The development of affective skills in school-aged children

Abstract

Over the last several years, a number of programs have been developed to teach children social and affective skills that will presumably enhance their social and emotional adjustment. One component of many of these programs involves training in skills relating to the understanding and expression of affect. The major objectives of this study were to determine the extent to which a number of affective skills are present at different age levels, to examine the relationship between children's affective and cognitive skills, and to identify those affective skills that are most highly related to emotional adjustment. One hundred twenty children in Grades 3, 4, 5, and 6 were administered measures of affective and cognitive skills and emotional adjustment. The results indicated that 4 of the 5 affective skills assessed increase with age, with the greatest change occurring between Grades 4 and 5. Moreover, children's affective skills were significantly correlated with their cognitive skills. While affective skills did not relate to emotional adjustment across all grade levels, there was some indication that affective skills are related to emotional adjustment at the Grade 4 level. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for programming in the affective domain.