IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i13p7628-d844961.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Emotional Competence in Primary School Children: Examining the Effect of a Psycho-Educational Group Intervention: A Pilot Prospective Study

Author

Listed:
  • Sabina La Grutta

    (Department of Psychology, Educational Science and Human Movement, University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy)

  • Maria Stella Epifanio

    (Department of Psychology, Educational Science and Human Movement, University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy)

  • Marco Andrea Piombo

    (Department of Psychology “Renzo Canestrari”, Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna, 40127 Bologna, Italy)

  • Pietro Alfano

    (Institute of Traslational Pharmacology (IFT), National Research Council of Italy, 90146 Palermo, Italy)

  • Agata Maltese

    (Department of Psychology, Educational Science and Human Movement, University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy)

  • Salvatore Marcantonio

    (Quality, Planning and Strategic Support Area, University of Palermo, Piazza Marina 61, 90133 Palermo, Italy)

  • Sonia Ingoglia

    (Department of Psychology, Educational Science and Human Movement, University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy)

  • Marianna Alesi

    (Department of Psychology, Educational Science and Human Movement, University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy)

  • Rosa Lo Baido

    (Department of Biomedicine, Neuroscience and Advanced Diagnostics (Bi.N.D.), University of Palermo, 90129 Palermo, Italy)

  • Giacomo Mancini

    (Department of Education Studies “Giovanni Maria Bertin”, Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy)

  • Federica Andrei

    (Department of Psychology “Renzo Canestrari”, Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna, 40127 Bologna, Italy)

Abstract

Emotional competence (EC) is a key component of children’s psychological, cognitive, and social development, and it is a central element of learning. The primary goal of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of implementing a psycho-educational group intervention aimed at improving children’s emotional competence (EC), quality of integration and scholastic skills. A total of 229 children (123 females; M Age = 7.22 years; SD = 0.97 years) completed the Pictures of Facial Affect (POFA), the Drawn Stories Technique, the Classroom Drawing, and the Colored Progressive Matrices. The total sample was randomly divided into an intervention group (N = 116) who took part in psycho-educational activities and a control (no-intervention) group (N = 84). Both groups were tested at baseline, before the intervention started, and at the end of the intervention (4 months from baseline). Results from mixed-model ANOVA revealed a significant main effect for POFA score over time (F = 6.24, p = 0.01) and an interaction effect between POFA and group (F = 4.82, p = 0.03). No significant main effect was found for classroom drawing over time (F = 0.81, p > 0.05) or for quality of integration and group intervention. These findings support the importance of developing psycho-educational programmes in school for promotion of emotional health for preventing not only the onset of problematic behaviours at school such as bullying but also the development of clinical conditions linked to difficulties in emotional recognition, expression, and regulation such as alexithymia.

Suggested Citation

  • Sabina La Grutta & Maria Stella Epifanio & Marco Andrea Piombo & Pietro Alfano & Agata Maltese & Salvatore Marcantonio & Sonia Ingoglia & Marianna Alesi & Rosa Lo Baido & Giacomo Mancini & Federica An, 2022. "Emotional Competence in Primary School Children: Examining the Effect of a Psycho-Educational Group Intervention: A Pilot Prospective Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-13, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:13:p:7628-:d:844961
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/13/7628/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/13/7628/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. José M. Tomás & Melchor Gutiérrez & Ana María Pastor & Patricia Sancho, 2020. "Perceived Social Support, School Adaptation and Adolescents’ Subjective Well-Being," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 13(5), pages 1597-1617, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Aurora Bonvino & Antonella Calvio & Roberta Stallone & Chiara Valeria Marinelli & Tiziana Quarto & Annamaria Petito & Paola Palladino & Lucia Monacis, 2023. "Emotions in Times of Pandemic Crisis among Italian Children: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(12), pages 1-34, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jun Li & Jian-Hao Huang, 2023. "The Relationship between Meaning in Life and School Adaptation among College Students: The Moderating Effect of Family Functioning," International Journal of Higher Education, Sciedu Press, vol. 12(5), pages 1-53, October.
    2. Hong Shi & Hanfang Zhao & Zheng Ren & Minfu He & Yuyu Li & Yajiao Pu & Xiangrong Li & Shixun Wang & Li Cui & Jieyu Zhao & Hongjian Liu & Xiumin Zhang, 2022. "Factors Associated with Subjective Well-Being of Chinese Adolescents Aged 10–15: Based on China Family Panel Studies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-15, June.
    3. Metin Kaya & Cahit Erdem, 2021. "Students’ Well-Being and Academic Achievement: A Meta-Analysis Study," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 14(5), pages 1743-1767, October.
    4. Janka Goldan & Lena Nusser & Michael Gebel, 2022. "School-related Subjective Well-being of Children with and without Special Educational Needs in Inclusive Classrooms," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 15(4), pages 1313-1337, August.
    5. Shuang Zheng & Hongrui Liu & Meilin Yao, 2023. "Social Support From Parents and Teachers and Adolescents’ Subjective Well‑Being: Mediating Effect of Cognitive Regulatory Learning and Academic Procrastination," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 16(2), pages 485-508, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:13:p:7628-:d:844961. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.