AUTHOR=Kennedy Patricia , Rooney Rosanna M. , Kane Robert T. , Hassan Sharinaz , Nesa Monique 

TITLE=The enhanced Aussie Optimism Positive Thinking Skills Program: The relationship between internalizing symptoms and family functioning in children aged 9–11 years old

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 6 - 2015

YEAR=2015

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00504

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00504

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=The family context plays a critical role in the health of the child.  This was the first study to examine the usefulness of the General Functioning subscale of the Family Assessment Device (FAD-GF) in assessing family functioning and its relationship to internalising symptoms in school-aged children aged between 9 and 11 years of age.  Eight hundred and forty-seven Year 4 and 5 students from 13 schools (607 intervention students, and 240 control students) participated in the Aussie Optimism Positive Thinking Skills Program (AO-PTS) - a universal school-based program targeting internalising symptoms. Students rated how ‘healthy’ they perceived their family to be at pre-test and at 6-month follow-up.  Although some aspects of validity and reliability could be improved, results indicated that perceptions of family functioning at pre-test were predictive of internalising symptoms at the 6-month follow-up.  The FAD-GF therefore showed promise as a potential measure of family functioning for children as young as nine years old.   Regardless of children’s pre-test levels of perceived family functioning, no intervention effects were found on the anxiety and depression scales; this finding suggests that child perceptions of family functioning may act as a general protective factor against internalising symptomology.