Development of Emotional Skills in Adolescents to Prevent Cyberbullying and Improve Subjective Well-Being

Abstract

Bullying behavior alters the way in which students coexist together in the classroom and negatively affects adolescents’ well-being. Research highlights the importance of emotional skills in promoting positive youth development and optimal social functioning. Therefore, education in these skills is a potential target for interventions aimed at reducing cyberbullying and promoting satisfaction with life during adolescence. This study analyzes the impact of an emotion education program in adolescents to promote classroom coexistence and well-being. The sample comprised 148 students from 7th and 8th grade of secondary school aged between 12 and 15 years (Mage = 12.63, SDage = 0.74; 57% girls). A quasi-experimental design with longitudinal data collection was used in this study with randomized classroom assignment to the experimental group and the control group. The intervention program was based on the emotional intelligence model of Mayer and Salovey (1997). Its objective was to develop adolescents’ emotional skills to improve the quality of interpersonal relationships and reduce conflicts between peers, positively influencing coexistence and well-being. The intervention took place in eleven sessions during school hours over a period of 3 months. Participants completed the emotional competence questionnaire, the cyberbullying scale and the life satisfaction scale before (T1), immediately after (T2), and 6 months after the intervention (T3). The results showed that the intervention program reduced victimization and assault via mobile phones and the Internet in T2 and T3. In the follow-up (T3), the intervention group had enhanced emotional perception and regulation skills and reported an increase in life satisfaction in comparison to the control group. Our findings suggest that implementing classroom intervention programs to develop students’ emotional competencies could be beneficial for their subjective well-being and peer coexistence.

Cyberbullying: Life Satisfaction and Social Suport among Adolescent

“…The results of the analysis show that the general variable of life satisfaction has a positive effect on cyberbullying. These results are in line with the research of Schoeps et al [41] who found that high life satisfaction is a high predictor of cyberbullying.…”

Predicting Adolescent Adjustment and Well-Being: The Interplay between Socio-Emotional and Personal Factors

“…Furthermore, in addition to high levels of self-esteem and a high capacity for emotional management, the ability for emotional expression is also necessary in order to achieve high levels of well-being. Intervention programs that focus on the development of social-emotional competencies should therefore foster self-esteem and focus especially on the management and expression of emotions to prevent the onset of adjustment problems, as well as to improve subjective well-being during adolescence [32,33,34].…”

“…Indeed, recent studies have shown the benefits of emotional-skill training through effective intervention programs. Emotional competence learning apparently not only reduces the incidence of emotional problems, but also fosters well-being and mental health [32,33,34].…”

Desarrollo De Competencias Socioemocionales Mediante Plataforma Tecnológica (Programa Emotic): Valoración De Los Beneficios Del Programa Según Los Participantes

“…Los programas de intervención para fomentar las competencias emocionales han mostrado su eficacia para desarrollar la inteligencia emocional y, además, han evidenciado su capacidad para incidir de manera indirecta en otras variables tales como el bienestar o la relación con los iguales (p.ej., Hodzic et al, 2018;Schoeps et al, 2018). Estos beneficios parecen ser innegables; por lo que es un reto el desarrollo de programas que, además de ser educativos, sean atractivos en la adolescencia.…”