ABSTRACT
Extant research on parents’ understanding of gratitude and the socialization of gratitude in children has primarily been conducted in Western cultural contexts. To address this gap, this interview-based qualitative study explored the perspectives of 50 Chinese parents (25 mothers and 25 fathers) regarding their understanding of gratitude, their socialization strategies for gratitude, and potential gender-differentiated approaches to teaching gratitude. Our findings revealed that the Chinese parents in this study perceived gratitude as encompassing various components, including feeling grateful for the motherland and the predecessors, giving back to the society, feeling grateful toward benefactors with a desire to reciprocate the benefactors, and expressing gratitude toward parents and family members. Regarding gratitude socialization strategies, the results indicated that the Chinese parents typically employed training and role modeling to cultivate their children’s gratitude. As compared to the Chinese fathers, the mothers took the primary responsibility for gratitude socialization. Notably, mothers were consistent in their socialization practices regardless of whether they had a son or daughter. In contrast, fathers tended to differentiate their approach based on the child’s gender: fathers of sons were more actively involved in gratitude-related discussions, emphasizing conversations about gratitude more frequently with their sons than fathers with daughters did. These findings provide empirical evidence supporting tenets of our theoretical frameworks and offer critical insights for designing intervention programs aimed at promoting children’s gratitude development, particularly in Chinese cultural contexts.