THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GRATITUDE, CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY, AND PATRIOTISM AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS: EVIDENCE FROM UZBEKISTAN

Abstract

 Gratitude, civic responsibility, and patriotism are interconnected psychological and socio-political constructs that play a vital role in fostering national cohesion and youth development, particularly in post-Soviet transitioning societies like Uzbekistan. This study examines the relationships among these variables among university students in Uzbekistan, a context shaped by state-driven patriotic education policies under the “New Uzbekistan” development strategy. Using a cross-sectional survey design, data were collected from 428 undergraduate students (mean age = 20.4 years; 52% female) from major universities in Tashkent. Standardized instruments included the Gratitude Questionnaire-6 (GQ-6; McCullough et al., 2002), a Civic Responsibility Scale adapted from established measures (α = .87), and a 5-item Patriotism Scale adapted from Hu et al. (2024) and local pedagogical diagnostics (α = .89). Pearson correlations, multiple regression, and mediation analysis (via PROCESS macro, Model 4) revealed significant positive relationships: gratitude with civic responsibility (r = .48, p < .001), civic responsibility with patriotism (r = .55, p < .001), and gratitude with patriotism (r = .51, p < .001). Civic responsibility partially mediated the gratitude-patriotism link (indirect effect = .21, 95% CI [.15, .28], p < .001). These findings align with prior international research (e.g., Hu et al., 2024) while highlighting Uzbekistan-specific factors such as state-sponsored civic education. Implications for higher education policy, including integration of gratitude-based interventions into civic curricula, are discussed. Limitations include self-report bias and cross-sectional design; longitudinal studies in diverse regions of Uzbekistan are recommended.