Increasing Elementary School Students’ Subjective Well-Being Through a Classwide Positive Psychology Intervention: Results of a Pilot Study

Abstract

There is growing interest in school-based programs to promote students' subjective well-being (SWB). Students with greater SWB tend to have stronger relationships with their teachers and classmates, as well as behave in more positive ways. Drawing from theory and research pertinent to promoting children's SWB, we developed an 11-session classwide positive psychology intervention that targeted elementary school students' novel use of character strengths, gratitude, kindness, and relationships in the classroom. Throughout a pilot study, children in fourth grade experienced clinically meaningful lasting gains in multiple indicators of SWB, particularly positive affect and satisfaction with self, but no changes in distal indicators of behavioral student engagement (attendance, office disciplinary referrals). This initial application by school psychologists partnering with a classroom teacher provides evidence of promise that elementary school children can benefit from participation in universal positive psychology interventions that target internal assets (gratitude, kindness, and signature strengths) and environmental resources (student-teacher and peer relationships).Keywords Elementary school children . Positive psychology interventions . Classwide implementation . Subjective well-being Mental health is increasingly viewed as a complete state of being, consisting not merely of the absence of psychopathology, but also the presence of positive indicators of subjective well-being (SWB; Keyes 2009). Within a positive psychology approach, SWB is often used as an indicator of the complete range of psychological functioning, from miserable to content to flourishing. Researchers interested in happiness often define it as SWB, a multidimensional construct conceptualized as having cognitive and affective aspects (Diener et al. 2009). The cognitive aspect is indicated by life satisfaction judgments-global appraisals of the quality of one's life overall or in regard to specific domains of life. The affective aspects involve how often a person experiences positive emotions (e.g., delight, pride, and zest) and negative emotions (e.g., sadness and anger). People with high SWB judge their life to be going well on the whole and experience more frequent positive than negative emotions on a daily basis. Studies with children (Greenspoon and Saklofske 2001) and adolescents (Suldo and Shaffer 2008) find that youth with the best academic, social, and physical health outcomes have both minimal symptoms of psychopathology and high SWB (i.e., complete mental health). Thus, comprehensive mental health services entail both the prevention and amelioration of psychopathology, and the promotion of SWB. However, the science of how to increase SWB through school-based intervention strategies pales in comparison to knowledge of how to treat psychopathology.As explicated in a 2013 joint report from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), the process of developing an educational intervention generally st...

Academic Achievement, Self-Concept, Personality and Emotional Intelligence in Primary Education. Analysis by Gender and Cultural Group

“…In light of the results obtained in the present research study, the need to carry out a comprehensive education in schools that addresses the promotion of not only academic but also personal, social and emotional competences, are underlined (Cherniss, 2010;Hunagund and Hangal, 2014;Herrera et al, 2017;Szczygieł and Mikolajczak, 2017;Corcoran et al, 2018;Cvencek et al, 2018). For this, the application of the principles derived from Positive Psychology in the education field would be an adequate strategy (Suldo et al, 2015;Chodkiewicz and Boyle, 2017;Domitrovich et al, 2017;Shoshani and Slone, 2017). Thus, intellectual, procedural and emotional aspects have to be worked on in learning, the latter being clear drivers of learning.…”

A Mixed‐Methodological Evaluation of a Subjective Well‐Being Intervention Program With Elementary‐Age Students

“…Early developmental experiences leading to positive cognitive and affective appraisals of self and a sense of life satisfaction have been linked to coping and resilience (Haas et al, 2019). Suldo et al (2015) found that a youth’s ability to mobilize strengths‐based coping strategies was associated not only with positive self‐appraisal and life satisfaction but also with academic success. Other researchers have suggested that when youth develop a sense of gratitude and learn to use their unique character strengths intentionally, their capacity for optimism and enjoyment is magnified (Norrish, 2015; Seligman, Ernst, Gillham, Reivicha, & Linkins, 2009).…”

“…Positive psychology–based interventions have shown potential for the development of internal assets including gratitude, kindness, and personal strengths when applied in academic settings (Suldo et al, 2015). One such intervention is the subjective well‐being intervention program (SWIP; Suldo, 2016), a manualized intervention that leverages the positive psychology principles of kindness, gratitude, character strengths, and optimism to promote happiness and subjective well‐being.…”

“…academic settings (Suldo et al, 2015). One such intervention is the subjective well-being intervention program (SWIP; Suldo, 2016), a manualized intervention that leverages the positive psychology principles of kindness, gratitude, character strengths, and optimism to promote happiness and subjective well-being.…”

Introduction to Special Issue School-Based Approaches to Promote Complete Mental Health: School Psychologists Working to Foster Students’ Thriving Well‐being

“…Along this same theme, Pennell et al (2015) and Heffel et al (2015) examine how information about students' psychological distress and internal assets at one time are associated with later psychological developmental challenges, which recognizes school psychologists need empirical evidence of how student psychological experiences at the time of screening are associated with later quality of life experiences. Finally, and most vital to changing youths lives, four contributions (Suldo et al 2015;Wendt et al 2015;Wang et al 2015;Claro et al 2015) provide empirically evaluated psychoeducational strategies that can be used as universal or targeted interventions logically linked with fostering students' high levels of well-being.…”