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The effectiveness positive youth development educational program on happiness and hope in students
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Nilofar Akbarzade1    , Mahmoud Najafi *2 |
1- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Semnan University, Iran
2- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Semnan University, Iran |
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Abstract: (327 Views) |
Background and Purpose: Adolescence, as a critical developmental period marked by unique psychological and social challenges, necessitates effective interventions to enhance happiness and hope, two key indicators of mental well-being. The present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a Positive Youth Development educational program on on happiness and hope in students.
Method: This quasi-experiment study employed a pretest–posttest–follow-up design with a control group. The statistical population consisted of all male sixth-grade elementary students in Amol city during the second semester of the 2024–2025 academic year. Thirty participants were selected via convenience sampling and randomly assigned to either an experimental group (n = 15) or a control group (n = 15). Measures included the most recently validated Iranian versions of the The Oxford Happiness Inventory (OHI; Argyle et al., 1989) and the Hind’s Hopefulness Scale for Adolescents (1985). The intervention consisted of the Positive Youth Development Educational Package (Hosseinabad et al., 2019), delivered in 24 sessions (two 60-minute sessions per week) over three months to the experimental group, while the control group received no intervention during this period. Pretests were administered to both groups prior to the intervention; posttests, and a one-month follow-up. After the follow-up test, the educational package was provided to the control group. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) with SPSS - 25.
Results: The Positive Youth Development intervention yielded statistically significant effects on happiness (F = 18.135, p < .001), optimistic thinking (F = 8.218, p < .001), and pessimistic thinking (F = 6.656, p = .003), indicating significant increases in happiness and optimistic thinking, alongside a significant decrease in pessimistic thinking in the experimental group compared to the control group. These improvements remained stable at the one-month follow-up.
Conclusions: The findings underscore the importance of integrating Positive Youth Development–based psychological programs into the educational system and school counseling services. |
Article number: 2 |
| Keywords: Happiness, hope, positive youth development educational program, students |
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Type of Study: Research |
Subject:
Special
Received: 2025/09/18 | Accepted: 2025/12/10 | Published: 2025/12/10
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