IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i11p6331-d567939.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

School-Based Training for Sustainable Emotional Development in Chinese Preschoolers: A Quasi-Experiment Study

Author

Listed:
  • Jianfen Wu

    (School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China)

  • Manlin Zhang

    (School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China)

  • Wenqi Lin

    (School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China)

  • Yunpeng Wu

    (School of Teacher Education, Dezhou University, Dezhou 253023, China)

  • Hui Li

    (School of Education, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia)

Abstract

Emotional competence (EC) is important for children’s social adjustment and sustainable development. The present study designed a school based emotional competence learning (ECL) program and examined its effectiveness with 56 Chinese preschoolers aged 5–6. A quasi-experimental design was employed to examine the impact of the ECL program on young children’s EC. Two upper Kindergarten classes (Daban) for children aged 5–6 were randomly assigned as experimental group ( n = 31, 42% girls, Mage = 68.31 months, SD = 3.75) and control group ( n = 25, 44% girls, M age = 68.16 months, SD = 3.77). The experimental group was engaged in a 15-week ECL program, whereas the control group had similar duration courses without emotional competence training. All the children were administered the Test of Emotion Comprehension, Expression Identification Task, and Emotion Regulation Strategy Inventory before and after the intervention. The results indicated no significant differences between the experimental and control groups in the pre-test. In contrast, the experimental group outperformed the control group in most EC components in the post-test. Meanwhile, the experimental group demonstrated greater increases in EC components. The findings suggest that this ECL program has strong potential as a school-based, structured program for enhancing children’s emotional competence. The educational implications of these findings are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Jianfen Wu & Manlin Zhang & Wenqi Lin & Yunpeng Wu & Hui Li, 2021. "School-Based Training for Sustainable Emotional Development in Chinese Preschoolers: A Quasi-Experiment Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-15, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:11:p:6331-:d:567939
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/11/6331/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/11/6331/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Belfield, Clive & Bowden, A. Brooks & Klapp, Alli & Levin, Henry & Shand, Robert & Zander, Sabine, 2015. "The Economic Value of Social and Emotional Learning," Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 6(3), pages 508-544, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Holla,Alaka & Bendini,Maria Magdalena & Dinarte Diaz,Lelys Ileana & Trako,Iva, 2021. "Is Investment in Preprimary Education Too Low ? Lessons from (Quasi) ExperimentalEvidence across Countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9723, The World Bank.
    2. T. Gregory & E. Dal Grande & M. Brushe & D. Engelhardt & S. Luddy & M. Guhn & A. Gadermann & K.A. Schonert-Reichl & S. Brinkman, 2021. "Associations between School Readiness and Student Wellbeing: A Six-Year Follow Up Study," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 14(1), pages 369-390, February.
    3. Attanasio, Orazio & Blundell, Richard & Conti, Gabriella & Mason, Giacomo, 2020. "Inequality in socio-emotional skills: A cross-cohort comparison," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    4. Peter C. Scales & Eugene C. Roehlkepartain & Maura Shramko, 2017. "Aligning Youth Development Theory, Measurement, and Practice Across Cultures and Contexts: Lessons from Use of the Developmental Assets Profile," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 10(4), pages 1145-1178, December.
    5. Stephanie M. Jones & Jennifer Kahn, "undated". "The Evidence Base for How We Learn: Supporting Students’ Social, Emotional, and Academic Development," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 2d8a7d46adb54cfebbd00f1e5, Mathematica Policy Research.
    6. Daniel T. L. Shek, 2024. "Enhancement of Psychosocial Competence and Well-Being of Chinese High School Students under the COVID-19 Pandemic: Tin Ka Ping P.A.T.H.S. Project in Mainland China," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 19(5), pages 2727-2748, October.
    7. Koohborfardhaghighi, Somayeh & Altmann, Jörn & Heshmati, Almas, 2022. "The Interplay between Organizational Structure, Culture and Employees’ Socio-Emotional Skills within Their Social Capital," IZA Discussion Papers 15316, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    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:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:11:p:6331-:d:567939. 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.