Welcome back - I hope you’ve all had a lovely summer!
I wanted to share with you a study published by the Journal of Happiness Studies in 2020 by Lu et al.
Objectives of study: This study wanted to look at how the notion of ‘helping others’ or altruistic traits impacted the mental health and wellbeing of adolescents. The study conducted a survey of 428 students from primary, junior high schools and senior high schools in East China. Students were assessed for their altruism, life satisfaction, and positive and negative emotions. Altruism was measured in terms of sociability, empathy, social responsibility and interpersonal trust.
Headline findings: Adolescents who have higher levels of altruism were found to have more positive emotions, and fewer negative emotions.
Summary of study:
The life satisfaction in particular for those showing altruistic behaviours was higher
In particular, empathy, social responsibility and interpersonal trust positively predicted life satisfaction
No direct correlations were found between sociability and life satisfaction
How does this impact me and my practice?:
Some reflections questions arising from this that might be helpful to consider are:
How do these findings impact our view of what it means to educate adolescents?
In what ways can we teach and role model empathy, social responsibility and interpersonal trust to students?
How does this relate to our CAS provision and IB philosophy?
If anyone would like to discuss this further comment below and start the conversation!
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