The Effects of Gratitude Journaling and Psychological Flexibility on Depressive Symptoms in Students and Young Professionals

Abstract

Depressive symptoms are highly prevalent among young adults, with student populations showing rates as high as 33.6% (Li et al., 2022). In the Netherlands alone, around 42 million euros are spent annually on managing adolescent depressive symptoms (Bodden et al., 2021), emphasizing the need for effective interventions. Emerging evidence suggests that mobile gratitude interventions may alleviate depressive symptoms in students (Fuller et al., 2025). This study investigates whether the benefits of gratitude interventions can be explained through changes in psychological flexibility (PF), a transdiagnostic factor known to protect against mental distress (Yao et al., 2024). A total of 58 students and young professionals participated in a 10-day online intervention study using ecological momentary assessments. Participants were randomly assigned to a gratitude intervention group or a digital diary control group. The results revealed a negative correlation between PF and depressive symptoms; however, no significant differences were observed between groups in changes to PF or depressive symptoms post- intervention. Furthermore, PF did not mediate the relationship between gratitude and depressive symptoms. These results suggest that while gratitude interventions hold promise, their impact on psychological flexibility and depressive symptoms warrants further investigation.