The Effects of Positive Thinking Training on Psychological Hardiness and Social Competence of Students

Success in school is one of the most important goals of students which require appropriate social skills and psychological hardiness, so using effective intervention strategies to promote hardiness and social competence in schools seems to be essential for researchers and psychologists. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of positive thinking training on increasing psychological hardiness and social competence in students.

The research method was quasi-experimental with pretest - posttest - control group. The sample of this study consisted of 40 first grade students who were selected by cluster sampling and were randomly divided into two groups (20 students in each group). The experimental group received eight 90-minute sessions of positive thinking but the control group did not receive this intervention. Data were collected using Ahvaz Psychological Hardiness (Kiamarsi, (1998) questionnaire and Social Competence scale (Felner, 1990). Analysis of variance with repeated measures was used for data analysis

The results showed that the positive thinking training was effective on increasing psychological hardiness and social competence among the students, both in post-test and follow up stages (P<0/05).

Positive thinking helps people to evaluate stressful situations and problems with a positive attitude. Therefore, based on the results of the present study, positive thinking training has been able to develop psychological hardiness and social competence by generating positive mental thoughts and schemas in students.