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A school-based intervention program as a context for promoting socioemotional development in children

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Abstract

The present study investigated the role of a school-based intervention program, called the Integrated School Day, in the socioemotional development of Finnish children during their first years of school. The 3-year program involved the restructuring of the school day by adding in extracurricular activities, which were organized on school premises, included a multitude of activities according to children’s wishes, and were available to every child. The longitudinal findings, based on the hierarchical linear modeling, showed that the 9- to 10-year-old children who had participated in the program (N = 276) had lower levels of internalizing problem behaviors, both social anxiety and depressive symptoms, than the non-intervention comparison group (N = 239). The difference was statistically significant in both genders. The results also showed that the higher number of years of participation (but not the number of different activities or the regularity of participation) was related to lower internalizing problem behaviors, particularly to lower social anxiety, at the end of the program.

Résumé

La présente étude portait sur le rôle d’un programme d’intervention en milieu scolaire appelé «Journée d’école intégrée», dans le développement socio-émotionnel d’enfants finlandais durant leurs premières années d’école. Le programme, d’une durée de trois ans, concernait la restructuration de la journée scolaire par l’ajout d’activités parascolaires, organisées dans les locaux de l’école, comprenant une multitude d’activités conformes aux désirs des enfants, et accessibles à chaque enfant. Les conclusions longitudinales, basées sur la modélisation linéaire hiérarchique, montrent que les enfants âgés de 9 à 10 ans ayant participé au programme (N = 276) présentaient un niveau de troubles de comportement internalisants, à la fois anxiété sociale et symptômes dépressifs, plus faible que le groupe témoin n’ayant pas bénéficié de l’intervention (N = 239). La différence était statistiquement significative chez les deux sexes. Les résultats ont également montré que l’augmentation du nombre d’années de participation (mais pas le nombre d’activités différentes ou la régularité de la participation) était en relation avec la baisse des troubles de comportement internalisants, notamment avec la diminution de l’anxiété sociale, à la fin du programme.

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Notes

  1. As a result of the active public debate about the lonely afternoons of school children initiated by Lea Pulkkinen and strengthened by the project of the Integrated School Day, the school legislation was reformed. Currently, the law mandates that state-supported supervision of children’s activities in the morning and afternoon is available throughout the country for first and second graders (Pulkkinen 2004). Its organization is not, however, school-based as it was in the Integrated School Day project.

  2. The fourth level in the present data was school. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM, Version 6; Raudenbush et al. 2004) analysis, in which individual children (N = 515; level 1) were nested within classrooms (N = 40; level 2), which were nested within schools (N = 6; level 3), showed no statistically significant school effects. Therefore, we chose not to include the school level in the hierarchical linear models.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, P. O. Box 35, 40014, Jyväskylä, Finland

    Lea Pulkkinen & Asko Tolvanen

  2. Department of Teacher Education, University of Jyväskylä, P. O. Box 35, 40014, Jyväskylä, Finland

    Riitta-Leena Metsäpelto

Authors
  1. Riitta-Leena Metsäpelto
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  2. Lea Pulkkinen
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  3. Asko Tolvanen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Riitta-Leena Metsäpelto.

Additional information

Riitta-Leena Metsäpelto. Department of Teacher Education, P. O. Box 35, 40014 University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland. E-mail: riitta-leena.metsapelto@jyu.fi; Web site: https://www.jyu.fi

Current themes of research:

Developmental processes at school and in the family. Personality development in adulthood.

Most relevant publications in the field of Psychology of Education:

Metsäpelto, R-L., & Pulkkinen, L. (2005). The moderating effect of extraversion on the relation between self-reported and observed parenting. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 26, 371–384.

Metsäpelto, R-L., & Juujärvi, P. (2006). Parental knowledge and family atmosphere in relation to children’s socioemotional behavior. In L. Pulkkinen, J. Kaprio, & R. Rose (Eds.), Socioemotional development and health from adolescence to adulthood (pp. 209–227). New York: Cambrigde University Press.

Puustinen, M., Lyyra, A-L., Metsäpelto, R-L., & Pulkkinen, L. (2008). Children’s help seeking: The role of parenting. Learning and Instruction, 18, 160–171.

Lea Pulkkinen. Department of Psychology (MaC), P.O. Box 35, 40014 University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland. E-mail: lea.pulkkinen@psyka.jyu.fi; Web site: https://www.jyu.fi

Current themes of research:

In the ongoing Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development, initiated by Lea Pulkkinen in 1968, the development of the same individuals have been followed from age 8 to age 50 (in 2009). The data warrant the study of several kinds of developmental processes with the research group, currently the study of continuity in temperament traits from middle childhood to middle adulthood, and the study of social capital as a mediator between children’s socioemotional behavior and adult psychological well-being.

Longitudinal Study of Health and Behavior in Twin Children (from age 12 to 17), together with the research group.

Most relevant publications in the field of Psychology of Education:

Pulkkinen, L., Vaalamo, I., Hietala, R., Kaprio, J., & Rose, R.J. (2003). Peer reports of adaptive behavior in twins and singletons: Is twinship a risk or an advantage? Twin Research, 6, 106–118.

Pulkkinen, L. (2004). A longitudinal study on social development as an impetus for school reform towards an integrated school day. European Psychologist, 9, 125–141.

Pulkkinen, L., Kaprio, J., & Rose, R. J. (Eds.), (2006). Socioemotional development and health from adolescence to adulthood. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Pulkkinen, L., Feldt, T., & Kokko, K. (2006). Adaptive behavior in childhood as an antecedent of psychological functioning in early middle age: Linkage via career orientation. Social Indicators Research, 77, 171–195.

Pulkkinen, L. (2009). Personality—a resource or risk for successful development. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 6, 602–610.

Asko Tolvanen. Department of Psychology, P.O. Box. 35, 40014 University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland. E-mail: Asko.j.tolvanen@jyu.fi; Web site: https://www.jyu.fi

Current themes of research:

Structural equation modeling. Latent growth modeling. Growth mixture modeling.

This paper was prepared as a part of the projects: “Human Development and Its Risk Factors” (44858) (Finnish Centre of Excellence Programme, 2000–2005) and “Advancing Socioemotional Development of Children through Integrated School Day and Parent Involvement” (209035), funded by the Academy of Finland. The Finnish Innovation Fund (SITRA) funded the project on the Integrated School Day in 2002–2005. We are thankful to Dr. Leevi Launonen, Project Manager, for his support with the data collection during the project.

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Metsäpelto, RL., Pulkkinen, L. & Tolvanen, A. A school-based intervention program as a context for promoting socioemotional development in children. Eur J Psychol Educ 25, 381–398 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-010-0034-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-010-0034-5

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