The Effects of an Integrative Art Program on Young Children’s Emotional Intelligence and Their Pro-Social Behaviors

Abstract

This study was aimed to develop an integrative art program that incorporates both emotional and pro-social components for young children (age, 4-5 years). Furthermore, the effectiveness of this integrative program was examined with 39 young children who were divided into the experimental group and the control group of this study. To the experimental group, the integrative art program of interest in this study was provided over 8 weeks. The children of the control group were provided a similar program during the same period. To measure the levels of young children`s emotional intelligence and those of their pro-social behavior were assessed by using the emotional intelligence questionnaire and the children`s pro-social behavior assessment scale to collect the data. The analysis of covariance by SPSS 18.0 indicated that the young children from the experimental group exhibited higher total scores for emotional intelligence and pro-social behaviors than their counterparts from the control group. The results indicate that the integrative art program of interest in this study improved the young children`s emotional intelligence and their pro-social behaviors. Along with main results of this study, implications for research and practice were discussed.