Investigating the effectiveness of teaching positivity on increasing the sense of belonging to school and relationships with others among high school students in Tehran

Dissertation for Master's Degree in Counseling

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to determine the effectiveness of teaching positivity on students' sense of belonging to school and relationships with others. The statistical population in this research included all male high school students in the 18th district of Tehran. In this research, a multi-stage cluster sampling method has been used, in such a way that we randomly selected one high school among 39 high schools and high schools for boys in the 18th district of Tehran, and from this high school, a class of 10 students was selected as the control group and another class of 10 students was selected as the experimental group. In this research, the experimental group was trained for nine 60-minute sessions using the positivity approach using the built protocol, and we obtained the results and reported the difference between the two tests (pre-test and post-test).

The research tools include the school belongingness questionnaire [1] (Berry, Betty, Watt, 2004) and the scale of relationships with others [2] (Reif, 1989), which was one of the common tools in this field. It is possible that its validity and reliability have been confirmed in various researches. The current research design is a pre-test-post-test experiment with a control group, and the research data were analyzed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). The results showed that there is a significant difference in the sense of belonging to school and relationships with others of the experimental group students who received positive thinking training compared to the group that did not receive any type of training in this field (control group) (p < 0.05). Keywords: positivity training, sense of belonging to school, relationships with others 1- Sense of connectedness with school 2- Relation with others

Introduction

During the last decade, positive psychology [1] has become one of the major trends in psychology and has quickly found a suitable place in this field. The speed of this trend in becoming a practical and evidence-based approach [2] cannot be compared with the history of any other trend. This speed is especially impressive in the field of methods and interventions [3] that have been invented and used in positive psychology. The application of positive interventions in order to improve the quality of life, more satisfaction from life, happiness and vitality and achieving happiness (mental feeling of comfort) [4] and in a word happiness (happiness) [5]. The expansion of these applications has reached the point where in the last few years positive therapies [6] have been mentioned (Linley and Joseph [7], 2004).

"Positive psychology is the scientific study of positive experiences and positive personal traits and institutions that facilitate their growth. Positive psychology, considering that it deals with psychological well-being [8] and optimal functioning, may initially be an attachment or a part of clinical psychology, but we believe otherwise. Our belief is that people who endure the most intense psychological pressures are looking for something much more than relief from pain and suffering. People with problems are looking for more satisfaction, more pleasure and more satisfaction than spending less sadness and worry. They seek to build their strengths rather than correct their weaknesses, they seek to live a meaningful and purposeful life. It is obvious that these conditions cannot be achieved simply by removing pain and discomfort. (Duckworth [9] et al., 2005).

Janouz [10] et al. (1987) in their experiments found that people who experience positive affect show patterns of thinking that are remarkably unusual, flexible, and creative. He showed that positive emotion increases a person's desire for diversity and creates multiple behavioral options for a person. He showed that positive emotion leads to a flexible and broad cognitive organization and provides the ability to integrate broad topics for the individual, and he also found that when people are calm and happy, their thinking expands, they become more creative and their imagination expands. Smith and Trode [11] (1975) showed in their research that teaching positive thinking is effective on motivating progress. Humans are social beings who live in a social group from birth and have a sense of belonging to that group. As the child gets older, he feels more belonging to his parents, neighborhood, city, school and family members.The past and history of a person's life in school makes this feeling stronger, and these personal characteristics shared with other students lead to a greater sense of belonging to them (Fahremandian, 2017).

The feeling of belonging to the school, principal, teachers and school staff with targeted peer groups can create a sense of value and purpose in our children, develop self-esteem in them, and strengthen their sense of responsibility and self-awareness (Fahremandian, 1387). Studies have shown that with a person's sense of belonging to a particular environment or place, the amount of his commitment and sense of responsibility and dedication to that particular environment or place increases (Natiqpour, 2009).

Students in a situation where they consider themselves strangers to the school, even though they attend school and study and have their legal rights, but they are not considered students according to social definitions. A student from a social point of view is realized when students feel a sense of belonging to the school and its infrastructure and participate in the development of the school. Judging the sense of responsibility and participation of school members in the development of school programs, extracurricular activities can be explained and realized by evaluating and measuring the sense of belonging to the school (Natiqpour, 2009). Researchers found that students who are successful in school usually have a sense of belonging to school, and this category of students usually have better academic performance than others, and this is why successful students are less likely to drop out (Argyle, Michael [12], 2006). Januz et al. (2000) found that variables related to school experiences are the best predictors of academic failure and other psychological variables, even if they are significant, cannot be as predictive as school experiences (Alipour et al., 2014).   

Relationships with others means feeling satisfaction and intimacy from relationships with others and understanding the importance of these relationships (Kun and Rimpela [13], 2002). People who, for some reason, are unable to establish an acceptable relationship, often experience anxiety, sense of futility, and increasing isolation. Interpersonal communication is essential in our success in many ways such as social growth and development as well as positive and rational identity building.  Although it has been claimed that the peer group and their relationship can be effective in academic failure, Fine [14] (1986) believes that the peer group is only a part of the distractions in the school and the factor of family relationships plays a more fundamental role.

Increasing the communication of adolescents with school will stimulate formal communication with peers and friends. Adolescents who are influenced by peers and friends who involve them in informal relationships and illegal behaviors are more likely to be rejected. While teenagers who participate in activities that increase their positive sense of school (feeling of belonging to school) are less likely to have behavioral deviations (Pesht Mashhadhi, 2018). Case studies of children who are isolated from others show that they lack a strong self-concept and their mental and physical development is seriously damaged by their absence and lack of speech and language. Communication with others not only affects our sense of identity, but directly affects our mental and physical well-being (Nishida [15], 1999).  Research shows that connecting with others promotes health, while social isolation is associated with stress, illness, and early death (Collier & Thomas, 1998). People who lack close friends have more anxiety and depression than people who are close to others. A group of researchers reviewed research on health and relationships and concluded that social isolation is statistically as dangerous to health as high blood pressure, smoking, obesity, or high cholesterol (Collier & Thomas, 1998). Kim [17] (1988) showed in a study that children who do not have sufficient communication skills have more referrals to mental health professionals.