LAUSR

INTRODUCTION Adolescents are susceptible to exhibiting internalizing and externalizing symptoms following natural disasters. However, little is known regarding factors that may influence these symptoms from the perspective of positive psychology. The current study examined whether and how social support and resilience mediated the association between gratitude and adolescents' internalizing and externalizing symptoms. METHOD The participants were 765 Chinese adolescents exposed to the Wenchuan earthquake (41.8% male, mean age 17.46 years), who were enrolled in a three-wave longitudinal study with data spanning 1 year. All adolescents completed self-report questionnaires on gratitude at 18 months postearthquake (T18m ), social support and resilience at 24 months (T24m ), and internalizing and externalizing symptoms at 18 months (T18m ) and 30 months (T30m ). RESULTS The results showed that social support (T24m ) and resilience (T24m ) serially mediate the relationship between gratitude (T18m ) and internalizing (β = -.003, 95% confidence interval [CI]= -0.006, -0.001) or externalizing (T30m ) symptoms (β = -.004, 95% CI= -0.004, -0.001). Social support (T24m ) acts as a mediator only between gratitude (T18m ) and internalizing symptoms (T30m ) (β = -.021, 95% CI = -0.044, -0.004), while not being a significant predictor for externalizing symptoms (T30m ). CONCLUSION By highlighting the mechanisms by which gratitude longitudinally attenuates adolescents' internalizing, externalizing, and total symptoms, our findings may provide clinical practitioners with important information regarding intervention design.