Socioemotional Skills Program with a Group of Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Young Adolescents: Impacts on Self-Concept and Emotional and Behavioral Problems

Abstract

There is significant evidence that emphasizes the importance of social and emotional learning in schools for students’ positive development and adjustment. The main goal of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a socioemotional skills promotion program, implemented with a group of socioculturally vulnerable young adolescents. Data were collected in the 2020–2021 school year from all students from 6th grade (n = 50, from four classes) in a high-risk school in Portugal (56% females). Two classes served as the comparison group. Participants responded to self-concept and emotional and behavioral problems measures at two moments (pre- and post-intervention). Results indicated a significant impact on self-concept, namely an increase in behavioral adjustment, happiness, and satisfaction and a decrease in anxiety in the intervention group compared with the comparison group. These findings support intervention efficacy. Educational implications are discussed.

Impact of a School Mental Health Program on Children’s and Adolescents’ Socio-Emotional Skills and Psychosocial Difficulties

“…Social awareness increased after the intervention for kindergarten, lower-secondary and higher secondary students. These results are consistent with previous studies showing a positive impact of SEL programs on socio-emotional skills [ 23 ]. Specifically, existing research showed the efficacy of SEL programs in enhancing SEL competencies for kindergarten children [ 46 ], primary school students [ 45 ] secondary school students [ 47 ], and high school students [ 26 ].…”

“…Analyzing the effect of school level, we found that after the intervention, internalizing, externalizing problems, and total difficulty decreased significantly in primary school students. Our results are in line with other studies that identified similar effects of SEL programs on internalizing and externalizing difficulties [ 22 , 23 , 44 , 45 ].…”

“…Specifically, existing research showed the efficacy of SEL programs in enhancing SEL competencies for kindergarten children [ 46 ], primary school students [ 45 ] secondary school students [ 47 ], and high school students [ 26 ]. Furthermore, our findings are in line with studies showing positive effects of SEL programs on students’ self-management skills [ 48 ], well-being (positive attitude, prosocial behavior, and academic performance) [ 26 ], social awareness [ 23 ], social skills and empathy [ 49 ]. The results of the present study support the importance of addressing socio-emotional skills and psychosocial difficulties in school intervention programs with students.…”

“…Verissimo et al [ 23 ] studied a group of 50 participants aged 10–13 who attended a high-risk public school and were exposed to environmental risk factors, such as domestic violence, poverty, and family dysfunction. They found significant changes in behavioral adjustment, anxiety, happiness and satisfaction, but the overall results showed that the intervention did not significantly impact emotional and behavioral problems [ 23 ].…”

“…Verissimo et al [ 23 ] studied a group of 50 participants aged 10–13 who attended a high-risk public school and were exposed to environmental risk factors, such as domestic violence, poverty, and family dysfunction. They found significant changes in behavioral adjustment, anxiety, happiness and satisfaction, but the overall results showed that the intervention did not significantly impact emotional and behavioral problems [ 23 ]. In a sample of 1299 students, an intervention based on CASEL’s framework examined whether changes in self-awareness (i.e., emotional self-regulation, self-esteem, and self-reflection) were related to concurrent changes in youth’s positive development (i.e., resilience and psychological wellbeing) [ 24 ].…”