Evidence of validity of Brazilian scale of gratitude (B-GRAT), in positive psychology

Abstract

Gratitude is a positive mental state of gratefulness for adverse or risky life experiences related to affective memories that improve the subjective well-being. A new scale was developed aiming to produce an instrument for the assessment of gratitude. An original pool of 13 items, constructed and reviewed using accurate standards, was responded to by 762 participants (242 females, 72.5%; 88 males), aged 18-90 years, M=41, SD=13. An Exploratory Factor Analysis concluded with the selection of 7 items that presented an internal unidimensional structure, resulting in the Brazilian scale of Gratitude (B-GRAT). Confirmatory Factor Analysis using the polychoric correlations matrix showed an adequate fit of the model and an internal consistency de α=0.84. The concurrent validity with the Hope Index Scale was checked by means of Pearson's correlation. The results indicate evidence that the B-GRAT is psychometrically adequate to assess gratitude in Brazil.