More Grateful Today, Less Depressive Tomorrow: The Day‐to‐Day Association Between Gratitude and Depressed Mood

ABSTRACT Objective Previous research has documented a negative between‐person association between gratitude and depressed mood. However, how gratitude relates to depressed mood at the within‐person level remains less understood. The current study aimed to revisit the association between gratitude and depressed mood using a daily diary approach and examine the potential moderating effects of trait gratitude, neuroticism, and extraversion. Method Our sample consisted of 243 college students ( M age = 19.12), who reported their daily levels of gratitude and depressed mood for 14 days. There is a final sample of 3384 diaries. Results The multilevel cross‐lagged path analysis revealed that gratitude was negatively associated with depressed mood on the subsequent day. This result remained consistent after controlling for well‐being from the previous day. Furthermore, trait gratitude, neuroticism, and extraversion did not moderate the relationship between gratitude on day n −1 and depressed mood on day n . Conclusions These findings highlight the benefits of gratitude in daily life, suggesting that gratitude might function as a protective factor in mitigating depressed mood.