The Expression of Gratitude as a Contributor to Marital Strength

Authors

Kandace R. Palmer, Brigham Young UniversityFollow

Keywords

marriage, spouse, gratitude, gratitude expression, marital strength, relationship satisfaction

Abstract

Abstract

Gratitude is an important positive emotion for personal and social growth. Because of innate human needs, gratitude strengthens and builds interpersonal connections (Carnegie, 1936/1981; Johnson, 2008; Lambert & Fincham, 2011). In light of more recent research on the expression of gratitude in dyadic relationships, gratitude is considered to be an essential emotion for communicating “responsiveness” and for marriage survival (Algoe, Fredrickson, & Gable, 2013; Algoe, Kurtz, & Hilaire, 2016; Algoe & Zhaoyang, 2016). When spouses express appreciation, sincerity is necessary for gratitude to strengthen a marriage (Gordon, Arnette, & Smith, 2011; Leong, 2012). Furthermore, insincere gratitude, or a belief that gratitude is not genuine, can be detrimental to already suffering relationships (Leong, 2012). As truly appreciative feelings and expressions increase in a marriage, the relationship will be improved, because grateful feelings often influence partners to invest more time and energy in favor of the relationship (Gordon, Impett, Kogan, Oveis, & Keltner, 2012; Lambert & Fincham, 2011). These studies on gratitude and marriage demonstrate that expressing gratitude is an important aspect of marital connection.

Recommended Citation

Palmer, Kandace R. (2018) "The Expression of Gratitude as a Contributor to Marital Strength," Intuition: The BYU Undergraduate Journal of Psychology: Vol. 13: Iss. 2, Article 3.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/intuition/vol13/iss2/3