Randomized Controlled Trial of Brief App-Based Gratitude and Mindfulness Interventions for Parents of Young Children

Ratcliff, Chelsea G.
Langley, Hillary A.
Torres, Debbie
Anderson, Kennedy S.

Department of Psychology and Philosophy, Sam Houston State University

Mengya Xia served as action editor.

This study’s design was preregistered prospectively prior to any data being collected (NCT04980365). The ideas and data appearing in this article were presented at the 57th Annual Convention of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies in Seattle, Washington (primary analyses) and at the 58th Annual Convention of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (exploratory analyses). Data and study materials, including the code for data analyses, are available by request from the corresponding author.

Chelsea G. Ratcliff played a lead role in formal analysis, methodology, supervision, and writing–original draft and an equal role in conceptualization, resources, and writing–review and editing. Hillary A. Langley played a lead role in writing–review and editing, a supporting role in investigation, methodology, and supervision, and an equal role in conceptualization and resources. Debbie Torres played a lead role in data curation, a supporting role in formal analysis, and an equal role in project administration. Kennedy S. Anderson played a supporting role in data curation, formal analysis, and writing–review and editing.

Chelsea G. Ratcliff, Department of Psychology and Philosophy, Sam Houston State University, 1901 Avenue I, Huntsville, TX 77340, United States [email protected]

Received July 25, 2024

revised March 25, 2025

Accepted March 26, 2025

Journal of Family Psychology 39(6):p 848-860, September 2025. | DOI: 10.1037/fam0001347

Parenting is associated with considerable stress. Brief, self-directed mindfulness and gratitude interventions via mobile app may mitigate the effects of stress on parents’ mood and emotion regulation. The present study is a randomized controlled trial among parents of young children (N = 125) comparing the effect of a 2-week daily (10-min/day) app-based mindfulness intervention to a 2-week daily (10-min/day) app-based gratitude intervention to a 2-week daily (10-min/day) app-based food journaling attention control condition on parenting stress, positive and negative affect, emotion regulation, mindfulness, and gratitude reported immediately postintervention and 1-month later. Linear multilevel modeling revealed no significant group or Group × Time effects on any outcome (ps > .1). Exploratory analyses examining gender as a moderator of effects also generally did not provide evidence of the interventions’ efficacy on outcomes for men or women. Two-week app-based mindfulness and gratitude interventions did not lead to improved outcomes compared to an attention control condition for parents of young children. More intensive gratitude and/or mindfulness interventions may be needed to effect change in parents. Alternatively, it is possible that mindfulness- and/or gratitude-focused interventions may not be the most effective approach for addressing parenting stress. However, future research powered to assess parents’ responses to such interventions is needed to determine efficacy.