How Gratitude Can Help With Students’ Anxiety

Often overlooked, gratitude may be a powerful way to boost high schoolers' well-being, a new study finds

Antonio Guillem/Shutterstock

Students and educators have started a new school year in the midst of a pandemic, an economic crisis, a reckoning with racial injustice, and a divisive political climate. Everyone’s mental health is at risk, and schools are searching for ways to support young people’s well-being in addition to their academic learning.

In recent years, many educators have done this with social-emotional learning (SEL) programs, which focus on building students’ skills in understanding and managing emotions, relating positively with others, and behaving in personally and socially responsible ways. Now, a new study suggests that an area of SEL that has often been overlooked in the past could be key to building community and resilience in students: gratitude.