The Impact of a School-Based Social and Emotional Learning Program on the Self-Concept of Middle School Students

This controlled pre-post study investigates whether a universal, school-based, socio-emotional learning program implemented in two consecutive years, would promote an increase in academic, social and emotional self-concept of Portuguese middle school students. It also analyzes if there are differential results by gender and among students with lower self-concept. There were 630 participants (Mage = 13.54; SD = 1.36), 474 students (25 classes) integrated program “Positive Attitude” and 156 (8 classes) in control groups. Self-report questionnaires were administered before and after intervention. There are significant intervention increases in social, emotional and total self-concept, which are stable along the two years and across genders, except for emotional self-concept where only boys show benefits. Intervention students with initial lower levels of self-concept profit more than their colleagues in academic and social self-concept. These results indicate that the intervention positively impacts the self-concept of middle school students, supporting the effectiveness of socio-emotional learning programs.