Effectiveness of Group Positive Thinking Training on Social-Emotional Competence and the Friendship Quality among Male Students

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran.

2 Department of Education, Payame Noor University, Tehran, lran

3 Department of Education, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Birjand University, Birjand, Iran.

4 Department of Education, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran,

5 Department of Education, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Semnan University, Semnan,

10.22091/jrim.2025.11528.1114

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of group positive thinking training on social-emotional competence and the quality of friendship among primary school students in Birjand city. The method of the current research was semi-experimental with a pre-test-post-test design as well as with a control group. The statistical population of the research consisted of all the male students of the sixth grade of Birjand city who were studying in the academic year of 2023-2024. Among the statistical population, 30 students were selected by the available sampling method, and all of them were replaced in the form of two experimental (15) and control (15) groups. The experimental group underwent positive thinking training for ten 50-minute sessions. The Social-Emotional Competence questionnaire (Zu and Jessi, 2012) and the Friendship Quality questionnaire (Zohrevand and Hijazi, 2001) were used to collect research data. The data were analyzed using univariate and multivariate analysis of covariance. The results showed that group positive thinking training had a significant effect on social-emotional competence and friendship quality (p<0.005). In other words, social-emotional competence and friendship quality improved significantly because of group positive thinking training. According to the obtained results, one of the constructive educational approaches to improve and strengthen the emotional-social and communication variables is the positivist educational approach

Keywords

References

Alsarrani, A., Hunter, R. F., Dunne, L., & Garcia, L. (2022). Association between friendship quality and subjective wellbeing among adolescents: a systematic review. BMC public health, 22(1), 2420.‏ https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-14776-4
Amonoo, H. L., Barclay, M.E., ElJawahri, A., Traeger, L. N., Lee, S. J., Huffman, & J. C. (2019). Positive Psychological Constructs and Health Outcomes in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplan- tation Patients: A systematic review. Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation, 25(1), e5- e16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbmt.2018.09.030
Annabestani, S., & Naemi, A. (2019). Effectiveness of positive thinking traning on self-compassion and life expectancy in mothers of children with autism. Quarterly of Psychology of Exceptional Individuals, 9 (33), 45-68. https://doi.org/10.22054/jpe.2019.39002.1920
Antoine, P., Dauvier, B., Andreotti, E., & Congard, A. (2018). Individual differences in the effects of a positive psychology intervention: applied psychology. Personality and Individual Differences, 122(10), 140-147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2017.10.024
Bakhshayesh, A. (2016). Investigating the relationship between resilience and friendship quality with life satisfaction among students. Journal of New Approaches in Educational Administration, 7(25), 145-158.
Banos, R. M., Etchemend, E., Farfallini, L., Palaciosbd, A. G., Querobd, S., & Botella, C. (2014). Earth of well-being system: A pilot study of an information and communication technology-based positive psychology intervention. The Journal of Positive Psychology. 9(6), 482-488. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2014.927906
Bender, A. E., McKinney, S. J., Schmidt-Sane, M. M., Cage, J., Holmes, M. R., Berg, K. A., ... & Voith, L. A. (2022). Childhood exposure to intimate partner violence and effects on social-emotional competence: A systematic review. Journal of family violence, 37(8), 1263-1281.‏ https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-021-00315-z
Collie, R. J., & Perry, N. E. (2019). Cultivating teacher thriving through social–emotional competence and its development. The Australian Educational Researcher, 46(4), 699-714.‏ https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-019-00342-2
Collie, R. J., Martin, A. J., Renshaw, L., & Caldecott-Davis, K. (2024). Students’ perceived social-emotional competence: The role of autonomy-support and links with well-being, social-emotional skills, and behaviors. Learning and instruction, 90, 101866.‏ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2023.101866
Crowe, L. M., Anderson, V., Catroppa, C., Yeates, K. O., Lo, W., & Greenham, M. L. (2022). Self-perception and behavioural outcomes of early acquired brain injury. Neuropsychological rehabilitation, 1–14. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/09602011.2022.2067188
Diener, E., & Chan, M. Y. (2011). Happy people live longer: Subjective well‐being contributes to health and longevity. Applied Psychology: Health and Well‐Being, 3(1), 1 43. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1758-0854.2010.01045.x
Eriksen, E. V. & Bru, E. (2022). Investigating the links of social-emotional competencies: Emotional well-being and academic engagement among Scandinavian adolescents. Journal of Educational Research, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/00313831.2021.2021441
Farnam, A., & Madadizade, T. (2017). Effect of positive training on positive psychological states (character strengths) of female high school students. Positive Psychology Research, 3 (1), 61-76. https://doi.org/10.22108/ppls.2017.96495.0 (in Persian)
Foody, M., Kuldas, S., Sargioti, A., Mazzone, A., & Norman, J. O. H. (2023). Sexting behaviour among adolescents: Do friendship quality and social competence matter?. Computers in Human Behavior, 142, 107651.‏ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2023.107651
Hanson, K. (2019). Positive psychology for overcoming symptoms of depression: A pilot study exploring the efficacy of a positive psychology self-help book versus a CBT self-help book. Behavioural and cognitive psychotherapy, 47(1), 95-113. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1352465818000218
Hijazi, E., & Zohrevand, Z. (2001). Examining the criteria and quality of friendships between female children and adolescents. Journal of Psychology and Educational Sciences, 6 (1), 1-20. https://journals.ut.ac.ir/article_12859.html (in Persian)
Ilbeigy Ghalenei, R., & Rostami, M. (2016). Role of Parenting Styles, Perfectionism, and Quality of Friendship in Predicting the Drug Craving in Addicted People. Etiadpajohi, 10 (37) :115-136. http://etiadpajohi.ir/article-1-602-fa.html
Karademas, E. C. (2006). Self-efficacy, Social support, and well-being: The mediating role of optimism. Personality and Individual Differences, 40, 1281-1290. Lyubomirsky, S. & Layous, K. (2013). How do simple positive activities increase wellbeing? Association for Psychological Science, 22, 1. 57– 62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2005.10.019.   
Karademas, E. C., Konstantions, K., & Sideridis, G. D. (2007). Optimism, self-efficacy, and information processing of threat –and well-being- related stimuli. Stress and Health, 23, 285-294. https://doi.org/10.1002/smi.1147
Keshavarz Afshar, H., Javaheri, A., & Ghazinejad, N. (2020). Identifying the Quality of Friendship in Students with Learning Disabilities. Culture of counseling and psychotherapy, 11 (41), 91-116. https://doi.org/10.22054/qccpc.2020.47742.2231
Kim, S. H., & Shin, S. (2021). Social–emotional competence and academic achievement of nursing students: A canonical correlation analysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(4), 1752.‏ https://doi.org/10.1002/smi.1147
Kotera, Y., Green, P., & Sheffield, D. (2021). Positive Psychology for Mental Wellbeing of UK Therapeutic Students: Relationships with Engagement, Motivation, Resilience and Self-Compassion. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 12(3), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-020-00466-y
Lee, J., Shapiro, V. B., Robitaille, J. L., & LeBuffe, P. (2023). Measuring the development of social-emotional competence using behavioral rating scales in the context of school-based social and emotional learning. Social and Emotional Learning: Research, Practice, and Policy, 2, 100015.‏ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sel.2023.100015.
Manafi, F., khosravi, Z., & Dehshiri, G. (2019). The relationship between friendship quality, affective style and obsessive-compulsive, avoidant and dependent personality disorder symptoms. Biannual Journal of Clinical Psychology & Personality, 16 (2), 131-139. https://dorl.net/dor/20.1001.1.23452188.1397.16.2.12.5.
Mantz, L. S., Bear, G. G., Yang, C. & Harris, A. (2018). The Delaware Social –Emotional Competency Scale (DSECS-S): Evidence of Validity and Reliability. Child Indicators Research, 11(1), 137-157. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-016-9427-6.
Marie, D., Thoma, D., Barbara, J., & Pherson, M. C. (2011). Teaching positive psychology using team-based learning. The Journal of Positive Psychology: Dedicated to furthering research and promoting good practice, 6(6), 487-491.
Mazaheri, M. (2023). The role of social-emotional competence and social bonding in adolescents' problematic use of the Internet [Master's thesis, Al-Zahra University]. (in Persian)
Mousavi, S., Dasht Bozorgi, Z., Heidarie, A., Pasha, R., & Borna, M. (2021). The Effectiveness of Positive Training on Self Compassion and Emotion Regulation in Men's Substance Dependents. Positive Psychology Research, 7 (1), 65-75. https://doi.org/10.22108/ppls.2021.125575.2004 (in Persian)
Na-Nan, K. (2024, July). The moderating effects of positive thinking on the relationship between job stress and turnover intention. In Evidence-Based HRM: A Global Forum for Empirical Scholarship (Vol. 12, No. 3, pp. 531-548). Emerald Publishing Limited.‏ https://doi.org/10.1108/EBHRM-09-2022-0233
Nazemi, F., Tajali, P., Ebrahimpour, M., Salehi, M. (2023). The Effectiveness of the Child Self-regulation Program on Self-perception and Friendship Quality of Children with Attention Deficit/hyperactivity Disorder, Journal of Psychology of Exceptional Individuals, 13(49), 59-85. https://doi.org/10.22054/jpe.2023.69193.2471 (in Persian)
O’Connell, B. H., O’Shea, D., & Gallagher, S. (2015). Enhancing social relationships through positive psychology activities: a randomised controlled trial. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 11(2), 149-162. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2015.1037860
Poulou, M. S., & Denham, S. A. (2023). Teachers’ emotional expressiveness and coping reactions to students’ emotions: Associations with students’ social-emotional competences and school adjustment. Early education and development, 34(3), 607-625.‏ https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2022.2053486
Qesari Goodarzi, S., Ghadampour, E., Ghorbani, M. & Padervand, H. (2020). Effectiveness of group-based positive thinking training on social adjustment and reducing the interpersonal sensitivity of students with mathematical disorder . Empowering Exceptional Children Journal, 2 (23), 37-47. https://doi.org/10.22034/ceciranj.2020.218730.1333 (in Persian)
Yang, J., Deng, Y., & Wang, Y. (2023). Reciprocal Associations among Social–Emotional Competence, Interpersonal Relationships and Academic Achievements in Primary School. Behavioral Sciences, 13(11), 922.‏ https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13110922
Zhou, M., & Ee, J. (2012). Development and validation of the social emotional competence questionnaire (SECQ). The International Journal of Emotional Education, 2, 27-42.https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/bitstream/123456789/6140/1/ENSECV4I2P2.pdf.
 

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 23 October 2024
  • Revise Date: 22 December 2024
  • Accept Date: 01 March 2025

Share

How to cite

Statistics