Publication

Abstract : Parental gratitude socialization is thought to be crucial in shaping children’s ability to experience and express gratitude. The present article presents a systematic review to understand how parental gratitude socialization practices influence the development of gratitude in children. Following PRISMA guidelines, we identified 11 relevant empirical studies and analyzed them to address three main questions. We sought to understand how parents perceive and promote gratitude in their children, the strategies they use to foster gratitude, and the parental characteristics that predict gratitude development in children. The review identifies several key mechanisms through which parents foster gratitude in children, including modeling grateful behavior, engaging in gratitude-related family practices and conversations, encouraging perspective-taking, and fostering emotional awareness and reflection. Together, these strategies highlight that parental gratitude socialization occurs through both intentional teaching and everyday emotional interactions within the family context. However, our findings indicate that literature on gratitude development is still in its nascent stage and there is a need for more empirical studies with diverse methodologies and specific objectives to deepen our understanding of parental gratitude socialization. This systematic review contributes to a comprehensive understanding of gratitude development among children and serves as a reference for the development of interventions and educational curricula to foster gratitude among children, with parents as key socializing agents.