Social-emotional Competence Research Articles

Teaching with Acceptance and Commitment: Building Teachers’ Social-Emotional Competencies for Teaching Effectiveness

Teachers need to relate to students in caring and committed ways, which can be personally and emotionally challenging. Enhancing teachers’ social-emotional competences (SECs) is a pathway to fostering these kinds of relationships. One possibility is using Teaching with Acceptance and Commitment (TAC), which integrates ideas and practices from mindfulness and behavior change. TAC helps teachers notice their emotional responses in the classroom and respond thoughtfully guided by professional values.

Early Maladaptive Schemas and the Accuracy of Facial Emotion Recognition: A Preliminary Investigation.

Different developmental experiences related to deep-rooted beliefs about oneself and others may significantly affect individual social emotional competencies, such as the accuracy of facial emotion recognition and detection. This study presents a preliminary examination of the relationship between early maladaptive schemas (EMSs) and the accuracy of recognizing facial expressions showing basic emotions, neutral faces, and discrimination between neutral and emotional faces. The sample consisted of 138 psychology students (M = 20.33; SD = 1.33, 27 of the respondents were male). Japanese and Caucasian facial expressions of emotion and neutral faces and JACNeuF (Matsumoto & Ekman, 1988) were used as stimulus material for assessing the facial emotion recognition of seven basic emotions (anger, contempt, disgust, fear, sadness, happiness, and surprise) and neutral faces. The Young Schema Questionnaire-Short Form 3 (YSQ-S3; Young, 2005) was administered as a measure of EMSs. The findings demonstrate that all schema domains affect the accuracy of recognizing facial expressions showing negative emotions (anger, contempt, disgust, fear, and sadness). The Dependence/Incompetence and Entitlement/Grandiosity schemas were significant predictors for detecting neutral faces and discriminating between faces with and without emotion, while the Abandonment/Instability schema additionally proved significant for recognizing neutral faces. Limitations and suggestions for future elaboration are acknowledged.

Exploring educators’ experiences of the social functioning of learners in middle childhood

In the research reported on here we explored educators’ experiences of learners’ social functioning in middle childhood in a South African context. Educators are important socialisation agents for learners in middle childhood, and we reasoned that they could offer valuable information to identify those key social skills and competencies that learners in this life phase need to function optimally. A qualitative exploratory design was used. Twenty-nine educators were purposefully selected as participants from 4 school districts in a demarcated area in the North-West province. Data were collected via 4 focus group interviews, with each focus group interview including the educators of 1 school per district. Thematic analysis of the data revealed the embeddedness of learners’ social functioning in the complex blend of South Africa’s unequal contexts and diverse cultures; the demonstration of inappropriate and appropriate behaviour as indicators of learners’ quality of social functioning in the learning environment; and the imperative to intentionally develop and strengthen the social skills and emotional competencies of learners in middle childhood. We recommend that learners in middle childhood be supported to acquire higher levels of social competence, in particular skills of communication and listening, conflict management, and problem-solving to improve innate social functioning.

Positive Classroom Design through Social-Emotional Learning: Building a Community of Learners

There is a direct relationship between meeting the needs of our students through providing a positive learning environment that is rich in social and emotional learning and building a community of learners who want to be engaged in their learning. Students who participate in social and emotional learning in the classroom are able to practice self-control, self-management, responsible decision-making, relationship skills, and social awareness (Casel, 2020). Social and emotional learning activities and lessons help teachers to meet the basic needs of their students in order for them to thrive in their learning environment. When basic needs are met and social-emotional learning competencies are achieved, students feel a sense of community in their classroom. When students feel a part of a positive environment, behavior decreases, and engagement increases. The article is based on a review of the literature and the personal experiences of one of the authors.

Prosocial Behavior in Preschoolers: Effects of Early Socialization Experiences With Peers.

Over the last decades, many studies had focused on the psychological outcomes of children who have received early socialization outside of the family context, highlighting that the daycare experience can both positively and negatively influence the child’s social-emotional development. Despite the number of studies conducted, there is a lack of observational research on this topic. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the early daycare experience can influence the prosocial behaviors that children exhibit during free-play social interactions with peers, focusing on their quantity and quality. In addition, the associations between the enactment of prosocial behaviors and social-emotional and behavioral competence were investigated. 160 preschoolers, 77 of whom had previously attended daycare, participated in the study and were focally observed during two free play sessions with peers. Each prosocial behavior was identified and subsequently classified using a coding scheme designed to consider the self-initiated or required origin of prosocial actions and their underlying motive. Emotion comprehension was measured using a standardized test, while social-emotional and behavioral competence was assessed using a questionnaire filled out by teachers. The main findings showed that children who had attended daycare had higher anger and aggression scores than those who had not, who, in turn, were rated by their teachers as having more internalizing behaviors. These characteristics seemed to account for the differences found in the tendency to act prosocial acts in response to a peer’s request, which was lower in children who had a previous daycare experience. Moreover, early socialization outside of the family context appeared to foster the comprehension of others’ intent to achieve emotional or instrumental personal goals and, at the same time, to reduce conventional/affiliative prosocial acts. Overall, this study suggested that the incidental effects of daycare on prosocial behavior might be canceled due to the peculiar social-emotional and behavioral characteristics of the two groups of children.

The impact of transformational leadership on teachers' job burnout: the mediating role of social-emotional competence and student-teacher relationship

PurposePrincipal leadership is an important external environmental factor that affects and alleviates teachers' job burnout. The purpose of this paper is to explore the deep internal mechanisms of the influence of principal transformational leadership on teacher job burnout in the context of Chinese teachers.Design/methodology/approachA cluster sampling method was used to conduct a questionnaire survey on 990 elementary school teachers in 14 primary schools in Beijing. This study uses a structural equation model to analyze the chain intermediary effect of social-emotional competence and the student-teacher relationship between transformational leadership and teachers' job burnout.FindingsThe results reveal that transformational leadership has a significant negative predictive effect on teachers' job burnout; this kind of leadership affects teachers' job burnout through a chain intermediary effect of social and emotional competence and student-teacher relationship.Originality/valueThis research has discovered that teacher burnout is the result of the interaction of external environmental and individual internal factors. Transformational leadership, as an external environmental factor, positively predicts the internal social-emotional competence of the teacher, and then the teacher's internal social-emotional competence positively predicts the external student-teacher relationship. Finally, the teacher-student relationship of the external environment negatively predicts the job burnout of internal individual teachers.

Learning behaviors, executive functions, and social skills: A meta-analysis on the factors influencing learning development in the transition from kindergarten to elementary school

The linguistic, mathematical, social-emotional, and cognitive precursor competencies are important predictors of learning success already at kindergarten age. A systematic analysis of the state of research on the actual interrelationships of the focused precursor competencies brings together results of a meta-analysis. The literature search yielded 653 hits, which were reduced to 94 hits after applying exclusion criteria. It was possible to perform 271 correlation tests in 39 pathways. Thus, the sample (n = 141,508 [M = 1505, SD = 3930 ]) with an average age of 5.2 years (SD = 0.10 years) is balanced in gender ratio of 48.5 % male and 48.9 % female (2.6 % not specified). The largest correlation between literacy and mathematical precursor skills is r = .65 . With a correlation between r = .17 and r = .60 , executive functions significantly influence the development of literacy and mathematical skills and learning behaviors. Learning behaviors are most strongly related to social skills, with r = .57 . Parental influence turns out to be smaller, with correlations ranging from r = .19 to .55 . The effect of individual pathways is also small, and peer group was not included in the search term combination. Successful educational processes in day care centers can be improved with a focus on the promotion of executive functions and learning behaviors.

Social Emotional Competence, Learning Outcomes, Emotional and Behavioral Difficulties of Preschool Children: Parent and Teacher Evaluations.

This paper addresses the role of social emotional competence in the emotional and behavioral problems and learning outcomes of preschool children based on their parents’ and teachers’ evaluations. In this study, we compared the perceptions of teachers and parents when evaluating the same child using the multi-informant assessment. First, the associations and differences between both the informant evaluations were investigated. Second, the correlation of the social emotional competence and emotional, and behavioral difficulties among preschool children was analyzed, separately addressing their parents’ and teachers’ evaluations. Third, the role of the preschool children’s social emotional competence in their emotional and behavioral problems, and learning outcomes was investigated building the regression and mediation models. The sample consisted of 507 preschool children (3–6 years, mean age 4.85 years, SD 0.82) and their parents and teachers. Both informants completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and Social Skills Improvement System Social-Emotional Learning Brief Scales, and teachers reported on each child’s learning outcomes (by completing a three-item Learning outcomes measure). When comparing both informants’ evaluations, positive associations were found between teacher and parental evaluations of prosocial behavior and emotional, and behavioral difficulties of preschool children, as well as self-management. Parents evaluated their children higher than teachers in conduct problems, hyperactivity, prosocial behavior, and total difficulty, while teachers evaluated children higher than parents in social emotional competence. According to teachers, the social emotional competence of preschool children was negatively correlated to all difficulty scales, and positively related to the prosocial behavior scale. The demographic variables, as well as parental socioeconomic status and children’s belonging to a vulnerable group were not found to be significantly associated with the preschool children’s learning outcomes. However, social emotional competence remains a significant variable in teacher-rated learning outcomes of preschool children even if sociodemographic variables are controlled. Our findings indicate that a higher level of social emotional competence and lower levels of social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties are related to a higher preschoolers’ academic learning in their teachers’ evaluation. This suggests the importance of early facilitation of social emotional competence as a key factor for academic success and more positive behavioral outcomes.

A latent transition analysis of longitudinal stability of peer victimization experiences among Chinese adolescents

BackgroundPeer victimization is a source of stress for many adolescents and has important implications for their psychosocial development. Importantly, adolescents' experiences of peer victimization are dynamic and may change over time, due to individual and school-based contextual factors. ObjectiveThe goal of the current study was to examine the stability of peer victimization and predictive effects of individual and contextual factors on the changes in patterns of victimization for Chinese adolescents over a 12-month period. Participants and settingA total of 1281 Chinese middle school students (Time 1 [T1]: Mage = 13.40, SD = 0.97; 56.3% males) participated in the study. MethodsAdolescents self-reported on a variety of variables at baseline (i.e., T1) and 12 months later (i.e., Time 2 [T2]). Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) and Latent Transition Analysis (LTA) were used to identify latent profiles and transition patterns of victimization among adolescents. Additionally, logistic regressions were used to investigate the effects of social emotional competence and school climate on the victimization types and transition patterns of adolescents. ResultsAdolescents' patterns of victimization could be divided into three groups, including (1) a low victimized group, (2) a moderately and verbally victimized group, and (3) a severe multi-type victimized group. Adolescents in the low victimized group showed the highest stability in their peer victimization experiences from T1 to T2. Social emotional competence and school climate had significant effects on the probability of transitioning from the low victimization group to a higher victimization group over time. ConclusionsThese findings emphasize the importance of early intervention efforts designed to curb peer victimization among Chinese adolescents.

Youth-Led Participatory Action Research in School Counseling as a Vehicle for Antiracist SEL

As youth in the United States continue to become diverse, it is important for the practices educators adopt to be inclusive and antiracist. Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) is a pedagogy that aligns with the social emotional learning competencies and the tenets of antiracist education. We propose that school counselors are best positioned to support efforts to implement YPAR in schools. The following article provides 2 case examples of the use of YPAR: one in a school counseling small group and the other in a classroom co-facilitated with a teacher.

Examination of Chinese immigrant parents' beliefs about children's social development through play: A mixed methods explanatory sequential study.

Currently, despite the rapid growth of the population of Chinese immigrant families and children in the United States, preschool-aged Chinese-heritage children are an underrepresented group in research. The overarching purpose of this project was to provide a deeper understanding of Head Start Chinese immigrant parents' beliefs about children's social-emotional development, the value of play during the preschool period, and the potential role of cultural orientation. The study followed the steps of a mixed methods explanatory sequential design. First, using quantitative data collected from 213 primary caregivers, the study employed a person-centered lens to explore profiles of parents' cultural orientations and beliefs about play and academics in preschool to better understand the association of these profiles to children's social competencies. Next, 34 primary caregivers from the quantitative study participated in in-depth, focus group discussions to further explore parents' perceptions of children's social behaviors, cultural adjustment experiences, and their perceptions about U.S. preschools. Four reliable profiles were resolved quantitatively and showed within-group variations in patterns of Chinese immigrant parents' beliefs and cultural orientations that related differentially to children's social-emotional competencies as evidenced within peer play at home. Qualitative findings corroborated and elaborated the quantitative findings. These results underscored the importance of engaging with Chinese immigrant parents to inform research and program practices. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The role of household chaos on levels and trajectories of socioemotional behavior in the second year.

The second year of life is a time of formative developmental change as basic behavioral systems undergo rapid integration and expansion. This study examined the developmental trajectories of social-emotional (SoE) outcomes and the effects of infant sex and household chaos (HC) on the development of SoE outcomes across the second year of life. The participating families (N = 143) were ethnically homogenous (88% Caucasian) but economically diverse (31% low-to-very-low income). Mothers reported on their children's SoE outcomes including externalizing, internalizing, dysregulating problem behaviors as well as SoE competence when infants (54% girls) were 12, 18, and 24 months old. At each age point, HC was assessed through observations during home visits and compliance to the study protocols. Multilevel modeling revealed increasing developmental trajectories in all of the domains of SoE outcomes across the second year of life, reflecting the premise that these behavioral systems continue to form and become increasingly part of the infant's behavioral repertoire as development unfolds. However, compared to infants in less chaotic homes, infants in more chaotic households experienced steeper increases in both externalizing and internalizing problem behaviors across the second year, and girls showed higher levels of internalizing problem behaviors compared to boys. Results emphasize the increasing trajectories of problem behaviors in relation to ongoing chaotic caregiving environment among infants as young as 2 years of age. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Predictive Model Construction for Social-Emotional Competence of Toddlers in Shanghai, China: A Population-Based Study.

ObjectiveTo construct a simple model containing predictors derived from Chinese Learning Accomplishment Profile (C-LAP) to better the evaluation of the social–emotional development of toddlers aged 24–36 months.MethodThe test results by C-LAP system and demographic information of toddlers aged 24–36 months were collected between 2013 and 2019 in Shanghai, China, whose guardians were voluntary to accept the investigation. We developed a norm with the dataset based on the study population. With the norm, stepwise regression and best subset analysis were applied to select predictors.ResultsRelying on the norm established and stepwise regression and also the best subset analysis, an optimal model containing only 6 indicators was finally determined and the nomogram of the model was constructed. In the training and validation dataset, the AUCs of the optimal model were 0.95 (95% CI: 0.94–0.96) and 0.88 (95% CI: 0.85–0.90), respectively. When the cutoff point of the model was set at 0.04, its sensitivity in training and validation dataset was 0.969 and 0.949, respectively, and the specificity in training and validation dataset is 0.802 and 0.736, respectively.ConclusionA simplified predictive model which includes only 6 items derived from C-LAP is developed to evaluate the probabilities of being at risk of developmental problem in social–emotional development for toddlers aged 24–36 months. Meanwhile, specificity and sensitivity of the model may be high enough for future fast screening.

Childhood Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence and Effects on Social-Emotional Competence: A Systematic Review

Childhood Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence and Effects on Social-Emotional Competence: A Systematic Review

Self-Regulation in Preschool: Examining Its Factor Structure and Associations With Pre-academic Skills and Social-Emotional Competence.

Self-regulation in early childhood is an important predictor of success across a variety of indicators in life, including health, well-being, and earnings. Although conceptually self-regulation has been defined as multifaceted, previous research has not investigated whether there is conceptual and empirical overlap between the factors that comprise self-regulation or if they are distinct. In this study, using a bifactor model, we tested the shared and unique variance among self-regulation constructs and prediction to pre-academic and social-emotional skills. The sample included 932 preschool children (Mage = 48 months, SD = 6.55; 49% female), their parents, and their teachers in the United States. Children’s self-regulation was assessed using measures of executive function, behavioral self-regulation, and emotion regulation. The bifactor model demonstrated a common overarching self-regulation factor, as well as distinct executive function and emotion regulation factors. The common overarching self-regulation factor and executive function predicted children’s pre-academic (i.e., mathematics and literacy) and social-emotional skills. The emotion regulation factor predicted children’s social-emotional skills. Identifying the shared and unique aspects of self-regulation may have important implications for supporting children’s regulatory skills as well as their success in school.

Effects of a Digital Game-Based Course in Building Adolescents' Knowledge and Social-Emotional Competencies.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of a digital game-based course to build domain knowledge and social emotional competencies of empathy and compassion in adolescents. Materials and Methods: The study used a digital game Bury me, my Love with an accompanying course which was administered to 201 participants between ages 13-18 across United Arab Emirates (UAE) and India. Standardized self-reports were used to score participants on measures of knowledge and attitudes, empathy, and compassion before and after the intervention. Mixed analyses of variance were conducted with 1 between-subjects factor (gender) and 1 within-subjects factor (time) to determine the impact of the intervention, followed by post hoc t-tests. Results: Increased effects of intervention were obtained for both knowledge and social emotional learning in both UAE and India. Specifically, there was a significant increase in awareness of migration and refugees in both India (P < 0.001) and UAE (P < 0.001). Interesting effects of gender were seen in which females in both countries showed increases in compassion from others (P < 0.05). Conclusion: This study opens a new window in game-based learning. The design of a structured course with learning outcomes that are centered around a digital game establishes its potential to create engaging and accessible solutions to simultaneously build domain knowledge and social-emotional competencies in adolescents.

Using Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation to Facilitate the Social–Emotional Competence and School Readiness of Preschool Children in Marginalized Communities

Using Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation to Facilitate the Social–Emotional Competence and School Readiness of Preschool Children in Marginalized Communities

Social emotional ability development (SEAD): An integrated model of practical emotion-based competencies

Social emotional abilities (i.e., specific skills), defined as the set of cognitive abilities, emotion-based knowledge, and behavioral competencies (i.e., skill levels) that facilitate adaptively employing prosocial processes and behaviors (i.e., “actions”), such as emotional regulation and sympathetic and empathetic response behaviors, is contemporarily modeled and measured as emotional intelligence. This conceptualization can be problematic, however, as the two concepts are not the same and traditional methods of measuring emotional intelligence can have limited practical utility. The social emotional ability development (SEAD) theoretical model introduced in this treatise represents a pragmatic and simplified approach to the development of social emotional ability and competency as abstracted from constructs of emotional intelligence, social intelligence, and sociocultural learning theory. Further, the SEAD model reaches beyond the individual as the unit of analysis to explore, conceptualize, differentiate, investigate, and define the hierarchal, bi-directional, and contextual nature of the dimensions of social emotional ability within close relationships. Implications for how the SEAD model can be used by researchers, practitioners, educators, individuals, families, and couples across a broad spectrum of domains and interventions are discussed.

Investigating the Links of Social-Emotional Competencies: Emotional Well-being and Academic Engagement among Adolescents

ABSTRACT This cross-sectional study examined the links of social-emotional competencies (SECs: emotional regulation, relationship skills, and planning of schoolwork) with emotional well-being (EWB) and academic engagement (behavioral and emotional) among 1085 lower secondary school students. A latent structural model was tested using Mplus. The model specified the SECs as the independent variables, EWB as the intermediate variable, and behavioral and emotional engagement as the dependent variables. In line with hypotheses, the SECs showed statistically significant links with EWB; the strongest for emotional regulation. In addition, EWB was significantly associated with both dimensions of academic engagement and planning of schoolwork was directly associated with the engagement variables. The findings support the notion that EWB is linked to academic engagement and that SECs, especially emotional regulation can promote academic engagement via EWB. Yet, skills in planning schoolwork emerged as the SECs with the greatest likely potential for promoting academic engagement among adolescent students.

The Mediating Effect of Social Emotional Competence on The Relationship Between Teacher Evaluation and Cognitive Performance Among T.L.E. Teachers

This study determined the mediating effect of social-emotional competence on the relationship between teacher evaluation and the cognitive performance of teachers. A descriptive-correlational research design was employed. There were 304 Technology Livelihood Education (TLE) teachers in the Division of Davao del Norte who has chosen through simple random sampling. This study used three adopted questionnaires. Mean, Pearson r, standard deviation, regression analysis, and Sobel test were used as statistical tools. The results show that teacher evaluation is always manifested, teachers’ cognitive performance is often manifested, and social-emotional competence is often. The results revealed a significant relationship between teacher evaluation and cognitive performance of teachers, teacher evaluation and social-emotional competence, and teachers’ social-emotional competence and cognitive performance. Social-emotional competence significantly mediates the relationship between teacher evaluation and cognitive performance of teachers with partial mediation. The results highlight the importance of teacher evaluation and social-emotional competence and suggest applying and improving them in the cognitive performance of teachers.