Social-Emotional Learning and At-Risk Children and Youth

More and more, behaviors of children, youth, and communities are being classified as at-risk in societies locally and globally. Behaviors associated with the at-risk classification are aggression at home, school and in the community, underperformance and underachievement at school, and truancy. Acquiring social emotional competencies (SECs) is an effective way of diminishing and eventually eliminating these behaviors. Acquiring these SECs from as early as kindergarten acts as a protective factor against maladaptive and risky behaviors later on in life. Social emotional education, or learning, is the acquisition of five core skills: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, responsible decision-making, and relationship skills. As children and youth acquire these skills, they are better able to relate to self, others, and situations. These highly developed SECs can be seen in children’s enhanced academic achievement and performance, decreased incidents of violence, improved school attendance, and empathy.