  2. Mei-Yen Chen
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Correspondence to Mei-Yen Chen.

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Chen, L.H., Chen, MY., Kee, Y.H. et al. Validation of the Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ) in Taiwanese Undergraduate Students. J Happiness Stud 10, 655–664 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-008-9112-7

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