Externalizing behavior problems in children reflect negative actions toward the external environment and can have detrimental consequences for their academic, social, and mental well-being. These actions range from breaking the rules to exhibiting extremely disruptive and aggressive behaviors, and they frequently come with issues with social behavior and emotional control. Socioemotional competencies, such as empathy and emotion regulation, serve as protective factors against behavior problems, enabling children to effectively manage their emotions and behaviors. This study focuses on examining the effectiveness of child-centered play therapy (CCPT) in reducing externalizing problems and enhancing socioemotional competencies in children aged 3 to 12. CCPT utilizes play as a natural language to establish a therapeutic relationship between play therapists and children. This relationship provides a safe and accepting environment for children to express themselves and develop self-regulation skills. By accepting responsibility for their actions, children can progress toward self-actualization and improved behavior management. To investigate the effectiveness of CCPT in reducing externalizing behavior problems and increasing socioemotional competencies in children, a systematic literature review was conducted, considering studies published over the last decade. Four databases were analyzed, and six articles met the predetermined inclusion criteria. While the data extracted from the included articles demonstrated promising results regarding the effectiveness of CCPT in reducing externalizing problems, the impact of CCPT on enhancing socioemotional competencies was not clear. It is important to acknowledge the limitations of this study, including the scarcity of research in this field and small sample sizes, which impede the generalization of the results to all populations. However, this study identified a research gap concerning the effectiveness of child-centered play therapy in addressing externalizing problems and children's social and emotional functioning. Future research is required to have a more comprehensive picture of how CCPT reduces externalizing problems and what abilities it gives children to cope with their problems; otherwise, it is not possible to consider CCPT as an evidence-based intervention for externalizing problems and widely use it for all children based on current data in the literature.

The present thesis “Personal Resources: Explorative Studies analyzing the Concept, the Development and the Promotion in Children and Adults” focuses on the field of Positive Psychology. This comparatively new field of research aims to examine personal strengths and virtues to ascertain the role of positive experiences, to delineate the function of positive relationships, and to understand how these factors contribute to well-being (Gable & Haidt, 2005). In addition, another goal of Positive Psychology is to develop effective interventions, aiming to increase and sustain processes that strengthen these resources. Thus, my thesis will contribute to a broader understanding of the concepts of personal resources and well-being, as well as their development and promotion. Therefore, I will present findings from four cross-sectional and longitudinal studies with children and adults as participants. In Chapter 1, I introduce the most central concepts of Positive Psychology research and constitute the central questions guiding my thesis. Chapters 2 to 5 present the findings of my empirical research: In Chapter 2, I investigate the concepts of resources and human well-being. Therefore, I will analyze the most important human resources and their complex interplay and impact on human well-being. My aim is to contribute to a more comprehensive framework in this comparatively new field of research. As Positive Psychology further strives to establish effective interventions, I additionally investigate the development and promotion of resources and well-being in children and adults (see Chapters 3-5). In Chapter 3, I concentrate in particular on preschool children and their socio-emotional competencies, and the promotion of these within our mentoring-based prevention program “HUCKEPACK”. A further aim of my thesis is to contribute to a better understanding of the processes fostering positive intervention outcomes. Hence, in Chapter 4 I focus on the causal mechanisms that bring about change within mentoring relationships. More specifically, I examine whether mentors’ socio-emotional competencies influence the mentees’ socio-emotional development within these mentorships. In Chapter 5, I address the question whether personal resources develop in adulthood while focusing on volunteers in our mentoring program in comparison to non-volunteers. Finally, Chapter 6 summarizes the findings presented in my thesis and provides prospects for future research. In Chapter 7 I submit a German version of this summary.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-04T18:28:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Maristela Volpe dos Santos.pdf: 2010500 bytes, checksum: a182278cfb75a4239a90e540e619774b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-17 / Pontif?cia Universidade Cat?lica de Campinas / The socio-emotional skills also called socio-emotional competencies, have been increasingly highlighted in international scientific literature, given its influence on several indicators of school, personal and professional success. Considering that in the international scientific context this issue is in evidence and that, in Brazil, studies in this area are still very incipient, this research aimed to developing a scale to identify socio-emotional skills in children and adolescents focused in rating by parents / caregivers. The research consisted of three phases. First, 83 parents / caregivers of children and adolescents aged from 10 to 14 years old responded to three open-ended questions that focused on behaviors and characteristics of children and adolescents. From the responses we sought to identify the characteristics most commonly cited by participants, which resulted in a list of 211 adjectives. Then this list was referred to analysis of five judges, four students and one teacher graduate, to assess their adequacy. This objective consisted in Study 2, which aimed to search for evidence of validity based on content.The task consisted in the classification of each of the adjectives in the model of the big five personality factors (openness to experience, extroversion, agreableness, conscientiousness and neuroticism) also judging which factor and pole (positive or negative) the adjective meant. The analysis of the percentage of agreement as well as the calculation of Kappa coefficient indicated that, in a first round of analysis, 58.3% of adjectives showed perfect agreement or substantial (over 80%), being suitable. A second round of analysis was performed as the results did not indicate five adjectives for each pole and factor as desired. A list of 50 adjectives was, thus, obtained, ten belonging to each factor of the adopted character model, five of a negative character and five of a positive one. Subsequently, the Study 3 was conducted, which consisted in preparing items for a first version of the scale. A sentence being built for each selected descriptor in Study 2 was made. A proposal for a Likert scale was prepared, and the instrumental is now ready to have their psychometric properties investigated in future studies. / As habilidades socioemocionais, tamb?m chamadas de compet?ncias socioemocionais, t?m sido, cada vez mais, destacadas na literatura cient?fica internacional, dada sua influ?ncia em diversos indicadores de sucesso escolar, pessoal e profissional. Considerando-se que, no ?mbito cient?fico internacional essa tem?tica est? em evid?ncia e que, no Brasil, estudos nessa ?rea ainda s?o bastante incipientes, a presente pesquisa teve como objetivo a elabora??o de uma escala para identifica??o de compet?ncias socioemocionais em crian?as e adolescentes voltadas a pais/cuidadores. A pesquisa foi composta por tr?s fases. Na primeira delas, 83 pais/cuidadores de crian?as e adolescentes na faixa et?ria de 10 a 14 anos responderam a tr?s perguntas abertas que versavam sobre comportamentos e caracter?sticas de crian?as e adolescentes. A partir das respostas obtidas buscou-se a identifica??o das caracter?sticas mais comumente citadas pelos participantes, as quais deram origem a uma lista de 211 adjetivos. Em seguida, a lista de adjetivos foi encaminhada para an?lise de cinco ju?zes, quatro estudantes e um professor de p?s-gradua??o, para verifica??o da sua adequa??o, cujo objetivo consistiu no Estudo 2, de busca por evid?ncias de validade baseada no conte?do. A tarefa consistiu na classifica??o de cada um dos adjetivos no modelo dos cinco fatores de personalidade (abertura a experi?ncia, extrovers?o, amabilidade, conscienciosidade e neuroticismo) julgando a qual fator e polo (positivo ou negativo), o adjetivo se referia. A an?lise da porcentagem de concord?ncia, assim como o c?lculo do coeficiente Kappa indicou que, em uma primeira rodada de an?lise, 58,3% dos adjetivos apresentaram concord?ncia perfeita ou substancial (acima de 80%), mostrando-se adequados. Uma segunda rodada de an?lise foi realizada visto que os resultados n?o indicaram cinco adjetivos para cada polo e fator, como almejado. Obteve-se, assim, uma lista com 50 adjetivos, sendo dez pertencente a cada fator do modelo de personalidade adotado, cinco com car?ter negativo e cinco com car?ter positivo. Posteriormente, o estudo 3 foi conduzido, o qual constituiu-se na elabora??o de descritores para uma primeira vers?o da escala, tendo-se constru?do uma frase para cada descritor selecionado no estudo 2. Uma proposta de escala likert foi elaborada, sendo que o instrumental encontra-se, agora, pronto para ter suas qualidades psicom?tricas investigadas em estudos futuros.

The present thesis “Personal Resources: Explorative Studies analyzing the Concept, the Development and the Promotion in Children and Adults” focuses on the field of Positive Psychology. This comparatively new field of research aims to examine personal strengths and virtues to ascertain the role of positive experiences, to delineate the function of positive relationships, and to understand how these factors contribute to well-being (Gable & Haidt, 2005). In addition, another goal of Positive Psychology is to develop effective interventions, aiming to increase and sustain processes that strengthen these resources. Thus, my thesis will contribute to a broader understanding of the concepts of personal resources and well-being, as well as their development and promotion. Therefore, I will present findings from four cross-sectional and longitudinal studies with children and adults as participants. In Chapter 1, I introduce the most central concepts of Positive Psychology research and constitute the central questions guiding my thesis. Chapters 2 to 5 present the findings of my empirical research: In Chapter 2, I investigate the concepts of resources and human well-being. Therefore, I will analyze the most important human resources and their complex interplay and impact on human well-being. My aim is to contribute to a more comprehensive framework in this comparatively new field of research. As Positive Psychology further strives to establish effective interventions, I additionally investigate the development and promotion of resources and well-being in children and adults (see Chapters 3-5). In Chapter 3, I concentrate in particular on preschool children and their socio-emotional competencies, and the promotion of these within our mentoring-based prevention program “HUCKEPACK”. A further aim of my thesis is to contribute to a better understanding of the processes fostering positive intervention outcomes. Hence, in Chapter 4 I focus on the causal mechanisms that bring about change within mentoring relationships. More specifically, I examine whether mentors’ socio-emotional competencies influence the mentees’ socio-emotional development within these mentorships. In Chapter 5, I address the question whether personal resources develop in adulthood while focusing on volunteers in our mentoring program in comparison to non-volunteers. Finally, Chapter 6 summarizes the findings presented in my thesis and provides prospects for future research. In Chapter 7 I submit a German version of this summary.