Social support processes link gratitude and well-being across cultures and over time

Strong evidence shows that gratitude enhances well-being, though the mechanisms driving these effects are unclear. Here, we test the idea that gratitude may enhance well-being by (1) attuning people to the support that they receive and boosting perceptions of social support and (2) promoting support provision. Using data from over 148,000 participants across two studies, we explore the mechanistic roles of perceived social support and support provision in linking gratitude to well-being. With both cross-sectional and longitudinal data, we find that social support processes—especially perceived social support—partially mediate the link between gratitude and well-being. Moreover, we find evidence of weaker associations between gratitude and social support provision in more collectivistic countries. This suggests that gratitude’s consequences for social support processes—and their implications for well-being—may depend upon local cultural norms about community and social support.