441at University of British Columbia Library on June 20, 2015 http://rer.aera.net Downloaded from
REVIEW OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
Vol. XXXII, No. 5ness," an enduring state of a "healthy" personality recognizable in such qualities as the presence of adaptability, the use of social skills, the demonstration of a high degree of initiative, and the possession of a general perfusion of modest optimism; (b) "well-being," an immediate or current state of health or effectiveness in dealing with stress or crisis; and (c) "emotional stability," the ability of the individual to cope with specific environmental stresses over a period of time, while maintaining a state of emotional well-being. Klein pinned down four kinds of emotional stability: (a) general stability, (b) specific stability, (c) inherited stability, and (d) acquired stability. He was particularly concerned with the ways in which acquired stability could be used in the organism's adjustment to potentially stressful situations.Such stability would be acquired by organisms which have had experience with stress-inducing agents and in the process have developed successful nonillness-producing ways of coping with the stress. In this conceptual framework of positive mental health, it might be possible to discover situations in which small amounts of stress could render individuals increasingly able in the future to tolerate greater degrees of stress of a similar nature. For example, sibling rivalry, often regarded as a circumstance contributing to a variety of behavioral and emotional disorders, could be thought to serve as a potential immunity-producing experience that would help one to manage stress accompanying competitive relationships. One could hypothesize that a home in which there is reasonable and affectionate access to parental guidance would appear to offer one the opportunity for learning how to cope constructively with stress-inducing situations.Smith (1961), who has considered the conceptual problems of mental health, commented on the shift from exclusive concern with mental illnesses toward an interest in positive mental health. Such a shift, however, has not been accompanied by any real gains in research or scientific understanding. Mental health or illness is still concerned with the evaluation of the personality in terms of criteria that are value oriented. 1 Values, which are inherent in 4 definitions of mental illness, are taken for granted primarily because there is little disagreement about them.'It is natural to assume that something is wrong with a person who behaves "strangely" or whose thinking is disordered. What is "right" about a person with positive mental health is another matter. The variety and breadth of values that underlie such definitions are rarely acceptable or explicit to all. Consequently, in his reconsideration of the. problem of mental health, Smith questioned the bases with respect to which mental health has been conceptualized.Why has there been an increased emphasis on defining concepts of positive mental health? The dema...