Preventative initiatives to promote psychological adjustment among primary students: Findings of RULER Approach in Spanish public schools
https://doi.org/10.17583/ijep.10970
Keywords:
Downloads
Abstract
Mental health during childhood is a growing social challenge with important implications for optimal development. Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) interventions have been shown to prevent problems related to psychological maladjustment, as well as promote emotional well-being. This article aims to provide evidence for the impact of RULER (Recognizing, Understanding, Labeling, Expressing, Regulating), an evidence-based approach to SEL, on students’ mental health outcomes in Spanish public schools. A total of 207 primary school students (50.24% girls, mean age of 9 years) participated in the study. The teachers in the intervention school as compared to the control school received RULER instruction consisting of 15 hours of professional development training, 3 hours of follow-up, and SEL implementation guidelines throughout the school year. Students completed the Behavior Assessment System (BASC S-2). Results showed significant impacts in the RULER as compared to control school, including a reduction of clinical symptoms, such as anxiety and atypicality, as well as emotional symptoms, such as the sense of inadequacy among 9 to 12 year old students. Implications of these findings are discussed.
Downloads
References
Aumaitre, A., Costas, E., Sánchez, M., Taberner, P., & Vall, J. (2021). Crecer saludablemente. Un análisis sobre la salud mental y el suicidio en la infancia y la adolescencia. Save the Children. https://www.savethechildren.es/actualidad/informe-crecer-saludablemente-analisis-sobre-la-salud-mental-y-el-suicidio-en-la
Google Scholar CrossrefBaumsteiger, R., Hoffmann, J. D., Castillo-Gualda, R., & Brackett, M. A. (2021). Enhancing school climate through social and emotional learning: effects of RULER in Mexican secondary schools. Learning Environments Research, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10984-021-09374-x
Google Scholar CrossrefBrackett, M. (2019). Permission to feel: Unlocking the power of emotions to help our kids, ourselves, and our society thrive. Celadon Books.
Google Scholar CrossrefBrackett, M. A., Bailey, C. S., Hoffmann, J. D., & Simmons, D. N. (2019). RULER: A theory-driven, systemic approach to social, emotional, and academic learning. Educational Psychologist, 54(3), 144-161. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2019.1614447
Google Scholar CrossrefBrackett, M. A., Rivers, S. E., Reyes, M. R., & Salovey, P. (2012). Enhancing academic performance and social and emotional competence with the RULER feeling words curriculum. Learning and Individual Differences, 22(2), 218-224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2010.10.002
Google Scholar CrossrefBrooks, S. K., Webster, R. K., Smith, L. E., Woodland, L., Wessely, S., Greenberg, N., & Rubin, G. J. (2020). The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: rapid review of the evidence. The lancet, 395(10227), 912-920. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30460-8
Google Scholar CrossrefBurns, T., & Gottschalk, F. (2019). Educating 21st Century Children: Emotional Well-Being in the Digital Age. Educational Research and Innovation. OECD Publishing. http://www.oecd.org
Google Scholar CrossrefCastillo R., Fernández-Berrocal P., & Brackett, M. (2013). Enhancing work engagement and teacher-student interaction with the RULER Approach to social and emotional learning: A pilot Study. Journal of Education and Training Studies, 1, 263-272.
Google Scholar CrossrefCastillo-Gualda, R., García, V., Pena. M., Galán, A., Brackett, M. A. (2017). Resultados preliminares del método RULER en la inteligencia emocional y el compromiso laboral de profesores Españoles. Electronic Journal of Research in Educational Psychology 15(3), 641-664. http://dx.doi.org/10.14204/ejrep.43/17068.
Google Scholar CrossrefCastillo, R., Salguero, J. M., Fernández-Berrocal, P., & Balluerka, N. (2013). Effects of an emotional intelligence intervention on aggression and empathy among adolescents. Journal of adolescence, 36(5), 883-892. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2013.07.001
Google Scholar CrossrefCastillo‐Gualda, R., Cabello, R., Herrero, M., Rodríguez‐Carvajal, R., & Fernández‐Berrocal, P. (2018). A three‐year emotional intelligence intervention to reduce adolescent aggression: The mediating role of unpleasant affectivity. Journal of research on adolescence, 28(1), 186-198. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12325
Google Scholar CrossrefCastillo-Gualda, R., Herrero, M., Rodríguez-Carvajal, R., Brackett, M. A., & Fernández-Berrocal, P. (2019). The role of emotional regulation ability, personality, and burnout among Spanish teachers. International Journal of Stress Management, 26(2), 146. https://doi.org/10.1037/str0000098
Google Scholar CrossrefChoi, A. (2018). Emotional well-being of children and adolescents: Recent trends and relevant factors. OECD Education Working Papers, (169), OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/41576fb2-en.
Google Scholar CrossrefCostello, E. J., Copeland, W., & Angold, A. (2011). Trends in psychopathology across the adolescent years: what changes when children become adolescents, and when adolescents become adults?. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 52(10), 1015-1025. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2011.02446.x
Google Scholar CrossrefDurlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The impact of enhancing students’ social and emotional learning: A meta‐analysis of school‐based universal interventions. Child development, 82(1), 405-432. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01564.x
Google Scholar CrossrefEisenberg, N., Spinrad, T. L., & Eggum, N. D. (2010). Emotion-related self-regulation and its relation to children's maladjustment. Annual review of clinical psychology, 6, 495-525. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.121208.131208
Google Scholar CrossrefGonzález, J., Fernández, S., Pérez, E., & Santamaría, P. (2004). Adaptación española del sistema de evaluación de la conducta en niños y adolescentes: BASC. TEA Ediciones.
Google Scholar CrossrefHagelskamp, C., Brackett, M. A., Rivers, S. E., & Salovey, P. (2013). Improving classroom quality with the RULER approach to social and emotional learning: Proximal and distal outcomes. American journal of community psychology, 51(3-4), 530-543. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-013-9570-x
Google Scholar CrossrefJennings, P. A., & Greenberg, M. T. (2009). The prosocial classroom: Teacher social and emotional competence in relation to student and classroom outcomes. Review of Educational Research, 79(1), 491–525. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654308325693
Google Scholar CrossrefKessler, R. C., Angermeyer, M., Anthony, J. C., De Graaf, R. O. N., Demyttenaere, K., Gasquet, I., ... & Uestuen, T. B. (2007). Lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset distributions of mental disorders in the World Health Organization's World Mental Health Survey Initiative. World psychiatry, 6(3), 168-76.
Google Scholar CrossrefKurki, K., Järvenoja, H., Järvelä, S., & Mykkänen, A. (2016). How teachers co-regulate children’s emotions and behaviour in socio-emotionally challenging situations in day-care settings. International Journal of Educational Research, 76, 76-88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2016.02.002
Google Scholar CrossrefMayer, J. D., Roberts, R. D., & Barsade, S. G. (2008). Human abilities: Emotional intelligence. Annual Review Psychology, 59, 507-536.
Google Scholar CrossrefMayer, J. D., & Salovey, P. (1997). What is emotional intelligence? In P. Salovey & D. J. Sluyter (Coords.), Emotional development and emotional intelligence: Educational implications, (3-34). Basic Books.
Google Scholar CrossrefMacCann, C., Jiang, Y., Brown, L. E., Double, K. S., Bucich, M., & Minbashian, A. (2020). Emotional intelligence predicts academic performance: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 146(2), 150. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000219
Google Scholar CrossrefMcRae, K., Gross, J. J., Weber, J., Robertson, E. R., Sokol-Hessner, P., Ray, R. D., ... & Ochsner, K. N. (2012). The development of emotion regulation: an fMRI study of cognitive reappraisal in children, adolescents and young adults. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 7(1), 11-22. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsr093
Google Scholar CrossrefOECD. (2015). Skills for social progress: the power of social and emotional skills. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264226159-en.
Google Scholar CrossrefOrgilés, M., Morales, A., Delvecchio, E., Mazzeschi, C., & Espada, J. P. (2020). Immediate psychological effects of the COVID-19 quarantine in youth from Italy and Spain. Frontiers in psychology, 11, 2986. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.579038
Google Scholar CrossrefPhillips, D., Prince, S., & Schiebelhut, L. (2004). Elementary school children's responses 3 months after the September 11 terrorist attacks: A study in Washington, DC. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 74(4), 509-528. https://doi.org/10.1037/0002-9432.74.4.509
Google Scholar CrossrefPhillips, D. A., Voran, M., Kisker, E., Howes, C., & Whitebook, M. (1994). Child care for children in poverty: Opportunity or inequity?. Child development, 65(2), 472-492. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.1994.tb00764.x
Google Scholar CrossrefRacine, N., Cooke, J. E., Eirich, R., Korczak, D. J., McArthur, B., & Madigan, S. (2020). Child and adolescent mental illness during COVID-19: A rapid review. Psychiatry research, 292, 113307. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113307
Google Scholar CrossrefRivers, S. E., Brackett, M. A., Reyes, M. R., Elbertson, N. A. & Salovey, P. (2013). Improving the social and emotional climate of classrooms: A clustered randomized controlled trial testing The RULER Approach. Prevention Science, 14, 77-87. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-012-0305-2
Google Scholar CrossrefRuiz-Aranda, D., Castillo, R., Salguero, J. M., Cabello, R., Fernández-Berrocal, P., & Balluerka, N. (2012). Short-and midterm effects of emotional intelligence training on adolescent mental health. Journal of adolescent health, 51(5), 462-467. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2012.02.003
Google Scholar CrossrefSaarni, C. (1999). The development of emotional competence. Guilford press.
Google Scholar CrossrefSiegel, D. J. (2014). Tormenta cerebral: el poder y el propósito del cerebro adolescente. Alba Editorial.
Google Scholar CrossrefTaylor, R. D., Oberle, E., Durlak, J. A., & Weissberg, R. P. (2017). Promoting positive youth development through school‐based social and emotional learning interventions: A meta‐analysis of follow‐up effects. Child development, 88(4), 1156-1171. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12864
Google Scholar CrossrefUNESCO. (2020). Education for sustainable development. A roadmap. UNESCO. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2048-416x.2009.tb00140.x
Google Scholar CrossrefUNICEF. (2019). Increase in child and adolescent mental disorders spurs new push for action by UNICEF and WHO. https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/increase-child-andadolescent-mental-disorders-spurs-new-push-action-unicefand-who
Google Scholar CrossrefVega, A., Cabello, R., Megías-Robles, A., Gómez-Leal, R., & Fernández-Berrocal, P. (2021). Emotional intelligence and aggressive behaviors in adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 23(4), 1173-1183. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838021991296
Google Scholar CrossrefWalker, E. F. (2002). Adolescent neurodevelopment and psychopathology. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11(1), 24-28. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8721.00161
Google Scholar CrossrefWorld Health Organization. (2016). Growing up unequal: Gender and socioeconomic differences in young people's health and well-being. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/326320
Google Scholar CrossrefWorld Health Organization. (2014). Health for the world's adolescents: a second chance in the second decade: summary. World Health Organization. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/112750
Google Scholar CrossrefYang, W., Datu, J. A. D., Lin, X., Lau, M. M., & Li, H. (2019). Can early childhood curriculum enhance social-emotional competence in low-income children? A meta-analysis of the educational effects. Early Education and Development, 30(1), 36-59. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2018.1539557
Google Scholar CrossrefDownloads
Published
Metrics
Almetric
Dimensions
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Ruth Castillo Gualda; Alvaro Moraleda, Marc A. Brackett
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
All articles are published under Creative Commons copyright (CC BY). Authors hold the copyright and retain publishing rights without restrictions, but authors allow anyone to download, reuse, reprint, modify, distribute, and/or copy articles as the original source is cited.