SCHOOL-BASED INTERVENTIONS FOR DEVELOPING EMOTIONAL ABILITIES IN ADOLESCENTS: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

There is a growing body of empirical literature on factors related to school performance and school completion in children and adolescents. Emotional intelligence (EI) abilities were repeatedly associated with school performance and several social and behavioural outcomes in adolescence. Previous studies suggest that emotional abilities trainings in educational setting may have multidimensional positive effects on individual functioning. The present study reviews the available evaluation studies (from 2000 to 2018) of school-based interventions targeting to develop students' emotional abilities. Overall, the current analysis sought to identify particular aspects related to intervention effects and intervention design addressing the EI abilities, such as: targeted population, theoretical framework of the intervention, program content, etc. Quasi-experimental evaluation studies of the effects of school-based EI development programs were searched in several scientific databases based on specific keywords. The identified studies were filtered according to a list of inclusion criteria, such as the participants-related characteristics (e.g. early, middle or late adolescents, 11 to 19 years old students), emotional intelligence dimensions addressed by the interventions (i.e. overall emotional intelligence or individual abilities) and other aspects. A number of 13 studies met the inclusion criteria and were further analyzed. Results and recommendations for the further development of intervention programs addressing the emotional abilities of adolescent students are discussed in this paper. (c) 2019 Published by Future Academy www.FutureAcademy.org.UK