Mental Health in School

Mental Health in School

The effectiveness of a social-emotional learning program on social acceptance and perceived competence in adolescents with specific learning disorders.

Document Type : Original Article

Author
Master of Educational Psychology, Razi University of Kermanshah, Kermanshah, Iran
10.22034/jmhs.2025.541234.1151
Abstract
The aim of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of a social-emotional learning program on social acceptance and perceived competence in adolescents with specific learning disabilities. This study was conducted using a quasi-experimental method with a pre-test-post-test design and a control group. The statistical population of this study was all students with specific learning disabilities studying in the second grade of elementary school in West Azerbaijan province in the first semester of the 2010-2011 academic year. The number of sample individuals for each of the experimental and control groups was 18, and a total of 36 people were selected through convenience and replaced by simple random sampling. To collect data in this study, Marlow and Crown's (1960) Social Acceptance Questionnaire and Harter's (1985) Perceived Competence Questionnaire were used. In this study, the protocol of social-emotional learning sessions was implemented in 12 one-hour sessions based on the book Social-Emotional Skills Training by Sadri Demirchi (2010) and Sadri Demirchi and Esmaili Ghazi Volvi (2016). The results of data analysis showed that the social-emotional learning program had an effect of 0.31 units on social acceptance. Also, the social-emotional learning program had an effect of 0.17 units on perceived competence. The findings showed that the social-emotional learning program improved social acceptance and perceived competence in adolescents with specific learning disorders. These results indicate the effectiveness of this intervention in improving social skills and self-perception in this group of students.
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