How Do Young Children Understand and Action their Own Well-Being? Positive Psychology, Student Voice, and Well-Being Literacy in Early Childhood

Abstract

To help build early childhood mental health, an understanding of how young children comprehend and communicate about wellbeing (i.e., wellbeing literacy) is required; yet early childhood remains an understudied age group in positive psychology research. Grounded in the two fields of early childhood and positive psychology, this inductive qualitative study examined wellbeing literacy in five-and six-year-old children. Narrative analysis of children's drawings and explanations of wellbeing were analyzed using a sample of children in their first year of school across two schools in Australia (n = 124 drawings, 53% girls and 47% boys). Results showed young children understand wellbeing to be an accessible and learnable state fostered through intra-and interindividual factors. Children identified the importance of their emotions, actions, relationships, and environments in shaping wellbeing. Using research methods that access the voice of young children yields important insights about wellbeing literacy that can be used to inform the design of early childhood positive psychology interventions.

The impact of a teacher-based positive education intervention on student wellbeing literacy

“…Various scholars have also argued that positive education interventions should also be examined for how they can build wellbeing skills and capabilities (Adler, 2017;Waters et al, 2017), as it is these capabilities that endure postintervention and allow positive mental health outcomes to be sustained over time. One core capability put forward by Oades and colleagues (Oades, 2017;Oades & Johnston, 2017;Oades et al, 2020) is that of wellbeing literacy, defined as the language and understanding of wellbeing.…”

“…Schools are playing an increasingly important role in society not only as academic institutions but also as wellbeingenhancing institutions (Waters et al, 2017). The need for schools to foster wellbeing capabilities in students is paramount given the current pandemic crisis (Stewart et al, 2021) and the fact that research on prior pandemics reveals that mental illness spillover effects continue for some time after a pandemic is resolved (Sprang & Silman, 2010).…”

“…Research has shown that positive education interventions are generally successful in building student wellbeing outcomes, including increases in life satisfaction, positive emotions, self-esteem, coping ability and emotional stability as well as reductions in anxiety, depression and stress (Owens & Waters, 2020;Shoshani et al, 2016;Waters et al, 2015;Waters & Loton, 2019). However, one outcome of positive education that has typically been overlooked is that of wellbeing literacy (Oades, 2017;Waters, Loton et al, 2021).…”

Tracing the Growth, Gaps, and Characteristics in Positive Education Science: A Long-Term, Large-Scale Review of the Field

“…The field would benefit from a higher proportion of qualitative research and by using a more diverse set of research tools, such as case studies, interviews, focus groups, and document analysis (which currently only account for 7 percent of the research tools used). Other diverse methods such as Delphi studies ( Elmendorf and Song, 2015 ), implicit approaches ( Williams et al, 2017 ), and the use of student drawings ( Waters et al, 2021b ) are making their way into positive education, indicating that the field is slowly extending its boundaries beyond quantitative methods that focus on individual-level research to qualitative approaches that embrace context and greater complexity.…”

Embedding Well-being into School: A Case Study of Positive Education Before and During COVID-19 Lockdowns

“…In 2017, Ravenswood became the first school in New South Wales to be trained in the Visible Wellbeing intervention (see Waters, 2015 andWaters, 2021 for a description of this intervention). All staff were trained in the SEARCH framework with ongoing professional development in positive education continuing since that time (Waters et al, 2017).…”