The Effect of Teaching Philosophy to Children on General Health and Anxiety among the Middle School Students in Tehran

This study was conducted aimed at investigating the effect of teaching philosophy to children on general health and anxiety among middle school students.

This was an applied study in terms of purpose and a quasi-experimental one, with a pre-test and a post-test and control and experimental groups, in terms of data collection method. The statistical population included the middle school students in District 5 of Tehran during the period 2009-2010, and the sample size was 30 subjects. Subjects were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. Sampling was performed using the convenience sampling method. Data collection tools were the Goldberg’s General Health Questionnaire (1972) and the Spitzer’s Generalized Anxiety Disorder Questionnaire (1983). The experimental group participated in 8 sessions of a 60-minute philosophy training course that was based on the "Philosophy Lesson plans for Children". Data were analyzed using the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).

Findings showed indicated that there was a significant difference between the general health scores of the experimental and control groups after teaching philosophy (P <0.01).

The results indicated that teaching philosophy to children had a positive effect on their general health and anxiety.