Emotion Understanding, Social Competence and School Achievement in Children from Primary School in Portugal

Abstract

This study analyzes the relationship between emotion understanding and school achievement in children of primary school, considering age, gender, fluid intelligence, mother’s educational level and social competence. In this study participated 406 children of primary school. The instruments used were the Test of Emotion Comprehension, Colored Progressive Matrices of Raven, Socially Action and Interpersonal Problem Solving Scale. The structural equation model showed the relationship between the emotion understanding and school performance depends on a mediator variable that in the context of the study was designated social competence. Age appear as an explanatory factor of the differences found, the mother’s educational level only predicts significantly social emotional competence, fluid intelligence is a predictor of emotion understanding, school achievement and social emotional competence. Regarding the influence of sex, emotional understanding does not emerge as a significant predictor of social emotional competence in girls or boys. Multiple relationships between the various factors associated with school achievement and social emotional competence are discussed as well as their implications in promoting child development and school success.

Social Competence and Peer Social Acceptance: Evaluating Effects of an Educational Intervention in Adolescents

“…It is relevant to note that these findings suggest that when classes are developed with a quality Physical Education (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO], 2015) using effective pedagogical models such as the SEM (Franco et al, 2017), students show high levels of positive emotions and social skills favoring peer interactions, clear evidence of cooperation, and human relationships that promote prosocial coexistence (Cañabate et al, 2018).…”

“…Quality education requires attending to cognitive and affective-social dimensions that facilitate the physical and psychosocial development of students (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO], 2015). The importance of the affective-social dimension in the success of the teaching and learning process in the educational context are issues that are arousing great interest in research (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO], 2015;Franco et al, 2017;Méndez-Giménez et al, 2018). Accordingly, the teaching and learning process has an individual and social aspect (Franco et al, 2017), where the search for social objectives can boost school achievement (Elliot et al, 2006;Cecchini-Estrada et al, 2011).…”

Academic Achievement, Self-Concept, Personality and Emotional Intelligence in Primary Education. Analysis by Gender and Cultural Group

“…Numerous research studies have examined the relationship between EI and academic performance (Pulido and Herrera, 2017). They have also analyzed their relationship with other variables such as adjustment and permanence in the school context (Hogan et al, 2010;Szczygieł and Mikolajczak, 2017), coping styles (MacCann et al, 2011), the degree of social competence (Franco et al, 2017), and school motivation (Usán and Salavera, 2018).…”

Okul Öncesi Dönemde Duygu Anlamanın Sosyal Yetkinlik ve Davranış Üzerindeki Yordayıcı Etkisinin İncelenmesi

“…Social competence, the ability of children to achieve personal goals by maintaining positive relationships with others in different situations over time in social interactions (Rubin & Rose-Krasnor, 1992) or the capacity of children to establish social relationships with family members and peers (Sheridan, Knoche, Edwards, Bovaird & Kupzyk, 2010). In the light of all this information, there are important and numerous studies about understanding emotions and social competence abroad in early childhood (e.g., Martins, Osorio, Verissimo, & Martins, 2016;Franco, Beja, Candeias, & Santos, 2017). The importance of emotion understanding and social competence has started to be recognized in recent years (e.g., Kılıç, 2012;Kuyucu, 2012;Koçyiğit, Yılmaz, & Sezer, 2015;Bozkurt & Kabadayı, 2017), but it is observed that there are not enough studies on this subject.…”