Boys and Girls Club (Clermont) Spring 2023 Lasting Happiness Class
Boys and Girls Club (Clermont) Spring 2023 Lasting Happiness Class
October, 2023
Bonnie Grossen, Chris Loan
DESCRIPTION: A sample of 23 teens of the Boys and Girls Club, aged 12 to 18, volunteered to participate in an after-school program to learn the power of kindness by working through the 15-chapter Lasting Happiness Workbook facilitated by two trained leaders. Participants received a stipend for attending the sessions for 9 weeks, 2 sessions per week for a total of 18 sessions that were each 1 to 1:15 hours in length. All but one of the participants received free or reduced lunch. A 23-item Happiness Survey (reliability = 0.86, which is very high) was administered pre- and post-program. An inventory of applications to daily life was administered post-program only. Sixteen participants completed both the pre- and post-happiness survey. We analyzed the change in pre- to post-program scores of these 16 participants using a two-tailed, paired samples t-test.
RESULTS: The change from pre- to post-program as measured by the Happiness Survey was very large, with an Effect Size of 2.46. (Effect Size is the difference in the means measured in standard deviations. An Effect Size of 0.8 is considered large, so 2.46 is extraordinarily large.) A small sample of 16 requires a very large difference to reach statistical significance. Eleven items showed a significant change. Seven items remained significant when a Bonferroni correction for multiple tests was applied. The significant change centered in the item categories of “relationships” (building friendships with kindness and better communication) and “behavior control” (being able to control anger and impulsivity).
On the Inventory of Applications to Daily Life (n=19), 100% reported that they would recommend the class to their friends; 95% reported reaching out with more kindness to family and friends; 89%, being more kind by letting others know you appreciate them; 74%, being more kind when speaking to others. These are highlights of the results. Details of the analysis and further findings can be found using the link: Boys and Girls Club Clermont October 2023.pdf
