Abbreviated 13-Item Version of the Multi-Component Gratitude Measure (MCGM): Development and Evaluation

The Multi-Component Gratitude Measure (MCGM) is a 29-item instrument that assesses emotions, attitudes, and behaviors related to gratitude. This brief report describes the development and exploratory evaluation of a 13-item abbreviated MCGM (aMCGM). A nationally representative sample of 1,028 low-income US veterans collected December 2022-January 2023 was used to develop and test the aMCGM. All MCGM items were evaluated for reliability, factor structure, and construct validity to derive the aMCGM. The aMCGM consists of Emotion/Expressed Emotion (8 items), Introspection (3 items), and Unconditionality (2 items) scales. The aMCGM scales showed good internal consistency as well as preliminary convergent and discriminant validity in relation to other constructs using the total sample and split subsamples. These findings provide preliminary support for the use of the aMCGM as a multi-dimensional measure of gratitude and suggest low-income US veterans, on average, report high gratitude.