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Relationships between gratitude, social support, and prosocial and problem behaviors

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Abstract

This study examined the association between gratitude and social behaviors in a sample of 877 adolescents in South Korea. Participants completed measures of gratitude, social support, prosocial behavior, and problem behavior scales. Gratitude had an influence on both prosocial and problem behaviors through social support as a mediating factor. Gender differences were found in the relationships between gratitude and problem behaviors. The current findings imply that supporting young people in early adolescence to have an enhanced level of gratitude and perceived social support may potentially be an effective educational intervention method. Implications and future directions are discussed.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Research Fund.

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  1. College of Education, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Imun-dong, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, 130-791, South Korea

    Sukkyung You, June Lee & Yunoug Lee

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  1. Sukkyung You
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Correspondence to Sukkyung You.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee (Hankuk University of Foreign Studies) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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You, S., Lee, J. & Lee, Y. Relationships between gratitude, social support, and prosocial and problem behaviors. Curr Psychol 41, 2646–2653 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-00775-4

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