Efficacy of the “Feel Good - Think Positive”, a school-based positive psychology intervention targeting optimism and hope in children

Abstract

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.