The Effects Of A Social Emotional Competence Training Program On Junior High School Students

Junior high school students are in the adolescence of rapidly physical and mental development, which easily lead to emotional distress and psychological problems. In recent years, a great many studies have found that the junior high school students are lacking in social skills, and revealed an increase in problem behaviors, and a decrease in emotional intelligence of them. It has been proved that emotional intelligence is playing a vitally important role in students’ mental health, not only affects their social competence, but also the ability to cope with stress, that is also the key to success and happiness.Our research focuses on The Social Emotional Competence Training Program, which is designed for middle school students and based on the Social Emotional Learning, Healthy Personality theory. The purpose of the program is to improve students’ emotional and social competence. The quasi-experimental exploratory study has investigated whether The Social Emotional Competence Training Program, during a two month period, could lead to gains in students’ emotional intelligence, social competence, and a reduction in antisocial behaviors. The program was applied to 45 seventh-grade students. The other 37 students in control group did not accept any special training curriculum during the same period. Self-report questionnaires (Emotional Intelligence Scale, EIS; School Social Behavior Scales, SSBS) were administered before and after the program. The results revealed:(1)There were significant gains in the emotion perception of students, who accept the social emotional competence training;(2)The effect of The Social Emotional Competence Training Program on students’ interpersonal skills were significant;(3)No augment were found in students’anti-social behaviors.The results provide evidence that The Social Emotional Competence Training Program does have positive impact on students’ emotional and social competence.