0000000000040703

AUTHOR

Baiba Martinsone

Social Emotional Competence, Learning Outcomes, Emotional and Behavioral Difficulties of Preschool Children: Parent and Teacher Evaluations

This paper addresses the role of social emotional competence in the emotional and behavioral problems and learning outcomes of preschool children based on their parents’ and teachers’ evaluations. In this study, we compared the perceptions of teachers and parents when evaluating the same child using the multi-informant assessment. First, the associations and differences between both the informant evaluations were investigated. Second, the correlation of the social emotional competence and emotional, and behavioral difficulties among preschool children was analyzed, separately addressing their parents’ and teachers’ evaluations. Third, the role of the preschool children’s social emotional co…

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Promotion of Positive Behaviour and Social Emotional Development in Institutional Care

Personnel working in institutional care have the important role of providing for the development of children who have experienced the trauma of being separated from their families. Personnel need to be emotionally responsive, able to form consistent, trusting, and long-term relationships with children, believe in them, support them in continuing education, and have high expectations for them. Despite these facts, there is no Latvian legal requirement for personnel working in institutional care to have a pedagogical education. This article describes the implementation of two professional in-service training programs: “Promotion of Positive Behaviour in Children with Institutional Care Experi…

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CHILDREN’S DEPRESSION RATING SCALE-REVISED (CDRS-R) – DEVELOPMENT OF THE LATVIAN VERSION AND PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES IN A CLINICAL AND NON-CLINICAL SAMPLE OF ADOLESCENTS

Depression is one of the most widespread mental disorders worldwide. Adolescence is a vulnerable period for developing depression. It is associated with a number of challenges in biological, psychological and social areas. Valid and reliable measurement instruments are required for assessment of symptoms of depression in clinical samples of adolescents in Latvia. Children's Depression Rating Scale Revised (CDRS-R, Posnanski & Mokros, 1996) is a semi-structured, clinician-rated interview for assessment of depression in children and adolescents. While the CDRS-R is the most widely used rating scale for research and clinicians’ practical use worldwide, there's no validated version in Latvi…

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Qualitative analysis of teachers' written self-reflections after implementation of a social-emotional learning program in Latvia

The aim of the present study was to analyze teachers' written self-reflections after implementation of a social-emotional learning program, which was recently developed specifically for the sociocultural context of Latvia. The goal of the analysis was to examine how teachers reflect upon their own strengths and weaknesses in implementing the program. Participants were 630 classroom teachers (614 female and 16 male) aged 22 to 75 years (M = 45.04, SD = 9.95). Thematic analysis of the teachers' written self-reflections led to five thematic categories: (a) evaluation of pupils' performance, (b) teacher's professional competencies, (c) evaluation of the program, (d) relationship aspects, and (e…

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Teachers’ Understanding of Evidence of Students’ Social Emotional Learning and Self-Reported Gains of Monitored Implementation of SEL Toolkit

Aim. The aim of this study was to highlight and analyse teachers’ responses to the evidence of their students’ social emotional growth and teachers’ own gains from the monitored implementation of social emotional learning in their classes.
 Methods. The research group was composed of 312 teachers from Latvia and Slovenia, who were involved in the implementation of indirect social emotional learning through classroom instruction and formative assessment. A thematic analysis of the teachers’ written responses was performed.
 Results. A thematic analysis of the teachers’ responses indicated that initially they had mentioned mostly (expressed) general statements and only some small pa…

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The Development of Teachers' and Their Students' Social and Emotional Learning During the “Learning to Be Project”-Training Course in Five European Countries

This study was funded by a project Learning to Be: Development of Practices and Methodologies for Assessing Social, Emotional and Health Skills within Education Systems (#4120034) in the framework of Erasmus+ KA3 program (582955-EPP-1-2016-2-LT-EPPKA3-PI-POLICY). We are also grateful for funding by the Academy of Finland (#308352) and Finnish Strategic Research Council (#327242).

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Differences in Stress and Coping During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Families With and Without Children With Developmental Disorders or Chronic Conditions

Objectives: To compare COVID-19-induced stress and coping in families with and without children diagnosed with developmental disorders or chronic conditions.Methods: In this mixed-method design study, an online survey collected information on parental stress levels before and during COVID-19, sources of stress, and coping strategies using open-ended questions. Qualitative answers were categorized thematically. Multiple linear regression models were built for the association between changes in stress levels (during-before COVID-19) and sources of stress for parents of children of both groups.Results: Answers of 1,827 parents were analyzed; of these, 186 (9.75%) had children with diagnosed pr…

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Differences in Motivation to Engage in Sexual Activity Between People in Monogamous and Non-monogamous Committed Relationships

This study compared motivations to engage in sex between monogamous and non-monogamous respondents (n = 1,238, out of which 641 monogamous and 596 non-monogamous respondents; women—47.4%, men—50.9%, other gender—1.7%; age: M = 27.78 years, SD = 7.53, range = 18–62). The research aim was to identify whether there are differences in self-reported reasons to engage in sexual activity between these two groups. Presented with 17 reasons to engage in sexual activity, the respondents rated the frequency with which they engage in sex for each reason. While both monogamous and non-monogamous respondents reported to engage in sex with the same frequency for the reasons of sexual release and physical …

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Social Emotional Learning: Implementation of Sustainability-Oriented Program in Latvia

Abstract This article is focused on the description of the content and the implementation process of an originally developed, culturally appropriate and sustainable social and emotional learning program in Latvia. The article also includes the teachers’ self-reflected experience illustrated through the perspective of the program’s sample activities. The general goal of the program is to develop the emotional and social competencies of pupils, and at the same time to introduce to schoolteachers the principles necessary for combining academic and social emotional learning. As a preventive approach this program is aimed at all ages of pupils (from primary forms to secondary grades). During the…

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A multinational study exploring adolescent perception of school climate and mental health.

School climate is a topic of increasing importance internationally. The current study investigated the established measurement invariance of an eight-factor school climate scale using a multinational sample of secondary students. School climate factor means across 14 international groups were compared and findings on the association between school climate factors and mental health were also investigated. Findings, from this study, illustrate several cross-national similarities regarding the ways in which secondary students perceive school climate and the influence of school climate on student mental health. These findings can support school psychologists' efforts to identify strategies and …

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PERCEIVED SCHOOL CLIMATE, PARENTAL MONITORING AND CYBERBULLYING AMONG ADOLESCENTS

The aim of this research was to find out the connection between the perceived school climate, parental monitoring and cyberbullying among adolescents, and whether there were differences in these variables between two adolescent age groups. It was examined how the dimensions of the perceived school climate and parental monitoring explain the adolescents’ experience of cyber victims and cyberbullies.  A total of 309 Latvian students from grades 5 to 12 (200 respondents from grades 5-9 and 109 respondents from grades 10-12) participated in the research. In data collection Parental Monitoring Scale (Stattin & Kerr, 2000), Georgia School Climate Survey (La Salle, McIntosh, & Eliasson, 20…

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Promoting Sustainable Social Emotional Learning at School through Relationship-Centered Learning Environment, Teaching Methods and Formative Assessment

Abstract How to promote social emotional learning (SEL) at school depends largely on teachers. Mostly teachers implement specific programs, but they have difficulties in incorporating SEL into the regular curriculum. The main aim of the paper is to present the conceptual model of sustainable integration of SEL into everyday teaching practices in every subject. This approach has been developed in the project ìLearning to Be: Development of Practices and Methodologies for Assessing Social, Emotional and Health Skills within Education Systemsî. This initiative is based on the premise that the assessment of learning at school should go beyond grading studentsí knowledge and should include pract…

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Interpersonal Relationship Aspects as Perceived Risk and Social Support Factors in a Clinical Sample of Adolescents With Depression

Abstract The goal of this qualitative study was to explore how adolescents with diagnosed depression describe their social relationships with peers, parents and teachers. Several previous findings have revealed the dual role of interpersonal relationships — as a stressor and contributor to different mental disorders, and also as a source of social support for mental health. Previous studies confirmed the value of a qualitative approach in exploring the self-perceived experiences of adolescents. The research group consisted of 28 adolescents, aged 13–17, with a diagnosis of depression. Individual semistructured interviews (Children's Depression Rating Scale Revised; CDRS-R) were applied in t…

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Teachers’ Perceptions of Relationship Enhancement Upon Implementation of the Social Emotional Learning Program in Latvia: Focus Group Study

The goal of this study was to elicit and analyse teachers’ reflections on the benefits of the implementation of the SEL program in Latvia, both in regard to benefits for the students and in regard to benefits for themselves. The school-wide Latvia SEL program was initiated during the 2012–13 academic year and to date has been implemented in 41 Latvian schools. In order to ascertain the teachers’ views on issues of program effectiveness, seven focus groups were organised consisting of teachers who had participated in the SEL program implementation. Thematic analysis of the focus group discussions indicated that the teachers appreciate various benefits of the SEL program, but among the most p…

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Teachers’ Perceptions of Sustainability of the Social Emotional Learning Program in Latvia: A Focus Group Study

Abstract The aim of this study was to provide an initial evaluation of the sustainability of the first Social Emotional Learning (hereafter SEL) program in Latvia, which to date is still the only SEL program in our country. Initiated during the 2012/13 academic year, this program has already been implemented in 41 Latvian schools. In order to address the teachersí perceptions of program effectiveness and sustainability seven focus groups were organized. Thematic analysis of the focus group discussions pointed to various benefits of the program, including a general dissemination of SEL principles, and teachersí reflections on the importance of their own active role in the process of social a…

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