EFFECTS OF COMMUNICATION WORKSHOPS WITH PARENTS ON ADOLESCENT STUDENTS’ EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING

Emotional well-being, which is usually ignored, is the key factor for the success and happiness. It is especially important for adolescent students who pass through the most critical period in life. Main objective of this experimental study was to define the effects of three workshops with parents on communication with children on the positive changes of adolescent students’ emotional well-being. This research was realized in a secondary school located in a district of Ankara. Two groups of the 8th grade students (each group 50 students, mean age 14±1years), who were selected as sample, filled in an inventory for adolescents’ relations with parents, and in a scale for emotional well-being before and after the workshops with parents. Results showed that irrespectiveness, impatience, disapproval, pressure, rough and insufficient way of speaking of parents were the highest difficulties of the adolescent students for their emotional well-being. After workshops, adolescents stated that the offensive words, attitudes and behaviours used in the communication by their parents were replaced with positive alternatives. Also, emotional well-being scores have significantly increased. This study, which is the first kind of its kind in Turkey, yielded in important scientific and practical results. The intervention method was found to be effective. The relationships between adolescents and parents changed and affected adolescents’ emotional well-being positively.