Gratitude and Forgiveness as Predictors of Subjective Well-Being Among Young Adults in Pakistan

The present study was aimed to explore the impact of gratitude and forgiveness in predicting subjective well-being in young adults. The sample for the study included 300 participants between the ages of 18 and 24 years who were conveniently selected from a university in Karachi city. Gratitude Questionnaire (McCullough et al., 2002), Heartland Forgiveness Scale (Thompson et al., 2005) and Flourishing Scale (Diener et al., 2010) were used as the measures to collect data. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed gratitude to be nonsignificant predictor of subjective well-being, whereas, forgiveness was found to be a significant predictor of subjective well-being . Further, weak positive relation of gratitude with subjective well-being (r= .14), and forgiveness with subjective well-being (r = .34) has been found. However, the explanatory power of this model was revealed to be significant (R² = .12), suggesting that the variables share an important association which needs further extensive study. This study implies that forgiveness and gratitude may be effectively used in psychotherapy and substantially integrated in general counselling for young adult clients.