Improving Middle School Students' Subjective Well-Being: Efficacy of a Multicomponent Positive Psychology Intervention Targeting Small Groups of Youth

Abstract

.Most interventions intended to improve subjective well-being, termed positive psychology interventions (PPIs), have neglected to include relevant stakeholders in youth's lives and have not included booster sessions intended to maintain gains in subjective well-being. The current study investigated the impact of a multitarget, multicomponent (i.e., students plus parents), small group PPI on students' mental health (subjective well-being as well as symptoms of internalizing and externalizing forms of psychopathology) at postintervention and approximately two months follow-up. Forty-two seventh-grade students were randomly assigned either to immediately receive the PPI or to a wait-list control group. At postintervention, students who participated in the PPI evidenced significant gains in all indicators of subjective well-being (life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect), and there was a trend for practically meaningful reductions in internalizing and externalizing problems relative to the control group. At follow-up, gains in positive affect were maintained. Findings provide preliminary support for this multicomponent PPI as an evidence-based school-based intervention that causes long-lasting improvements in early adolescents' positive affect, a primary indicator of subjective well-being.

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