Development of social and emotional skills through intervention programs among adolescents

In teenagers groups where there are positive interrelations, activities are more effective, thus the social climate, the level of socialization and interpersonal relationships are directly determined by positive and constructive learning experiences and influence the school adjustement of 9th graders in high school environment. Socio-emotional imbalances can occur at any age over the time spent by the student in this context, being however more frequently in the transition from one stage of education to another, because these transitions require student's readjustment to new educational needs. The purpose of educational research aimed to analyse the relationship between establishing and maintaining dificulties of 9th graders' positive interpersonal relationships and their status within the class by means of sociometric techniques, qualitative methods, educational climate analysis in school activity. In this respect, our research was focused on experimenting an intervention program to improve the interpersonal relationships of these students. The lower interpersonal relationships skills of 9th graders, the more will be reduced the quality and frequency of positive and constructive learning experiences, leading to emotional and behavioral disturbance and academic adjustment imbalances. Frequency and quality of constructive learning experiences are, significantly, the positive predictive factor not only for academic achievements, but also for socio-emotional equilibrium of adolescents, experiences that bring them satisfaction, success in relationships with others. At the 9th graders the conflict states arc strongly influenced by the degree of communication and cooperation between them. In this paper we intend to exceed the investigation stage and accede to formative and improvement intervention level towards identification of feasible solutions for a quality educational practice, able to provide counselling of students concerning optimal preparation for social life. We discuss scientific and educational implications of these results for understanding the development of social and emotional skills among adolescents and for educational practices designed to promote this development. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the University of Pitesti, Romania