Attitude of gratitude is rarer among young people, survey says

If you have been thinking that gratitude seems to be in short supply, especially among the young, you are not alone.

A 2012 online national poll that found that more than half of its 2000 adult participants believed “people today are less likely” to show gratitude than a decade or two ago.

Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Jennifer Breheny Wallace contends that for the first time the complaint that children are “more entitled and ungrateful than in years past” might actually be true. Contemporary culture, fixated on selfies, is prone to rewarding bragging while leaving behind everyday expressions of gratitude.

According to Dr. Richard Weissbourd from HarvardÕs Graduate School of Education, kids may be less grateful than in the past because of the self-esteem movement. Parents were advised to praise and cater to their children to encourage happiness. In many cases, however, the result was not happiness but entitlement. Since life is rarely perfectly praiseworthy and happy, kids tend to feel slighted if they don’t get those things, not grateful if they do.

Researchers have found adolescents who have cultivated an attitude of gratitude show higher rates of happiness and school engagement while displaying fewer depressive symptoms and anxiety. Young people who are grateful have also been found to display fewer incidences of anti-social behavior and an ability to foster strong social bonds with both family and friends.

Gratitude is a way to recognize and appreciate the good things in one’s life, experts say.

Another way to raise grateful children, says parenting.com, is for parents to model grateful behavior. Parents may not realize that children are paying attention to small interactions with everyone from the grocery store clerk to the gas station attendant, writes Patty Onderko, but they are, and thanking people who are helpful is a cue children will one day follow.