The Effects of Positive Thinking Education for Adolescent Girls on Their Conflicts with Their Mothers A Randomized Controlled Trial

 
Adolescent–parent conflict (APC) has damaging effects on both adolescents and parents and hence effective strategies for its management are necessary.
 
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of positive thinking (PT) education for adolescent girls on their conflicts with their mothers.
 
This randomized controlled trial was conducted in 2019–2020. Participants were 48 adolescent girls conveniently selected from two high schools in Kashan, Iran, and randomly allocated to a control and an intervention group through block randomization. Participants in the intervention group received PT education in eight 90 min sessions held twice weekly. A demographic questionnaire and the APC questionnaire were used for data collection. Data were analyzed through the Chi-square, Fisher's exact test, independent-sample t-tests, and the repeated measures analysis of variance.
 
There was no significant difference between the intervention and the control groups respecting the pretest mean scores of APC frequency (244.250 ± 43.353 vs. 234.042 ± 36.218) and APC intensity (24.665 ± 14.244 vs. 27.220 ± 21.829). However, the mean scores of APC frequency and intensity in the intervention group were significantly less than the control group at the end of the study intervention (155.625 ± 28.740 vs. 240.458 ± 35.234 and 13.248 ± 10.660 vs. 35.670 ± 18.998) and 1 month later (122.708 ± 12.302 vs. 241.958 ± 34.719 and 9.693 ± 7.040 vs. 40.258 ± 19.001) (P < 0.05).
 
Group PT education significantly reduces APC. Nurses, midwives, and mental health specialists can use PT education to reduce APC and improve the mental health of communities.