Young Children's Extreme
Optimism May Help Learning
Excerpt By Alan Mozes, Reuter's Health

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - When it comes to an upbeat outlook on the future and the ability to improve with age, kindergartners have the lion's share of optimism.

A survey shows that youngsters aged 5 to 7 have extremely high levels of optimism--sometimes unrealistically so. However, this "rose-colored glasses" outlook on life, may offer the youngest children protection from depression as well as a leg up on learning.

"Overall, we found that the youngest children were the most optimistic about modifying negative traits and maintaining positive ones," said study lead author Dr. Kristi Lockhart of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. This "might help children view difficulties more as temporary set-backs rather than as complete failures, and help motivate them to persist."

The researchers explored levels of optimism in three groups of New York State residents: 5- to 7-year-olds; 8- to 10-year-olds; and adult college undergraduate and graduate students.

In interviews, the study participants were asked about the future prospects of a young fictional child, based on a series of stories highlighting his or her negative or positive traits.

Lockhart's team found the youngest children were the most likely to believe that the fictional child's negative traits--whether physical or psychological--could dramatically improve or disappear altogether by the time he or she became an adult.

This rosy outlook led the youngest group to predict that the most fearful child could become the bravest, while the least intelligent could become the smartest, according to the report in the journal Child Development.

Similarly, 40% of the youngest children also thought a 5-year-old child could overcome allergies, develop excellent eyesight, become significantly taller, or even grow a finger to replace a missing one--all by the age of 21.

Becoming "mature" was the most common reason given by the youngest children to explain their faith in positive improvement--followed by the ability to "learn," the strong "desire" to change, and dedication to "practice."

The youngest children were also the most likely to believe that the majority of children could develop positive characteristics, while controlling their negative traits, over time.

They were not alone, however, in supporting the notion that positive attributes present in childhood--such as brains and beauty--could be sustained into adulthood. College-age students concurred with this view, while third- and fourth-graders generally disagreed--more often predicting a downward movement toward becoming more "average" with time.

The third- and fourth-grade children also rejected the notion, for example, that the ugliest child could become the most beautiful adult--placing their faith in more moderate change than did the younger kids.

Lockhart told Reuters Health that unbridled optimism may be an invaluable tool for very young kids when they need it most. Such an outlook may help them to overcome frustration, hopelessness or depression during their first attempts at picking up new skills.

"If children believed their failure to ride a bike, read a book, or tell a good joke was due to something fixed and unchangeable within themselves, they would probably give up quickly," she said. So "optimism about traits might play a protective role."

SOURCE: Child Development 2002 September.

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