Attachment orientations and dispositional gratitude: The mediating roles of perceived social support and self-esteem

•Attachment avoidance and anxiety were negatively associated with gratitude.•Both attachment avoidance and anxiety were related to gratitude through self-esteem.•Attachment avoidance exerted effect on gratitude via perceived social support.

The present study seeks to examine the effect of attachment orientations on dispositional gratitude and whether it would be mediated by self-esteem and perceived social support. Nine-hundred-and-twenty-eight Chinese college students completed the Self-esteem Scale (SES), the Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale (MPSSS), the Experiences in Close Relationships Inventory (ECR), and the Gratitude Resentment and Appreciation Test (GRAT). It was revealed that both attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety were negatively associated with dispositional gratitude. Mediational analyses showed that attachment avoidance was indirectly related to dispositional gratitude through perceived social support and self-esteem, whereas attachment anxiety exerted effect on dispositional gratitude both directly and indirectly through self-esteem. These findings highlight the importance of attachment security for cultivating virtues such as dispositional gratitude and contribute to a more complete understanding of self- and other-representations.