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Molly Squire

Prof. Ferrara

ENG 1001

6 May 2024

Positivity Has a Purpose

Mental Health; a term that swirls through our world on the daily now. Noam Schpancer,

clinical psychologist said, “Mental Health… is not a destination, but a process. It’s about how

you drive, not where you’re going.” This quote exemplifies a positive mindset and healthy ways

of thinking. The caveat; “how you drive” is determined way before one may think. Throughout

my essay, I will explore how Positive Childhood Experiences (PCE’s) lead to kids flourishing in

the classroom while maintaining strong mental health throughout their adolescent years.

Positive Childhood Experiences, a new area of research for many psychologists, are the

opposite of Adverse Childhood Experiences, which focus on the negative results of difficult

childhood conditions such as abuse or neglect. Focusing on the positive not only changes a

person's mindset, but it reframes the way we look at the world around us, especially our past.

A prime example of positive childhood experiences are after school activities in

elementary school. Dr. Elizabeth Crouch at The University of South Carolina conducted a

cross-sectional study with data of 33,450 children. She states, “Participation in after-school

activities was associated with lower levels of both school absenteeism and repeated grades. Our

findings confirm and update prior research that after-school activities, a type of PCE, are

associated with school success” (Crouch). ‘After school activities’ is used lightly in the sense

that they are any activities a child does that keeps them stimulated and excited. These

experiences can vary from playing town soccer to taking music lessons. Crouch and many other
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researchers simply want us to understand that they have been proven to make a stark difference

in the motivation kids have, while setting them up well for their future.

Positive childhood experiences promote school success. The title of this study truly says

it all. These experiences are not just small activities or gestures you do or receive then forget

about the next week. They have been proven time and time again to have an impact well into

people’s adult lives. Crouch states, “PCEs, such as being able to share ideas with a caregiver and

engaging in after school activities, for example, help build resiliency skills and improve child

development, which may have effects into adulthood.” Having a strong support system at home,

which reinforces positive attitudes and actions goes a long way. Throughout my essay, I will

discuss at great lengths how positive outcomes such as resilience and strong coping mechanisms

are determined deep in our childhoods, before most kids even realize what they are learning.

Our environment plays a large role in the type of childhood we experience. Familial and

societal culture are two of the most influential aspects of our lives, not only in childhood. A

PubMed cross sectional survey based in China focused on Positive Childhood Experiences

associated with Adult Flourishing. Yu mentions, “Being able to talk to family about feelings was

the least reported household PCE in our sample. This may be explained by the persistent stigma

on talking about emotions and mental health in Chinese culture… This finding also provides

some insight on why emotional neglect was the most frequently reported ACE among Chinese

young adults” (Yu). Different areas of the world promote or degrade certain actions as good or

bad. Research has shown that being able to talk about and voice your emotions represents having

strong emotional development as a child. In China, it is seen as a weakness, which can filter into

other behaviors related to mental well-being being seen as unimportant. The article continues,

“community-based PCEs highlight the opportunity to promote adult flourishing by implementing

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school-based interventions during the nine-year compulsory education in China that support

positive peer and teacher-student relationships, particularly for those lacking a positive, nurturing

environment at home.” Mental health across the world is at very different points. Chinese culture

has different values and morals than in America, so focusing on upbringings can change

children's futures in vast ways.

It is interesting to see how children evolve over the years, especially the factors that play

a role in these changes. Having this basis of comfort and belonging in your childhood allows for

a wider variety of opportunities when you reach adolescence. Studying kids and teenagers

throughout the pandemic is a new but intense process, especially because of the mental health

effects that have already arrised. A study conducted on British Colombian teenagers discusses,

“... our findings provide evidence that promoting safe and supportive home environments for

children and adolescents may be an important focus for preventing mental illness and promoting

mental well-being. Addressing social and structural determinants of mental health… may serve

as a strategy for reducing familial stress and promoting positive home environments'' (Samji).

In reference to the social and structural determinants, Samji and his colleagues are referring

directly to the positive or potentially adverse childhood experiences (ACE’s) of these

participants. These could include exposure to poverty, affordable housing, food security, or

access to quality mental healthcare. This study also stated that, “We observed that having 6 to 7

PCEs served as promotive factors for [Mental Health and Wellbeing] among adolescents.

Regardless of their history of ACEs, adolescents with at least six PCEs had significantly fewer

symptoms of generalized anxiety and significantly better mental well-being and life satisfaction

compared to adolescents with five or fewer PCEs.” This finding emphasizes the importance of

fostering positive experiences during childhood as they can play a significant role in promoting
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mental health and overall wellbeing during adolescence, even in the presence of adverse

experiences. Something as severe as a pandemic can be handled much better by a teenager who

had an abundance of PCE’s as a child.

The absence of these positive experiences, or worse, the addition of adverse experiences

are related to worsening mental health in adolescence, which can snowball into a plethora of

negative effects. A longitudinal study conducted on Swedish children suffering from mental

health problems found that poor mental-health during childhood correlated negatively with

educational attainment. Brännlund explains, “mental-health problems … are associated with the

lowest probability of completing upper secondary education. Further, having poor mental-health

during the late teens has a stronger negative association with the likelihood of not completing

than is the case for mental-health problems during the early teens”(Brännlund). One could

counter this statement and say that it is common sense that a child or teenager with poor mental

health is not excelling in school, but it is deeper than that. Since this study followed students

from birth to age 20, I thought it would be fitting to discuss the consequences of the absence of

positive childhood experiences. Suffering from mental health problems in your childhood can

result from not only neglect or abuse from caregivers, but unfair treatment at school,

malnutrition, and more. Adverse experiences stick with a child far after their own childhood.

In a study I conducted in April of 2024, participants were asked a variety of multiple

choice and short response questions about their childhoods. The main results that I focused on

were the correlation between their participation in after school activities, the Positive Childhood

Experience of choice, and what adjectives they used to describe their childhood when given a list

of both negative and positive ones. I found that out of 20 participants, all 20 participated in after

school activities. Some of the answers were town soccer, gymnastics, girl scouts, camps, dance,
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and many others. Of these 20, 18 chose to describe their childhoods as, “loving” and “fun”. On

top of this, every single participant's parents were married during their childhood. The most

interesting part though, is that 45% of the participants reported being diagnosed with a mental

health disorder at some point in their life. Almost half of the survey pool has struggled with their

mental health at some point in time, while also having experienced positive experiences in their

childhood. This data has helped to reinforce the idea presented earlier, that, “... having 6 to 7

PCEs served as promotive factors for [Mental Health and Wellbeing] among adolescents.

Regardless of their history of ACEs, adolescents with at least six PCEs had significantly fewer

symptoms of generalized anxiety and significantly better mental well-being and life

satisfaction…” The saying “the more the merrier” truly applies in this situation. A child could

participate in great extracurricular activities but go home to little to no food. The constant

conflict of positive and adverse experiences is tiresome, but vital to study as well.

To conclude, Positive Childhood Experiences are a key component to future success in

the world. Many researchers have discussed how Adverse Childhood Experiences negatively

affect our lives, yet my focus determines the good. Through these positive experiences, children

are able to flourish in school and at home. Imagining a world where these are in abundance

around every corner is the ultimate goal.

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Works Cited

Brännlund, Annica, et al. “Mental-Health and Educational Achievement: The Link

between Poor Mental-Health and Upper Secondary School Completion and Grades.”
Journal of Mental Health, vol. 26, no. 4, Aug. 2017, pp. 318–25. EBSCOhost,
https://doi.org/10.1080/09638237.2017.1294739.

Crouch, Elizabeth, et al. "Positive Childhood Experiences Promote School Success."

Maternal and Child Health Journal, vol. 25, no. 10, Oct. 2021, pp. 1646+. Gale Academic
OneFile,
link.gale.com/apps/doc/A675963918/AONE?u=a04fu&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=2ba4
a36f. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.

Samji, Hasina, David Long, Jillian Herring, Rachel Correia, and Jacqueline Maloney.
“Positive Childhood Experiences Serve as Protective Factors for Mental Health in
Pandemic-Era Youth with Adverse Childhood Experiences.” Child Abuse & Neglect,
2024, 106640–106640. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.106640.

Yu Z, Wang L, Chen W, Zhang J, Bettencourt AF. Positive Childhood Experiences

Associate with Adult Flourishing Amidst Adversity: A Cross Sectional Survey Study
with a National Sample of Young Adults. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Nov
13;19(22):14956. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192214956. PMID: 36429674; PMCID:
PMC9690672.