Take our Gratitude Test

Find a therapist near me

New research shows gratitude can relieve stress, bring us positive emotions, and help us cope with challenges.

Acknowledging our role models and our gratitude for them can bring us greater resilience and hope.

We can find role models in parents, teachers, professional athletes, or anyone else who's inspired us

In these challenging times, new research shows how a gratitude practice can bring us greater resilience and well-being. Research participants who engaged in a gratitude practice for four weeks reported lower stress, increased positive emotions, and a greater ability to cope with challenging situations (Flores, et al., 2026).

Gratitude for Our Role Models

In this season of Thanksgiving, we can express gratitude for our role models, people who have inspired us by their example (Sariani & Nugraha, 2026). Research has long shown the benefits of gratitude and how much we are influenced by our role models (Bandura, 1986; Bricheno & Thornton, 2007; Emmons, 2007).

Recent studies show that we can find role models in our teachers and professional athletes (Obenda, 2026; Sariani & Nugraha, 2026). We can also find them in entertainers, and, for many of us, our first role models are our parents (Assibey-Mensah, 1997; Clark, Martin, & Bush, 2001).

My first role model was my father, Colonel Frank H. Dreher, who grew up on a small........

© Psychology Today