Efficacy Study of A Summer Intervention to Enhance Middle School Students' Subjective Well-Being, Gratitude, Engagement, and Self-Efficacy
Through a review of the literature, a limited number of empirically based studies and interventions were found evaluating the positive effects of comprehensive summer treatment programs on predictors of youth well-being and other positive psychological constructs. The current study examined the overall efficacy of a brief 2-week summer intervention designed to enhance middle school students' subjective well-being (SWB), gratitude, engagement, and perceived self-efficacy. Participants in the study included rising 6th to 9th grade middle school students who were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions: (1) the Leadership and Young Professionals (LYP) treatment group or (2) the writing and reading control group. Data were collected on participants at pre- and post-intervention including self-report measures of students' life satisfaction, gratitude, self-efficacy, engagement and frequency of positive and negative affect. Statistical methods for the study involved univariate analyses, inferential statistics using the General Linear Model (GLM) with pre-test scores as covariates, graphing of group means with 80% confidence intervals, and overall effect size calculations using Cohen's d to evaluate pre- to post-test differences for students in both the treatment and contact control group. The results of the current study provide support for the positive effects of summer-based interventions on enhancing predictors of adolescents' well-being and social functioning. Further study of the LYP intervention with objective measures assessed longitudinally is strongly recommended prior to broad dissemination.
Education, Educational Psychology, Gratitude, Intervention, Middle School Students, Self-Efficacy, Subjective Well-Being
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