The effectiveness of training program of positive youth development on life satisfaction and self-efficacy in adolescents

The occurrence of significant physical-psychosocial changes in adolescence can affect life satisfaction and self-efficacy in adolescents. Therefore, environmental facilities and developmental programs are necessary for adolescent’s adjustment. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of positive youth development program on adolescents' life satisfaction and self-efficacy. The present study was a quasi-experimental study with pretest, posttest, and follow-up design with control group. To this aim, forty-eight students among female students studying in the ninth grade of secondary school in the academic year 1396-97 in the city of Arak were selected by multistage random sampling and randomly divided into two experimental (23) and control groups (n = 25). Experimental group received positive youth development program in 24 one-hour sessions. Both groups completed the life satisfaction scale (Diener et al., 1985) and the general self-efficacy scale (Sherer et al., 1982) in the pretest, posttest, and follow-up stages. The results of covariance analysis indicated that positive youth development program was effective on adolescents' life satisfaction and self-efficacy in short and long term (p=0.005). The findings suggest that positive youth development program can be an appropriate practical program for increasing adolescents’ life satisfaction and self-efficacy.