Jayashree Das
Guwahati
Soumitra Ghosh and Dhrubajyoti Bhuyan
Assam Medical College, Dibrugarh
Pages: 84-96
Adolescents have difficulty coping with the growing demands or challenges, giving rise
to stress. Anger and aggression are the most common way to release tension. Empathy
buffers aggression. Impetus should be given to develop skills that will help adolescents
positively affect social-emotional skills to improve empathy and decrease aggression.
The study aims to
find the effectiveness of the social-emotional learning intervention on
the factors of aggression and empathy in adolescent. This study took 1200 adolescents
from six coeducational high schools in Guwahati, 600 each in the Intervention and the
Control group. The Aggression Questionnaire measured aggression and Interpersonal
Reactivity Index Scale measured empathy. Merrell’s Strong Teens was used for the
SEL intervention and was imparted in twelve sessions. After completing SEL intervention,
aggression, and empathy were re-assessed to determine if a difference exists between
the pre and post-test scores. Aggression came down post-SEL intervention in the
Intervention group. There was improvement in pre- and post-intervention ratings of
empathy. Even in the follow-up study after three months, the findings were retained.
The significant difference in pre- and post-intervention ratings of aggression and empathy
led to conclude the efficacy and effectiveness of the SEL intervention