Cavioni Valeria, Conte Elisabetta, Cefai Carmel, Ornaghi Veronica
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Society and Communication Sciences, Universitas Mercatorum, 00186 Rome, Italy.
Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Bergamo, 24129 Bergamo, Italy.
Children (Basel). 2025 Jul 26;12(8):985. doi: 10.3390/children12080985.
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Social and Emotional Education (SEE) interventions during early childhood have shown considerable promise in enhancing children's emotion understanding, social competence, and behavioural adjustments. However, few studies have examined their long-term impact, especially across the preschool-to-primary school transition. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a manualized SEE program, Timmy's Trip to Planet Earth, in promoting emotional, behavioural, and social functioning over time.
A quasi-experimental longitudinal design was adopted with pre- and post-test assessments conducted approximately 18 months apart. Participants were 89 typically developing children (aged 59-71 months), assigned to an experimental group ( = 45) or a waiting-list group ( = 44). The program combined teacher training, classroom-based lessons, home activities, and teachers' ongoing implementation support. The effectiveness of the program was measured via the Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC), the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), and the Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation (SCBE-30).
Significant Time × Group interactions were observed for the TEC External and Mental components, indicating greater improvements in emotion recognition and mental state understanding in the intervention group. The SDQ revealed significant reductions in conduct problems and increased prosocial behaviours. In the SCBE-30, a significant interaction effect was found for social competence, with the intervention group showing greater improvement over time compared to the control group.
The findings suggest that SEE programs can produce meaningful and lasting improvements in children's emotional and social skills across key educational transitions. Teacher training and family involvement likely played a critical role in supporting the program's sustained impact.
背景/目的：幼儿期的社会情感教育（SEE）干预在提高儿童的情绪理解、社会能力和行为调整方面显示出了巨大的潜力。然而，很少有研究考察其长期影响，尤其是在从幼儿园到小学的过渡阶段。本研究评估了一个手册化的SEE项目“蒂米的地球之旅”随着时间推移在促进情绪、行为和社会功能方面的有效性。
采用准实验纵向设计，前后测试评估相隔约18个月进行。参与者为89名发育正常的儿童（年龄在59 - 71个月之间），分为实验组（n = 45）或候补名单组（n = 44）。该项目结合了教师培训、课堂教学、家庭活动以及教师持续的实施支持。通过情绪理解测试（TEC）、优势与困难问卷（SDQ）和社会能力与行为评估（SCBE - 30）来衡量项目的有效性。
在TEC的外部和心理成分上观察到显著的时间×组间交互作用，表明干预组在情绪识别和心理状态理解方面有更大的改善。SDQ显示行为问题显著减少，亲社会行为增加。在SCBE - 30中，社会能力方面发现了显著的交互作用，与对照组相比，干预组随着时间推移有更大的改善。
研究结果表明，SEE项目能够在关键教育过渡阶段对儿童的情绪和社交技能产生有意义且持久的改善。教师培训和家庭参与可能在支持项目的持续影响方面发挥了关键作用。
