The Effects of Positive Psychology on Emotional Independence and Happiness in Orphan and Mistreated Adolescents

Orphanage and being mistreated present adverse psychological and educational effects on children. The lack of happiness that includes repeated experiences of unpleasant emotions and feelings, a general feeling of life dissatisfaction, and the loss of emotional independence are among the major problems in these groups. Furthermore, attempting to find suitable strategies to increase life satisfaction and emotional independence can improve the quality of life as well as the vitality and happiness of individuals and the social and spiritual health of the community. Positive psychology, unlike other approaches focusing on problems and deficiencies, focuses on enhancing positive emotions as well as the meaning of life; thus, this study aimed to investigate the effects of positive psychology on emotional independence and happiness among the orphan and mistreated adolescents.

This was a quasi–experimental study with a pretest–posttest and a control group design. The statistical population was all orphan and mistreated adolescents in Islamshahr City, Iran, from March 2019 to June 2019. In total, 30 eligible individuals were selected and randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. The inclusion criteria of the study included adolescence (age range: 12–18 y), willingness to attend meetings, and literacy. The exclusion criteria of the study were the presence of concomitant acute psychiatric disorders, unwillingness to cooperate with the research, and absence from>2 intervention sessions. The necessary data were collected using the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (Hills & Argyle, 2002) and the Emotional Autonomy Scale (Steinberg & Silverberg, 1986). Positive psychology training was provided to the experimental group in fourteen 60–minute sessions; however, the control group received no intervention. The content of the sessions was fostered from the perspective of Rashid's positive psychology (2009). Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics (mean & SD) and inferential statistics, including Chi–squared test and Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) in SPSS. The significance level was considered 0.01.

The MANCOVA results suggested that positive psychology training was effective in increasing emotional independence (p<0.001) and its components, including individuality (p=0.016), independence (p=0.017), and self–reliance (p<0.001) in the examined orphan and mistreated adolescents. Furthermore, positive psychology training effectively increased happiness in the study subjects (p<0.001). Eta–squared results indicated that the effects of positive psychology on emotional independence and happiness were equal to 0.449 and 0.376, respectively.

Based on the present research results, positive psychotherapy training can be used to promote happiness and emotional independence among the orphan and mistreated adolescents. Therefore, it is recommended that that counselors and psychologists take measures, such as holding positivity workshops to increase emotional independence and happiness in the country's adolescent and young populations.