Positive Psychology in the Elementary Classroom: The Influence of Strengths-Based Approaches on Children’s Self-Efficacy

Galloway, Rod; Reynolds, Bronwyn

doi:10.4236/jss.2015.39003

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…This viewpoint of the adolescent served to perpetuate negative stereotypes of adolescents as selfish and mired in conflict (Romer, Reyna, & Satterthwaite, 2017). In contrast to this “problem-centered vision of youth” (Damon, 2004, p. 14), movements such as the Positive Youth Development Approach (Benson, Scales, Hamilton, & Sesma, 2007; Damon, 2004), Social and Emotional Learning (SEL; casel.org), Positive Psychology (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000), and its derivative field, Positive Education (Galloway & Reynolds, 2015; Norrish, Williams, O’Connor, & Robinson, 2013), reorient our focus to the strengths, competencies, and potential that adolescents hold to positively shape the world around them.…”

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confidence: 99%

Kinder Than We Might Think: How Adolescents Are Kind

Binfet

2019

Canadian Journal of School Psychology

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Educators and parents alike have high expectations that adolescents behave prosocially and, within the context of schools, this is evident in curriculum grounded in social and emotional learning and in kindness-themed school-wide initiatives. Despite this emphasis on kindness, relatively little is empirically known about how adolescents enact kindness. To understand just how adolescents demonstrate kindness, a study of 191 ninth graders was conducted in which students were asked to plan and complete five kind acts. In addition to planning and doing acts of kindness, participants were asked to rate their face-to-face and online kindness, report the number of kind acts they completed, identify the recipients of their acts, and assess the quality of their kind acts. At post-test, participants’ self-ratings of both face-to-face and online kindness were significantly higher than their pre-test ratings. Only one third of participants completed all of their kind acts, most participants chose familiar others as the recipients of their kindness, and the bulk of participants rated their acts of kindness as medium quality on a low–medium–high scale. The kind acts done by participants reflected the themes of helping with chores, being respectful, complimenting/encouraging others, and giving objects or money. Implications for educators and parents are discussed.

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confidence: 99%

Kinder Than We Might Think: How Adolescents Are Kind

Binfet

2019

Canadian Journal of School Psychology

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“…Capitalizing on peer support, groups and communities, local networks, and communal capacities can be seen as a good example of strength-based social work at school, even when the working pairs, support groups or school communities are designated by adults [35]. However, it is not the same as recognizing the youths' spontaneous peer ties with their risks and resources.…”

Section: The Importance Of Friends and Peers To Teenagers Raises Quesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To young people, it is important to receive recognition for activities and relationships which they find meaningful. In this way they can feel respected as individuals and as members of their own communities of importance [35]. It was found as part of our 1 Project "Early recognition in curbing the marginalization of children and young people", 2013-2015, funded by the Academy of Finland.…”

Section: Theories Of Recognition and Teenagers' Wellbeingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Friendship as Potential? The Recognition of Teenagers’ Peer Relationships at School

Korkiamäki¹

2016

JSS

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The starting point for this paper is that children and young people's friendships have, significantly, been neglected as a communal resource. While the importance to teenagers of their friends and peers is widely recognized, their friendships are more often seen as a cause of risk behaviour than a resource with which risk could be prevented. Hence, the purpose of this theoretical paper is to challenge this predominant view by looking at teenagers' spontaneous friendships as inclusionary potential. The paper deals with young teenagers' friendships from the viewpoint of student welfare and preventive social work at school. It raises the question of how and with what teenagers' wellbeing should be supported in their everyday living environments such as school. The paper introduces Finnish basic education as a site for the prevention of early youths' marginalization, and studies how young people's mutual relationships are commonly perceived at school. Drawing from the theories of recognition, it is then suggested that recognizing the meaning and practices of students' friendship at school could advance their self-confidence, self-esteem and self-respect and hence, support better student wellbeing.

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Peer groups, academic achievement and the behaviour of elementary school‐aged children: A strength‐based perspective

Rytioja,

Lappalainen,

Savolainen

2024

Infant and Child Development

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The purpose of this study was to examine how the members of children's peer groups resemble each other in terms of behavioural and emotional strengths, academic achievement and behaviour at school. The participants were 739 9‐ to 10‐year‐old children (354 boys, 385 girls) from 30 Finnish elementary schools. 431 children (241 girls, 190 boys) were part of peer groups. Less than 5% of participants were other than Finnish origin. The children self‐assessed their behavioural and emotional strengths, and teachers evaluated the children's academic achievement and behaviour at school. Children also filled the sociometric questionnaire and sociograms were drawn to identify peer groups. Standardized beta values of regression analyses were used as indicators of effect sizes. The results showed that when observed as a strength, children's school functioning was positively linked to both academic achievement and behaviour at school. The intraclass correlations (ICC) revealed that members of peer groups resembled each other in terms of behavioural strengths, and behaviour at school, but not in academic achievement. The gender composition of peer groups explained the variance in behaviour at school between peer groups. The results of this study highlight the importance to consider children's peer group also when implementing behavioural interventions.

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Positive Psychology in the Elementary Classroom: The Influence of Strengths-Based Approaches on Children’s Self-Efficacy

Cited by 3 publications

References 20 publications

Kinder Than We Might Think: How Adolescents Are Kind

Kinder Than We Might Think: How Adolescents Are Kind

Friendship as Potential? The Recognition of Teenagers’ Peer Relationships at School

Peer groups, academic achievement and the behaviour of elementary school‐aged children: A strength‐based perspective

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