Faculty Forum
Positive Psychology Course and
Its Relationship to Well-Being,
Depression, and Stress
Teaching of Psychology
2016, Vol. 43(3) 232-237
ª The Author(s) 2016
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DOI: 10.1177/0098628316649482
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Leilani B. Goodmon1, Ashlea M. Middleditch1,
Bethany Childs1, and Stacey E. Pietrasiuk2
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of a positive psychology course on student well-being, depressive
symptoms, and stress in a repeated measure, nonequivalent control design. As hypothesized, the positive psychology students
reported higher overall happiness, life satisfaction, routes to happiness, and lower depressive symptoms and stress compared to
students in the control course. These findings replicate previous research on the benefits of positive psychology courses on wellbeing and extend previous research by showing that the benefits generalize to other reliable and multidimensional measures of
happiness as well as measures of depression and stress. Our results indicate that a positive psychology course may be one way to
improve students’ mental health.
Keywords
positive psychology, undergraduates, well-being, stress, depression
Positive psychology courses with a unique approach to
improving the human condition are increasingly making
their way into college course offerings (Goldberg, 2006;
Ruark, 2009). Positive psychology courses focus on the
empirical investigation of positive emotions, attributions,
character strengths, human protective institutions, and positive psychology exercises (PPEs) in improving individual
well-being (Diener, Suh, Lucas, & Smith, 1999; Emmons &
McCullough, 2003; Mongrain & Anselmo-Matthews, 2012;
Seligman, 2011; Seligman, Steen, Park, & Peterson, 2005;
Sin & Lyubomirsky, 2009).
In concordance with research demonstrating a well-being
benefit from exposure to positive psychology topics and from
engaging in certain PPEs, researchers report well-being benefits for students in the context of positive psychology courses
(e.g., Fordyce, 1977; Maybury, 2012). For example, Maybury
(2012) reported that students who took a positive psychology
course that included PPEs shown previously to improve subjective well-being (e.g., identifying and strengthening signature strengths, beauty and gratitude journal, and a gratitude
letter; Seligman et al., 2005) as engaged learning activities
reported increases in subjective happiness, mindfulness, selfactualization, and hope from pretest (beginning of course) to
posttest (end of course, 14 weeks later).
The current article reports a replication of the well-being
benefit found from taking a positive psychology course using
an improved nonequivalent control design and using additional
reliable and validated measures that capture the complex and
multidimensional nature of happiness (i.e., pleasure, engagement, and meaning). Unlike Maybury (2012), we also included
measures of stress and depression in order to determine
whether benefits of taking such a course generalize to measures
of mental distress. An examination of positive psychological
themes and methods that might reduce mental distress is important because since 2000, there has been a 21.4% increase in
number of students seeking help for major psychological problems (Gallagher, 2012). Given links between depression, stress,
college maladjustment, and poorer academic performance and
retention (e.g., Baker & Siryk, 1984; Gerdes & Mallinckrodt,
1994), college administrators may be interested in the possible
benefits of positive psychology courses in reducing depression
and stress. Because well-being and mental distress are not
complete opposite ends of the same construct (see Baumgardner & Crothers, 2009), and there are no published research
studies on these specific findings in the context of a positive
psychology course, our research more directly addresses the
impact of a positive psychology course on mental distress.
1
Department of Psychology, Florida Southern College, Lakeland, FL, USA
Counseling and Psychology Program, College of Education, Troy University,
Troy, AL, USA
2
Corresponding Author:
Leilani B. Goodmon, Department of Psychology, 111 Lake Hollingsworth
Drive, Lakeland, FL 33801, USA.
Email: [email protected]
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Goodmon et al.
233
Finally, in contrast to Maybury’s positive psychology course
(2012), we included altruistic PPE’s (e.g., volunteer activities)
as required coursework in order to induce more powerful
effects on mental health (Otake, Shimai, Tanaka-Matsumi,
Otsui, & Fredrickson, 2006).
Table 1. Comparison of Demographics, Grade Distribution, Course
Load/Prep Time, and Course Evaluation Between the Positive Psychology and Social Psychology Course (Control).
Course
Sample and Course Characteristics
Method
Participants
Participants included 38 undergraduates (18–22 years of age)
enrolled in one of two spring semester courses (a positive psychology, n ¼ 18, or a social psychology course, n ¼ 20) at a
small liberal arts college located in the subtropic region of the
Southeastern United States.
Equivalencies in Sample, Course, Instructor, and Baseline
Measures
The sample, course, and instructor equivalencies are shown in
Table 1, and the baseline assessment equivalences are shown in
Table 2. We chose a social psychology course to serve as the
control course in order to establish as many baseline equivalencies as possible. These equivalencies include the fact that in
addition to a shared prohumanistic orientation, both courses
were popular, required courses (for psychology majors), with
similar course loads and levels of difficulty (including mandatory final exams). Furthermore, the courses were taught on the
same days and times by professors with similar teaching styles.
On the end of course evaluations, students rated the two courses
high overall and reported very similar course loads and preparation/study times (see Table 1).
In addition to the aforementioned equivalencies, both samples were very similar demographically in terms of year in
school, gender frequencies, average age, grade frequency distribution, and end of term grade point average (GPA; see Table
1). One hundred percent of students in both samples listed a
major or minor requirement as the primary reason for taking the
course and less than 5% in each indicated an elective or specific
interest as another reason for taking the course (social: 3.36%,
positive: 4.76%). The samples were equivalent on all baseline
assessments of well-being, stress, and depression (see Table 2).
Both instructors were Caucasian females in their mid-30s
with similar extroverted, agreeable, and conscientious
personalities. Course evaluations revealed similar ‘‘positive
climates’’ for students rated both professors high in terms of
interactive and engaging teaching styles, effective communication, knowledge, preparedness, timely feedback, availability, respect, and encouragement (social: M ¼ 6.97, SD ¼ .03;
positive: M ¼ 6.71, SD ¼ .10).1
Procedure
Six beginning (precourse) and end of the semester (postcourse,
16 weeks later) measures of well-being, depression, and stress
were collected from students enrolled in one of two courses:
positive psychology or social psychology (control). All
Demographics
Upperclassmen
Females
Mean age
Grade distribution
A
B
C
Mean GPA, end of term
Course load and prep time
1–3 Hr a week
3–5 Hr a week
Overall course evaluation on a 7-point scale),
M (SD)
Social
Positive
100%
95%
19.25
95%
92%
19.67
65%
30%
5%
3.40
64%
36%
0%
3.41
66%
33%
6.97
(0.029)
59%
36%
6.71
(0.096)
Note. GPA ¼ grade point average.
Table 2. Comparison of Baseline Assessments of Well-Being and
Mental Distress Between Students Enrolled in a Positive Psychology
Course or a Social Psychology Course (Control).
Course
Baseline
Assessment
AHS
GHQ
SLS
AHQ-PL
AHQ-G/EL
AHQ-ML
CES-D
PSS-10
Positive
M (SD)
3.20
4.94
25.06
3.06
2.71
3.71
11.72
13.47
Social
M (SD)
t(36)
p
d
(0.48)
3.20 (0.43) 0.05 .961 .02
(1.05)
4.76 (1.02) 0.54 .594 .17
(5.57) 25.95 (5.86) 0.48 .634 .16
(0.77)
3.41 (0.75) 1.42 .163 .46
(0.73)
2.98 (0.53) 1.32 .195 .43
(0.91)
3.57 (0.88) 0.50 .623 .16
(10.40) 13.35 (9.07) 0.52 .609 .17
(7.10) 15.80 (5.40) 1.14 .259 .37
Note. AHS ¼ Authentic Happiness Scale; GHQ ¼ General Happiness Questionnaire (also known as the Subjective Happiness Scale); SLS ¼ Satisfaction
with Life Scale; AHQ-PL ¼ Pleasant Approach to Life Subscale of the
Approaches to Life Questionnaire; AHQ-G/EL ¼ Good/Engaged Approach
to Life Subscale of the Approaches to Life Questionnaire; AHQ-ML ¼ Meaningful Approach to Life Subscale of the Approaches to Life Questionnaire; CESD ¼ Center for Epidemiologic Studies–Depression; PSS-10 ¼ Perceived Stress
Scale.
students volunteered to complete the surveys, and they completed all assessments during the same days and times.
Measures
Overall happiness. The Authentic Happiness Inventory (AHI;
Seligman et al., 2005) assesses agreement on three aspects of
overall happiness: pleasure, engagement, and meaning. Participants chose one of the five statements that best describes the
way they have been feeling for the past week (e.g., ‘‘I feel like a
failure’’). This 24-item questionnaire utilizes a 5-point scale: 1
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234
Teaching of Psychology 43(3)
(negative) to 5 (extremely positive); a ¼ .92 (Schiffrin &
Nelson, 2010).
Enduring happiness. The General Happiness Questionnaire
(Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999) assesses global, enduring happiness. This 4-item questionnaire utilizes a 7-point response
range (e.g., ‘‘In general, I consider myself: 1 (not a very happy
person) to 7 (a very happy person); a ¼ .86.
Life satisfaction. The Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener,
Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985) assesses global life satisfaction. Participants chose to what extent they agree with each
statement (e.g., ‘‘In most ways, my life is close to my ideal’’).
This 5-item questionnaire utilizes a 7-point response range: 1
(strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree); a ¼ .87
Routes to happiness. The Approaches to Happiness Questionnaire (AHQ; i.e., Orientations to Happiness Measure; Peterson, Park, & Seligman, 2005) assesses three routes to
happiness: pleasant, good/engaging, and the meaningful life.
Participants chose to what extent each statement describes how
they live their life (e.g., ‘‘Regardless of what I am doing, time
passes very quickly’’). This 18-item questionnaire utilizes a 5point response range: 1 (not like me at all) to 5 (very much like
me); Cronbach’s a for the three subscales ¼ .82 (pleasant life),
.72 (good/engaged life), and .82 (meaningful life).
Depression. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies–Depression
(CES-D) Questionnaire (Radloff, 1977) assesses symptoms of
depression. Participants chose how often they have felt a particular way in the past week (e.g., ‘‘I was bothered by things
that usually don’t bother me’’). The 20-item questionnaire utilizes a 4-point response range: 0 (rarely or none of the time) to
3 (most or all of the time); a ¼ .90.
Stress. The Perceived Stress Scale (Wang, Chen, Boyd, Zhang,
Jia, Qiu, & Xiao, 2011) assesses the degree to which participants view their life as uncontrollable, unpredictable, and overloading. Participants chose how often they have felt a particular
way in the past month (e.g., ‘‘In the last month, how often have
you been upset because of something that happened unexpectedly’’). This 10-item questionnaire utilizes a 5-point response
range: 0 (never) to 4 (very often); a ¼ .86.
Positive psychology course content and engaged learning activities.
The positive psychology students completed multiple, required
readings, writing assignments, and PPEs (as engaged learning
activities) throughout the semester, including:2
Kindness, altruism, and gratitude journal. Students provided
written reflection of the following: (1) planned act of kindness,
(2) random (spontaneous) act of kindness, (3) volunteer to
make a child smile (delivered candy to sick children), (4) letter
of gratitude (wrote letter to someone never previously
thanked), and (5) three good things (recorded three things that
brought joy, pleasure, gratitude, or meaning in their life everyday for the entire semester; Seligman et al., 2005).
Using signature strengths in a new way (Seligman et al., 2005).
Students identified their five top (signature) strengths (Values
in Action–Strengths Inventory by Park, Peterson, & Seligman,
2004) and then used one strength in a novel way each day for 1
week.
Letter of forgiveness (Seligman, 2002). Students wrote a forgiveness letter to a previous transgressor.
Savoring exercise (Seligman, 2002). Students engrossed themselves in a pleasurable activity.
Mindfulness and savoring exercise: Have a beautiful day
(Seligman, 2002). Students were ‘‘given permission’’ to sit outside and enjoy their surroundings without worry by clearing
their mind and focusing on joyful or aesthetically pleasing
surroundings.
Films. Students watched Up (Lasseter et al., 2009), an animated motion picture portraying resilience, perseverance, and
optimism (common positive psychology themes).
Readings. Students were required to read Baumgardner and
Crothers’s (2009) Positive Psychology textbook and Seligman’s (2002) Authentic Happiness.
Results
The baseline descriptive and inferential statistics are shown in
Table 2, and comparisons between baseline and postscores are
shown in Table 3. A series of analyses of variance with psychology class (positive, social) as the between subjects factor
and pre- and postcourse measures of well-being, stress, and
depression as the repeated measures revealed significant interactions between class and the baseline and postcourse assessment on five of the six measures: overall happiness (AHI), F(1,
36) ¼ 8.94, p ¼ .005, partial Z2 ¼ .20; Satisfaction with Life
Scale, F(1, 36) ¼ 8.76, p ¼ .005, partial Z2 ¼ .20; pleasant
approaches to life (AHQ–Pleasant Life), F(1, 36) ¼ 5.84, p ¼
.021, partial Z2 ¼ .14; good/engaged approaches to life (AHQ–
Good/Engaged Life), F(1, 36) ¼ 9.39, p ¼ .004, partial Z2 ¼
.21; meaningful approaches to life (AHQ–Meaningful Life),
F(1, 36) ¼ 5.39, p ¼ .026, partial Z2 ¼ .13; depressive symptoms (CES-D), F(1, 36) ¼ 6.31, p ¼ .017, partial Z2 ¼ .15; and
perceived stress (PSS-10), F(1, 36) ¼ 10.92, p ¼ .002, partial
Z2 ¼ .23. There were no differences in baseline measures
between the two classes (see Table 2), but there were significant differences on the posttests (see Table 3): The positive
psychology class reported significantly greater levels of overall
happiness, life satisfaction, approaches to happiness, and lower
levels of depression and stress on the posttest compared to
baseline (ps < .05), while the control exhibited no differences
between baseline and posttests, ps > .25 (with the exception of
a significant increase in stress, p ¼ .026).
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Goodmon et al.
235
Table 3. Pre- and Post-course Assessments of Well-Being and Mental Distress Among Students Enrolled in a Positive Psychology Course or a
Social Psychology Course (Control).
Positive Psychology Course
Assessment
Pre-course, M (SD)
AHS
3.20 (0.48)
GHQ
4.94 (1.05)
SLS
25.06 (5.57)
AHQ-PL
3.06 (0.77)
AHQ-G/EL
2.71 (0.73)
AHQ-ML
3.71 (0.91)
CES-D
11.72 (10.40)
PSS-10
13.47 (7.10)
Social Psychology Course (Control Condition)
Assessment
Precourse, M (SD)
AHS
3.20 (0.43)
GHQ
4.76 (1.02)
SLS
25.95 (5.86)
AHQ-PL
3.41 (0.75)
AHQ-G/EL
2.98 (0.53)
AHQ-ML
3.57 (0.88)
CES-D
13.35 (9.07)
PSS-10
15.80 (5.40)
Post-course, M (SD)
t(17)
p
d
3.54 (0.52)
5.33 (1.00)
28.89 (5.79)
3.63 (0.87)
3.47 (0.81)
4.07 (0.85)
8.61 (9.39)
10.06 (4.45)
3.29**
1.54
4.38**
3.27**
3.89**
2.16*
2.70*
2.34*
.004
.140
.000
.004
.001
.045
.015
.032
.67
.38
.67
.70
.99
.41
.31
.58
Postcourse, M (SD)
3.21 (0.48)
4.83 (1.10)
25.30 (5.73)
3.44 (0.51)
3.07 (0.44)
3.50 (0.87)
14.85 (11.07)
17.75 (7.14)
t(19)
0.30
0.32
0.54
0.25
0.74
0.76
1.07
2.42*
p
.770
.752
.595
.807
.469
.454
.297
.026
d
.03
.06
.11
.05
.17
.08
.15
.31
Note. AHS ¼ Authentic Happiness Scale; GHQ ¼ General Happiness Questionnaire (also known as the Subjective Happiness Scale); SLS ¼ Satisfaction with Life
Scale; AHQ-PL ¼ Pleasant Approach to Life Subscale of the Approaches to Life Questionnaire; AHQ-G/EL ¼ Good/Engaged Approach to Life Subscale of the
Approaches to Life Questionnaire; AHQ-ML ¼ Meaningful Approach to Life Subscale of the Approaches to Life Questionnaire; CES-D ¼ Center for Epidemiologic Studies–Depression; PSS-10 ¼ Perceived Stress Scale.
*p < .05. **p < .01.
Discussion
The purpose of this study was to determine whether the wellbeing benefit of a positive psychology course found previously
(Maybury, 2012) generalized to other multidimensional measures of happiness and extends to measures of stress and
depression, using a nonequivalent control experimental design.
We also included more altruistic activities in the course in
order to induce more powerful effects on well-being (e.g.,
Otake et al., 2006). It is important to note that we established
many equivalencies between the experimental and control
course (e.g., high degree of similarity between instructors, sample demographics, expectancies, and course performances),
and there were no differences between the courses at baseline
on any of the assessments.
Consistent with the hypothesis, unlike the control, the positive psychology class exhibited higher levels of overall happiness, life satisfaction, and positive approaches to life and lower
levels of depression and stress postcourse. These results are
noteworthy in that even with a small sample size, we detected
statistically significant differences and our effect sizes were
moderate to strong (many Cohen d’s were close to or exceeded
.70). Importantly, the mental health benefit generalized to a
multidimensional measures of overall happiness (Authentic
Happiness Questionnaire) and routes to happiness (AHQ),
involving pleasure, engagement, and meaning. Thus, the positive psychology students reported greater levels of positive
emotions, euphoric experiences, losing themselves in activities
that involve their character strengths and serving in something
larger than themselves. These findings are unique because to
date, no one has explored the impact of a positive psychology
course on multidimensional measures of happiness.
Our findings are also unique in that we found that the benefits of the course generalized to measures of depression and
stress. These results are particularly compelling, given the fact
that the postcourse assessments were completed during one of
the most stressful times of the semester (i.e., before final exams
in each course). Mental distress is a problem for college students because according to the National College Health Assessment (American College Health Association, 2011), many
students expressed functioning difficulty because of depression
(15.7%) or stress (42.8%). Furthermore, some of them felt that
depression (5.7%) and stress (18.5%) contributed to lower
exam grades. Because both courses reported similar GPAs at
the end of the term, there appears to have been no relationship
between course and academic performance in the short term.
However, we did not examine the direct relationship between
the assessment outcomes and academic performance within
each student. Although we did not directly measure the shortand long-term impact of these well-being improvements on
retention and academic performance, others such as Fredrickson (2001) propose that positive emotions broaden thinking
and attention and help to build long-lasting emotional, social,
and intellectual skills. Our results suggest that completing a
positive psychology course may be one way to alleviate or
prevent depressive symptoms and stress, but more research is
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236
Teaching of Psychology 43(3)
needed in order to directly explore the role that a positive
psychology course might play in improving academic performance and reducing college maladjustment.
Some shortcomings in the current study warrant discussion.
First, we cannot rule out expectancy effects because only those
in the positive psychology course were told that the course
might improve their well-being. Second, students may have
benefited from the course because they were highly motivated
and interested as a result of self-selection. However, many
students did not self-select into their desired course but rather
had choose a specific course (social or positive) in order to
complete major/minor requirements: 100% listed a major or
minor requirement as a primary reason for taking the course
and less than 5% in each listed an elective or specific interest as
a secondary reason for taking the course. Some students may
have self-selected into the course, however Seligman argued
that these interventions should be targeted to those people who
want to become happier and so the ‘‘sample is biased but in a
relevant direction’’ (Seligman et al., 2005, p. 415). One final
shortcoming of our study is that we cannot pinpoint what specific course components (e.g., the topic of course, the course
readings, the PPE’s, or a combination of factors) were responsible for the benefits. Although Seligman acknowledges that
just reading about positive psychology makes people happier,
many others demonstrated the benefits of PPE’s using true
experimental designs (Emmons & McCullough, 2003; Fordyce, 1977; Mongrain & Anselmo-Matthews, 2012; Otake
et al., 2006; Seligman et al., 2005; Sin & Lyubomirsky,
2009). Future researchers might implement a more informative
design to assess the role of the PPE’s with the context of a
positive psychology course by including control positive psychology course that does not implement the exercises.
American Psychological Association Guidelines for the
Undergraduate Psychology Major list one of the major’s goals
and learning outcomes should be for students to ‘‘develop
insight into their own and others’ behavior and mental processes and apply effective strategies for management and
self-improvement’’ (2007, p. 10). The present results suggest
that a positive psychology course may be one way to fulfill this
personal development goal by promoting subjective well-being
and reducing depression and stress.
Acknowledgment
The authors thank Dr. Marcie Pospichal, associate vice president for
student support at Florida Southern College, Dr. Deah Quinlivan,
assistant professor of psychology at Florida Southern College, and
Dr. Kevin Kieffer, professor of psychology at Saint Leo University.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to
the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the
research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The Office of
the Provost at Florida Southern College provided partial funding for
this research.
Notes
1. Average course evaluations across 15 different evaluation dimensions for the social psychology course were a statistically greater
than for the positive psychology course, t(28) ¼ 10.07, p ¼ .0001.
2. The positive psychology course syllabus and other course material
can be obtained from the first author.
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