Positive Youth Development and Positive Psychology

Article by Karianne Rivera

Description:

It's clear that many children are not on the right track when it comes to education. This may be due to a number of circumstances, but the most important circumstance seems to be (surprisingly) a student's happiness. This means their happiness in school, at home, with themselves, with their friends or with their teachers. If happiness will have a positive correlation with good grades and getting into college and getting involved in school, then the key to achieving this positive correlation would be to find out what makes students happy. A branch of psychology called Positive Psychology studies happiness, how people can have happiness and what causes happiness. Positive Youth Development is a concept that summarizes the intentional efforts of other youths, adults, communities, government agencies and schools to provide opportunities for youth to enhance their interests, skills and abilities into their adulthoods. So how can these two be related?

The answer is obvious: we can use Positive Psychology to help improve the Positive Youth Development in Tampa. Since Tampa was recently named one of the best cities in the nation for youths, we want to see if Tampa truly deserves that title. What we need to know is how many teens feel hopeless about their future? How many teens are either failing or have dropped out of high school? And how many teens hate their school and teachers? The answer to all of these questions is probably a lot. Yes, there are a handful of students who do benefit from Tampa's many programs, but what about those other not-so-fortunate students? How do we help them?

That's where Positive Psychology comes in. We may not be able to control a student's family, their friends, or their self esteem, but we can control their school environment and their relationship with their teachers. Studies show that in middle school students, 15% of their happiness at school depends on how they are treated by their teachers. If teachers can successfully make their kids happy, the students' overall satisfaction with school will increase and positive youth development will occur. Sounds simple right?

There's still the issue of what teachers can do to make their students happy. Thanks to Dr. Shannon Suldo that issue has been worked out. Dr. Suldo did a study about Positive Psychology using middle school students and she asked them what their teachers did that made them happy or unhappy. Girls were happiest when their teachers used diverse teaching strategies to ensure student learning and they were the least happy when teachers were in negative moods or had poor emotional states. Boys were happiest when they received rewards like candy for good behavior and were the least happy when teachers showed biases or preferences toward students. Using the results from the Positive Psychology study, we can ensure a student's happiness in the classroom, which will make them more motivated, goal-oriented, and hopeful about their future. Using Positive Psychology, we can increase our community's positive youth development and create a happier, smarter, and more promising generation of Tampa Youth.

Contact Person: Cindy J Liberton

Funding for Academic Year: 2008-09

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	Positive Youth Development and Positive Psychology Article by Karianne Rivera Description: It's clear that many children are not on the right track when it comes to education. This may be due to a number of circumstances, but the most important circumstance seems to be (surprisingly) a student's happiness. This means their happiness in school, at home, with themselves, with their friends or with their teachers. If happiness will have a positive correlation with good grades and getting into college and getting involved in school, then the key to achieving this positive correlation would be to find out what makes students happy. A branch of psychology called Positive Psychology studies happiness, how people can have happiness and what causes happiness. Positive Youth Development is a concept that summarizes the intentional efforts of other youths, adults, communities, government agencies and schools to provide opportunities for youth to enhance their interests, skills and abilities into their adulthoods. So how can these two be related? The answer is obvious: we can use Positive Psychology to help improve the Positive Youth Development in Tampa. Since Tampa was recently named one of the best cities in the nation for youths, we want to see if Tampa truly deserves that title. What we need to know is how many teens feel hopeless about their future? How many teens are either failing or have dropped out of high school? And how many teens hate their school and teachers? The answer to all of these questions is probably a lot. Yes, there are a handful of students who do benefit from Tampa's many programs, but what about those other not-so-fortunate students? How do we help them? That's where Positive Psychology comes in. We may not be able to control a student's family, their friends, or their self esteem, but we can control their school environment and their relationship with their teachers. Studies show that in middle school students, 15% of their happiness at school depends on how they are treated by their teachers. If teachers can successfully make their kids happy, the students' overall satisfaction with school will increase and positive youth development will occur. Sounds simple right? There's still the issue of what teachers can do to make their students happy. Thanks to Dr. Shannon Suldo that issue has been worked out. Dr. Suldo did a study about Positive Psychology using middle school students and she asked them what their teachers did that made them happy or unhappy. Girls were happiest when their teachers used diverse teaching strategies to ensure student learning and they were the least happy when teachers were in negative moods or had poor emotional states. Boys were happiest when they received rewards like candy for good behavior and were the least happy when teachers showed biases or preferences toward students. Using the results from the Positive Psychology study, we can ensure a student's happiness in the classroom, which will make them more motivated, goal-oriented, and hopeful about their future. Using Positive Psychology, we can increase our community's positive youth development and create a happier, smarter, and more promising generation of Tampa Youth. Contact Person: Cindy J Liberton Funding for Academic Year: 2008-09


	Monday November 23 2009