51. Efficacy of the "Feel Good - Think Positive", a school-based positive psychology intervention targeting optimism and hope in children.
- Author
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Baourda, Vasiliki C., Brouzos, Andreas, and Vassilopoulos, Stephanos P.
- Subjects
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PESSIMISM , *MENTAL health , *OPTIMISM , *POSITIVE psychology , *PSYCHOLOGY of school children , *TREATMENT effectiveness , *DESCRIPTIVE statistics , *PSYCHOLOGICAL adaptation , *ANXIETY , *EMOTIONS , *HAPPINESS , *SOCIAL skills , *HOPE , *SCHOOL health services , *SELF-perception , *CHILDREN - Abstract
This study examined the effectiveness of the 'Feel Good – Think Positive', a school-based, multi-component, positive psychology intervention (PPI) for elementary school children, designed to enhance optimism and hope. Participants were 361 elementary school children (8–12 years old, M = 9.91, SD = 1.26, 158 boys and 203 girls), assigned to an intervention group (n = 229) or to a control group (n = 132), who completed several measures at baseline and after the intervention's completion. Children in the intervention group exhibited increased optimism, hope, diverse coping strategies, social skills, and self-esteem, and decreased pessimism and anxiety, compared to children in the control group who only showed a significant decrease in anxiety. Mediator analyses revealed that gender had a significant effect on anxiety, age on pessimism, emotion-focused coping, seeking social support, and likeability, and parental educational level had no effect. Results are discussed in relevance to positive psychology literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
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