The Effect of Novel Reading on Improving Cognitive Fusion and Social Adaptation of Shiraz First year High school Students

Introduction and goal: 

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of reading novels by teenagers on improving cognitive fusion and social adjustment of female students of the first year of high school in Shiraz in Iran.

The quasi-experimental research method was a pre-test-post-test design with a control group and a follow-up period. The statistical population of the research included all female students of the first year of high school in Fars province. In order to determine the sample size, 40youth members of artistic cultural centers of the Center for Intellectual Development of Children and Adolescents were selected using available sampling method and were randomly placed in groups of 20 people as evidence and experiment.In order to carry out the experimental project, 9 titles of novels from the collection of novels for teenagers today were introduced to the teenagers of the experimental group and read by them. After reading each book title, a book discussion session was held. The research tool was Gillanders et al.'s cognitive fusion questionnaire (2015) and Sinha and Singh's students' social adjustment questionnaire (1993). Data analysis was done in two stages: descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (univariate covariance analysis test).

The results of this research showed that by studying teenage novels, the mean values of both cognitive-fusion and social adjustment variables have decreased in the post-test compared to before the implementation of the experimental plan. Also, based on covariance analysis, the effect of studying teenage novels on improving cognitive fusion was 0.82 and increased social adjustment was 0.78 in female students aged 13to 15.

Reflecting on the basic needs of students in accordance with the current conditions and expectations based on the document of fundamental transformation in indirect and effective education and considering the impact of reading teenage novels; Allocating an hour from the extracurriculars of teenagers to non-curricular studies in order to prevent and improve the inevitable disorders caused by the growth process of students in schools is suggested by planners at the macro level.