INVESTIGATING THE EFFECT OF POSITIVE THINKING TRAINING ON STUDENTS ACADEMIC ENGAGEMENT AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

The main purpose of the present study is to investigate the effectiveness of positive thinking training on the
academic engagement and social development of students. This study was a semi-experimental work with a
pretest-posttest design and control group. The statistical population in this study consisted of all female
secondary students in Hamidieh City educating in the academic year 2020-2021. The sampling method in
this study was random sampling. 30 students were selected randomly and were divided into control and
experimental groups (15 students per group). The data collection instrument in this study was Weitzman's
Social Development Questionnaire (1990), and the Academic Engagement Questionnaire, of Frederick,
Bloomfield, Paris (2006). The positive thinking training program was implemented on the experimental
group for 8 sessions with 90min per session during 8 sequential weeks, and the control group received no
intervention. The data analysis was done using SPSS, descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, and
MANCOVA. The results showed a significant difference between pre-intervention and post-intervention
mean values. However, a significant difference was observed between control and experimental groups after
intervention in terms of mean values (p<0.01). The results showed that the social development and academic
engagement of students are different after teaching positive thinking in the experimental group compared to
the control group. In other words, positive thinking training was effective and could enhance the academic
engagement and social development of the students.