Using positive psychology interventions to strengthen family happiness: A family systems approach

ABSTRACT

A randomized wait-list control study examined the effects of two positive psychology interventions (PPIs) on 300 families across six countries. A systems approach was used to design the PPIs and to interpret the impact of these upon family happiness. A system is an interconnected set of elements (e.g., the people, practices, rituals, and resources of a family) that are coherently organized around a common purpose (e.g., family functioning). System approaches recognize that individuals are influenced by the environments within which they are situated and as such move beyond interventions that target individual change to look at triggering relational change. Families who undertook the PPIs were significantly happier at post-test compared to pre-intervention levels and compared to the wait-list control families. This study suggests that introducing positive practices (e.g., strength spotting) into a family may act to change the system elements and, thus, change family outcomes. System theory and Fredrickson’s broaden-and-build theory are used to explain the results.

KEYWORDS:

• Positive psychology
• interventions
• strength-based parenting
• happiness
• well-being
• families
• systems

Disclosure statemen

Lea Waters has published a book on her strength-based parenting research and has been a speaker both pro bono and remunerated on the topic of strength-based parenting. The current research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Notes

1. For further thinking on the elements of PPIs, see Owens and Waters (2021) in this special edition, who outline nine classifications of youth-based PPIs based upon treatment approaches that either aim to decrease or prevent problems/deficits/disorders or seek to promote positive processes and outcomes.

2. See https://www.strengthswitch.com/.

3. ANOVA and chi-square analysis found no differences in family demographics across the three experimental groups in terms of number of children, parent age, and family constellation.