Fostering Kindness in Middle School: Insights and Implications From the Adolescent Kindness Studies

• In Event: Crown Plaza Roundtable Session 14

Abstract

The aims of these studies were to identify how adolescents enact kindness and to assess the effect of being kind on well-being. The pilot study saw 191 ninth graders describe and do five kind acts whereas the intervention study saw 383 sixth to eighth graders describe and do three kind acts each week for four weeks with pre- and post-assessments of well-being administered. For both studies, content analysis of kind acts identified themes of helping, being respectful, and complimenting/encouraging others. Participants’ intervention task completion identified zero, low, and high implementers. ANCOVAs revealed high implementers had the lowest self-reported negative affect, and the highest self-report school liking and self-reported kindness. Implications for dose intervention in kindness research are discussed.

Authors

• John-Tyler Binfet, The University of British Columbia

• Jenna Whitehead, The University of British Columbia