Can an Universal School-Based Social Emotional Learning Program Reduce Adolescents’ Social Withdrawal and Social Anxiety?

Abstract

There is a lack of studies analyzing if universal school-based Social and Emotional Learning programs can reduce social withdrawal and social anxiety. This study analyzed the effectiveness of one such program on those variables, and the role of individual school climate perceptions. In this nationwide study, 704 seventh to eighth-grade Portuguese students (Mage = 12.96, SD = 1.09, 48% girls), of which 215 (30.6%) in the comparison group, were assessed at pretest, post-test, and follow-up seven months later. Analyses showed positive intervention results in self- and teacher-reported social withdrawal and social anxiety. Regarding school climate, intervention group students with more positive teacher-student relationships benefitted more from program participation in social anxiety. These results support the program’s effectiveness for addressing social withdrawal and social anxiety.

Bullying victimization and bullying perpetration, social anxiety, and social withdrawal in Portuguese adolescents: A reciprocal association model

“…The findings highlight the pervasive nature of peer aggression in adolescents and illustrate how bullying experiences negatively impact young people's development and adjustment. Given that social anxiety exists on a continuum between adaptive responses to social concerns and intense, pervasive avoidance of social interactions (Blöte et al, 2015;Spence & Rapee, 2016), and does not necessarily In the prevention axis (i.e., social concerns that are not clinically significant and do not suggest the presence of social anxiety disorder), intervention programs, particularly school-based ones, targeting the improvement of adolescents' social and emotional competencies may lead to a decrease in self-and teacher-reported social withdrawal and social anxiety Coelho et al, 2017;Sousa et al, 2023). As these programs potentially increase adolescents' perception of their self-efficacy in managing social interactions, they may play a role in preventing peer conflict and mitigating some of the negative effects of bullying.…”

“…The self-report questionnaires, assessing social and emotional competencies, bullying and cyberbullying behavior and roles, and school climate, were administered at two different time points-T1 in October 2021, at the start of the school year, and T2, 1 year later in October 2022, at the beginning of the following school year. The time lag was defined based on the significant differences in social anxiety and social withdrawal observed in control groups (i.e., adolescents who did not benefit from any intervention) throughout the school year in previous studies (Coelho & Marchante, 2018;Sousa et al, 2023). To minimize this effect on the results, the assessment was performed at the same point in each school year, resulting in a time lag of 1 year.…”