An article in the British Journal of Psychology describes research into whether, and how, a single close supportive friendship may facilitate psychological resilience in socioeconomically vulnerable young people. The authors conclude that such friendships facilitate resilience, and that at least one close friendship helps adolescents craft meaning and strength amid substantial adversity.

A total of 409 participants aged 11 to 19 were recruited through three comprehensive secondary schools and two colleges in Yorkshire with deprived surrounding areas (n=394), and through an online mailing list for peer supporters (n=15). They completed self-reported measures of close friendship quality, psychological resilience, social support, and other resources. Findings revealed:

• There was a significant positive association between perceived friendship quality and resilience. This was facilitated through inter-related mechanisms of developing a constructive coping style (comprised of support-seeking and active coping), effort, a supportive friendship network, and reduced disengaged and externalizing coping.
• There were gender differences. Perceived friendship quality facilitated effort and friendship network support more strongly for boys than girls, and in contrast it promoted constructive coping more strongly for girls. Boys were more vulnerable to the harmful effects of disengaged and externalizing coping than girls.

The authors suggest a number of implications for practice, including:

• Practitioners might prioritize existing and emerging supportive adolescent friendships within resilience interventions
• Interventions might promote peer-based coping skills and self-efficacy
• Supportive peer friendships might be regularly included within assessments of psychosocial resources by clinicians and educators

Source :Graber, R., Turner, R., & Madill, A. (2016). Best friends and better coping: Facilitating psychological resilience through boys’ and girls’ closest friendships. British Journal of Psychology, 107(2), 338–358. … Read the rest

An article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) has found that happy people tend to earn more. The authors used data from a large representative panel in the U.S., and looked at earnings approximately ten years after well-being was measured. They found that

• Adolescents and young adults who reported higher life satisfaction grew up to earn significantly higher levels of income later in life.
• The positive emotions and the experience of feeling happy at 16 and age 18, as well as life satisfaction at age 22 also predicted later earnings at age 29.

This conclusion takes into account the possibility that people may imagine their future high socioeconomic status and that this might have a positive impact on their current well-being. Other factors, such as education, intelligence, physical health, and height were also taken into account in the analysis.

Source (Open Access):De Neve, J.-E., & Oswald, A. J. (2012). Estimating the influence of life satisfaction and positive affect on later income using sibling fixed effects. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(49), 19953–19958. … Read the rest

Researchers from Queen’s University in Belfast have explored the relationship between well-being and academic achievement scores among primary school children, and found it to be statistically significant. These findings were based on data on academic achievement and a range of well-being indicators gathered through a cross-sectional survey of 1,081 students aged 7-11 in Northern Ireland. The team used six of the most common measures of well-being, covering psychological factors, school engagement factors, and family and peer relationship factors.

The authors found that

• The positive relationship between well-being and achievement was the same for all children, regardless of their gender or socio-economic background.
• For Year 7 students who have high levels of wellbeing (a standard deviation above the sample mean), the predicted probability of achieving the expected national standard in English and Mathematics was 9.4 percentage point higher than those of low levels of wellbeing (a standard deviation below the sample mean).
• Neither gender nor deprivation could significantly predict well-being.

Therefore, they suggest that efforts to improve achievement that focus on well-being should not be targeted specifically to children in economically deprived areas or be modified in terms of gender. Instead, a more universal approach to promoting well-being across the population would be appropriate in order to improve educational achievement.

Source :Miller, S., Connolly, P., & Maguire, L. K. (2013). Wellbeing, academic buoyancy and educational achievement in primary school students. International Journal of Educational Research, 62, 239–248. … Read the rest

A research report from the Childhood Wellbeing Research Centre in the UK looks at family “stressors” and the impact on children’s outcomes. The authors look at whether particular life events are especially detrimental, whether they have an impact across different outcomes (educational, social, etc.), and whether the effects of early childhood events persist into adolescence. They also look at the association between family factors and outcomes.

The findings of the report are broad, especially as different family factors can be associated with different types of outcomes. Key findings include that

• Extreme stressful events, such as homelessness, victimization, or abuse, can have long-term effects on children’s outcomes.
• Some stressful events have an impact on children’s emotional and social well-being but not their educational outcomes, and so their negative impacts may therefore be harder to pick up.

The authors point out that in order to target interventions, it is important to understand which family circumstances are significant for child well-being at different ages, and how that varies across outcomes.

Source (Open Access): Jones, E., Gutman, L., & Platt, L. (2013). Family stressors and children’s outcomes (Research Report FDE-RR254). Leicestershire, UK: Childhood Wellbeing Research Centre… Read the rest

This paper, written by Robert Slavin and colleagues from Johns Hopkins University, the University of Liege, and the Institute for Effective Education, reviews research on the outcomes of writing program for students in grades 2 to 12. Studies had to meet rigorous standards of research including use of randomized or well-matched control groups; measures independent of the program developers, researchers, and teachers; and adequate sample size and duration. Fourteen studies of 12 programs met the criteria and programs were divided into three categories: writing process models, cooperative learning writing programs, and programs integrating reading and writing. The findings were:

• Student achievement effects on writing were positive in all categories, with an effect size of +0.18 across all 14 studies.
• Similar outcomes were found for writing programs that focused on the writing process (ES =+0.17), those using cooperative learning (ES=+0.16), and those focusing on interactions between reading and writing (ES =+0.19)

In conclusion, the authors suggested that successful approaches should always be intentionally structured to build students’ skills, confidence, and motivation.

Source (Open Access): Slavin, E.R., Lake, C., Inns, A., Baye, A., Dachet, D., Haslam, J. (2019). A Quantitative Synthesis of Research on Writing Approaches in Years 3 to 13. London, England: Education Endowment Foundation.… Read the rest