Gratitude and Academic Motivation among Japanese High School Students: A Nine-week Gratitude Journal Intervention Study

Gratitude interventions can positively impact student motivation and engagement. We assessed the effects of keeping a nine-week gratitude journal on the academic motivation of senior high school students. Participants were thirty-four Japanese students who had already been admitted to a university at the time of the study. Students were divided into two groups; those assigned to the gratitude group were asked to keep a daily record of events that had made them feel grateful, and those assigned to an active control group were asked to keep a record of events that evoked positive emotions in general. The intervention was part of an assignment aimed at advancing the students’ proficiency in English. Intervention effects were examined using the Academic Motivation Scale. While the academic motivation of students in the control group significantly worsened during the period of the intervention, the same decline was not observed among the students in the gratitude group. The current results point to a specific effect yielded by continuously engaging with the emotion of gratitude. Although the journaling activity in both groups likely tapped into personal experiences of positive valence, results showed that only the continuous engagement with the emotion of gratitude had a protective effect against declines in academic motivation. This indicates that gratitude may have a distinct effect from other positive emotions on goal-oriented behavior in general and motivation in particular: students who cultivate the habit of engaging with the emotion of gratitude may see a positive impact on their motivation.