Mental Health and Emotion Regulation in At-Risk Adolescents

Abstract

Around 20% of the world's adolescents have mental health problem (Vranda, 2015) and half of these start during adolescence (Kessler et al., 2005). School-based intervention programmes possess a great potential in reducing the risk factors and increasing the protective factors to promote mental health and well-being of children and adolescents (Vranda, 2015; Shoshani & Steinmetz, 2013). The present study aims to examine the effectiveness of positive psychology interventions on mental health and emotion regulation of at risk adolescents. 65 students were identified as at-risk by administering SDQ (students form) from a sample of 147 class 8th students. Other tools used were Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (Keyes et al., 2009) and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (Victor, & Klonsky, 2016). Positive Psychology Interventions (PPIs) (12 sessions) related to gratitude, hope and mindfulness were given for about three months. Findings are discussed in terms of implications for positive psychology interventions as a sustainable mental health promotional tool in the school context.