Positive psychological traits, school functioning, and psychological adjustment in elementary schoolchildren

Abstract

AbstractThe present study explored the associations among positive psychological traits, school functioning, and psychological adjustment of elementary schoolchildren. Participants included 392 children in Grades 6–8 attending a Turkish public elementary school. There were 48.2% (189) female and 51.8% (203) male participants, and they ranged in age from 11 to 14 years (M= 12.83,SD= .94). Findings of the study indicated that youths with high positive psychological traits reported higher levels of prosocial behaviour, school belonging and academic achievement, and lower levels of externalising and internalising problems. Path analysis outcomes revealed that the positive psychology constructs had significant and large associations with prosocial behaviour, school belonging, internalising and externalising problems, as well as small-to-large associations with student academic achievement. Overall, the combination of these positive traits, namely covitality, had stronger associations with youths’ school functioning and psychological adjustment than the constructs that comprise covitality. The outcomes suggest substantial associations between positive psychological traits and youths’ school-based and psychological characteristics.