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Bright Ideas: A School-Based Program Teaching Optimistic Thinking Skills in Pre-Adolescence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2016

Cathy M. Brandon ,
Everarda G. Cunningham  and
Erica Frydenberg
Cathy M. Brandon
Affiliation:
University of Melbourne
Everarda G. Cunningham*
Affiliation:
University of Melbourne
Erica Frydenberg
Affiliation:
University of Melbourne
*
Department of Learning and Educational Development, Faculty of Education, University of MelbourneParkville 3052, Victoria Australia. Email: a.cunningham@edfac.unimelb.edu.au
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Abstract

Research into the areas of depression and resilience suggests that an optimistic attributional style is a key factor in coping effectively with stressors and functioning adaptively despite adversity. This study evaluates the effectiveness of a program designed to increase positive thinking skills, through awareness and practice, to pre-adolescent children who have been identified as exhibiting a more pessimistic explanatory style. From a total of 110 Year 5 and 6 students, 38 students were selected to participate in the program because they exhibited a more pessimistic explanatory style. Program participants were administered the Children's Attributional Style Questionnaire (CASQ) at pre-, post-, and 3-month post-program. Non-program participants completed the CASQ at pre- and 3-month post- program. Results indicated that program participants significantly improved their attributional style scores post program, and that these improvements were maintained at 3-month post-program follow-up. When attributional style difference scores at pre- and 3-month post program were compared, improved scores for program participants were significantly greater than changes in attributional style scores for those students who were not in the program. Given the links between attributional style, depression, and a range of behaviours, such promising results warrant further investigation into the effects of such a program on other outcome measures. The findings provide support for the benefits to be gained by developing positive attributional style during the pre-adolescent years.

Type
Interventions
Information
Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools , Volume 9 , Issue S1: Health, Well-being and Coping in Young People , August 1999 , pp. 147 - 158
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1999

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