Abstract
Though positive psychology continues to gain recognition within the field of psychology, school psychology has mostly followed a disease-oriented model. Thus, there is still much to be done to promote its presence within the schools. School psychologists should continue to focus on promoting a science that denotes equal attention to curing pathology and promoting positive wellbeing in the schools. This chapter focuses on the virtue that has been proven to be the strongest relation to life satisfaction in youth: gratitude. Research has shown that the purposeful practice of gratitude can help youth obtain more fulfilling relationships and more engagement with their schools and communities. This chapter discusses the three empirically supported gratitude interventions for youth: the gratitude journal, the gratitude visit and the gratitude curriculum. This chapter also discusses best practices in gratitude assessment in children and adolescents, followed by highlighting gratitude’s role in school functioning. This chapter provides a detailed account of positive psychology’s current role in the Australian school system, the Model for Positive Education and ethical issues faced by school psychologists today. We close with future implications of how to further advance the study of gratitude in youth.
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Krakauer, M., Ruscio, D., Froh, J., Bono, G. (2017). Integrating Positive Psychology and Gratitude to Work in Schools. In: Thielking, M., Terjesen, M. (eds) Handbook of Australian School Psychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45166-4_36
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