This article presents findings from a meta-analysis of 213 school-based, universal social and emotional learning (SEL) programs involving 270,034 kindergarten through high school students. Compared to controls, SEL participants demonstrated significantly improved social and emotional skills, attitudes, behavior, and academic performance that reflected an 11-percentile-point gain in achievement. School teaching staff successfully conducted SEL programs. The use of 4 recommended practices for developing skills and the presence of implementation problems moderated program outcomes. The findings add to the growing empirical evidence regarding the positive impact of SEL programs. Policy makers, educators, and the public can contribute to healthy development of children by supporting the incorporation of evidence-based SEL programming into standard educational practice.

http://explorefhp.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Durlak-Weissberg-Child-Development-Meta-Analysis.pdf

The Impact of Enhancing Students’ Social and Emotional Learning: A Meta‐Analysis of School‐Based Universal Interventions

Used meta-analysis to review 177 primary prevention programs designed to prevent behavioral and social problems in children and adolescents. Findings provide empirical support for further research and practice in primary prevention. Most categories of programs produced outcomes similar to or higher in magnitude than those obtained by many other established preventive and treatment interventions in the social sciences and medicine. Programs modifying the school environment, individually focused mental health promotion efforts, and attempts to help children negotiate stressful transitions yield significant mean effects ranging from 0.24 to 0.93. In practical terms, the average participant in a primary prevention program surpasses the performance of between 59% to 82% of those in a control group, and outcomes reflect an 8% to 46% difference in success rates favoring prevention groups. Most categories of programs had the dual benefit of significantly reducing problems and significantly increasing competencies. Priorities for future research include clearer specification of intervention procedures and program goals, assessment of program implementation, more follow-up studies, and determining how characteristics of the intervention and participants relate to different outcomes.

Primary Prevention Mental Health Programs for Children and Adolescents: A Meta‐Analytic Review

Objectives. We examined whether kindergarten teachers' ratings of children’s prosocial skills, an indicator of noncognitive ability at school entry, predict key adolescent and adult outcomes. Our goal was to determine unique associations over and above other important child, family, and contextual characteristics.Methods. Data came from the Fast Track study of low–socioeconomic status neighborhoods in 3 cities and 1 rural setting. We assessed associations between measured outcomes in kindergarten and outcomes 13 to 19 years later (1991–2000). Models included numerous control variables representing characteristics of the child, family, and context, enabling us to explore the unique contributions among predictors.Results. We found statistically significant associations between measured social-emotional skills in kindergarten and key young adult outcomes across multiple domains of education, employment, criminal activity, substance use, and mental health.Conclusions. A kindergarten measure of social-emotiona...

Early Social-Emotional Functioning and Public Health: The Relationship Between Kindergarten Social Competence and Future Wellness

Prevention of depressive symptoms in school children

After teaching cognitive and social-problem-solving techniques designed to prevent depressive symptoms, we followed 69 fifth- and sixth-grade children at risk for depression for 2 years We compared these children with 49 children in a matched no-treatment control group The prevention group reported fewer depressive symptoms through the 2-year followup, and moderate to severe symptoms were reduced by half Surprisingly, the effects of the prevention program grew larger after the program was over We suggest that psychological immunization against depression can occur by teaching cognitive and social skills to children as they enter puberty

Prevention of Depressive Symptoms in Schoolchildren: Two-Year Follow-Up

Evaluation of a Social-Problem-Solving Training Program for Suburban and Inner-City Third-Grade Children.

This exploratory interview study investigated the informal interpersonal help-giving behaviors of 76 bartenders. Bartenders serve an average of 100+ customers daily, of whom about 16070 raise moderate to serious personal problems. The types of personal problems that came up, and bartenders" handling strategies and feeling reactions when such problems were raised, were recorded and analyzed. All three fell into meaningful factor clusters. Due in part to the hectic nature of the bar situation, bartenders are less able to engage personal problems in depth than other informal help-agents, e.g., beauticians. They are also less interested in prospective mental health consultation. Thus, although personal problems do indeed come up frequently at the bar, methods for superficial handling and/or referral, rather than in-depth engagement of such problems, seem more consistent with the realities of that work situation.

Bartenders as informal, interpersonal

A comparison of the problem-solving ability and adjustment of suburban and urban third-grade children

The study's main purpose was to assess relationships among five perspectives of children's adjustment: teacher, parent, peer and self-ratings, and behavior observations. The sample included 462 urb...

Multiperspective Assessment of Young Children's School Adjustment

This report describes the development of the Parent Rating Scale (PRS), a 20-item scale for use by parents in rating the adjustment of young normal children. Based on the responses of 416 parents of urban and suburban 2nd and 3rd grade children, a principal components factor analysis with varimax rotation yielded a 4-factor solution accounting for 48.3% in total variance. Low to moderate relationshps were found between PRS scores and teacher, self, and sociometric ratings fo children. PRS total and factor and total scores discriminated clearly between referred and nonreferred children. Suburban children had higher PRS scores than urban children and girls had higher scores than boys.

Barbara J. McKim

Papers

Evaluation of a Social-Problem-Solving Training Program for Suburban and Inner-City Third-Grade Children.

Bartenders as informal, interpersonal

A comparison of the problem-solving ability and adjustment of suburban and urban third-grade children

Multiperspective Assessment of Young Children's School Adjustment

A Brief Parent Rating Scale for Assessing Young Children's Adjustment