Positive Psychology and Adolescents: Part 1

 

Many would attest that the main goal in life is to attain happiness and well-being. Psychology, as well as many other disciplines in the health/medical field, tends to focus on disorders, the negatives, problems, ailments, illnesses, disease, abnormalities, etc. instead of the opposite. This is partly due to the nature of the work, obviously, but well-being is often overlooked. There are many proactive approaches to take toward well-rounded physical and mental health and well-being, such as exercise, sleep hygiene, healthy eating, social connection, and resources, just to name a few. These do not seem to be emphasized enough and less attention seems to be placed on these proactive approaches, especially within the child and adolescent population, as opposed to reactive approaches and solutions once a problem is identified. Sometimes this can be too late, unfortunately, as there may already be too much damage.

Taking a more proactive approach to health seems to make much more sense. Focusing on and emphasizing physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, or interpersonal strengths can go a long way in terms of preventative and proactive benefits. Positive psychology is an excellent strategy to accomplish this. No matter what happens in life, resilience and health benefits can be gleaned by focusing on strengths and keeping an optimistic outlook toward life. By definition, positive psychology is the study of positive emotions, character, and institutions (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). Psychologists have been studying human thought and behavior for hundreds of years, but most of it has been geared toward the more negative aspects and disorders. Some of this is quite possibly due to the age of the field as a whole, and positive psychology is comparatively a more recent area within psychology. Positive psychologists study mental health and well-being as well as the common disorders and maladies that have been assessed in psychology for decades, but the primary focus is different. Positive psychologists have greatly enhanced the overall understanding of positive emotions, positive character, and the institutions that help positivity flourish (Seligman, Steen, Park, & Peterson, 2005). Seligman et al. (2005) discuss the importance of positive psychology because it takes into account what is known about mental illness, scientifically and practically, and use it to make people lastingly happier. They suggest that the purpose of this field is to contribute as much as possible to living “the good life” and to create evidence-based practices and treatments in positive psychology.

Seligman et al. (2005) note that positive psychology is an umbrella term that intends “to have a more complete and balanced scientific understanding of the human experience — the peaks, the valleys, and everything in between” (p. 2). These researchers believe in the importance of looking at and understanding the human experience from the negative side but just as importantly from the positive side. Suffering, happiness, and the interaction of the two are essential to grasp if the field is to find ways to increase happiness and decrease suffering. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM-5; [APA], 2013) classifies and includes psychological disorders that disable human beings, where positive psychology does the opposite by looking at positive traits, individual differences, and virtues (Seligman et al., 2005).

Positive psychology emphasizes virtues, and researchers talk about six virtues that are basically endorsed worldwide, including wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence (Dahlsgaard, Peterson, & Seligman, 2005). Seligman et al. (2005) mention how the field tends to avoid using the term “universal”, and there are other virtues or strengths that are commonly endorsed around the world and these are kindness, fairness, authenticity, gratitude, and open-mindedness. A few others not as commonly endorsed included prudence, modesty, and self-regulation. There are interesting demographic variables that also influence endorsement of virtues and strengths, such as gender, age, race, religiosity, etc. For example, these researchers found that in the United States different virtues are more important for youth than adults and vice versa. “Hope, teamwork, and zest were more common among US youth than US adults, whereas appreciation of beauty, authenticity, leadership, and open-mindedness were more common among adults” (Seligman et al., 2005, p. 4). No matter what virtues are most highly endorsed, many can agree that happiness is the common goal sought by people regardless of age, race, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, etc.

The benefits of positive psychology are wide ranging and can greatly affect the lives of people at any stage of development from children to older adults (Seligman et al., 2005). It is important to implement these principles and start orienting people toward positivity rather than negativity early on. This can be challenging when so much focus is placed on negativity in the mental health field, and the health field in general, due to the nature of pathology and physical ailments. Adding to the difficulty is the fact that humans’ biological predispositions and brain neurology, given evolution, are to be hyper-sensitive to and focused upon negatives in the environment due to the human negativity bias (Berkovic, 2017; Laguttata & Kramer, 2017). The human negativity bias, put briefly, it is the tendency for people to place more attention and focus on negative stimuli in their immediate environment than on positive stimuli.

Positive interventions beginning in adolescence are essential for facilitating long term well-being due to the biopsychosocial changes that are occurring during this developmental period (Meeus, 2016). This is a challenging time for humans because it is such a relatively short period of time with so many profound and important changes that affect the rest of the lifespan. The residual consequences of these changes can be catastrophic if too much negativity and distraction are present. Adolescents face the risk of getting into unhealthy coping methods that can harm them for years, or they can even engage in self-harm/suicidality. More importantly, the consequences of moving through the adolescent years can be mentally, psychologically, emotionally, physically, and socially satisfying and invaluable if proper support and guidance are present. Some of these changes include developmental changes that are physical in nature such as brain development, social development and forming meaningful relationships, sexual development, physical development, and securing a sense of self-identify, confidence, and esteem (Meeus, 2016).

Adolescence is a time habits begin to be formed, so it is vital to start forming healthy and positive habits that can bolster one’s resiliency and stress tolerance while also enhancing coping skills and fostering long-term happiness. Unfortunately, much of what happens in the school system, where adolescents spend so much of their time and form so many habits and views of self, involves focusing on weaknesses and comparisons (MacConville & Rae, 2012). According to MacConville and Rae (2012), those who work in the education system try to find out what is wrong with a student as to fix it but, when strengths are not sufficiently emphasized, one can lose motivation and feel unworthy. Adolescents spend significant time within the education system, but they also interact with parents or other authority figures throughout their developmental years. Parents are a major factor in successful or harmful development because their personalities, influences, reinforcement, consistency, responsiveness, communication, attention, etc. play important roles in healthy or unhealthy development (Glatz & Buchanan, 2015). Many adolescents require mental health assistance because of harmful or ineffective parenting and other social hardships that cause significant damage during these developmental years.

Check out some of the references here.