AN EXPLORATION OF ELEMENTARY STUDENTS’ PERSPECTIVES ON PARTICIPATING IN A PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR SUPPORT PROGRAM

Abstract

Children who lack prosocial skills and exhibit social-emotional deficiencies tend to have more behavior problems in school. Chronic behavior problems negatively affect students’ academics, attendance, and ability to develop relationships. Aggression, bullying, and mental health problems have also been linked to social-emotional deficiencies. Children’s prosocial skills and emotional intelligence correlate to children’s social-emotional competence. The researchers investigated students’ perspectives of their experiences with and their perception of the impact a prosocial behavior intervention, Skillstreaming the Elementary School Child (McGinnis & Goldstein, 2012), had on their behavior through focus groups and field observations. Participants were consenting and assenting second through fifth-grade students who were identified through the behavior RTI process in Rural County. Researchers also analyzed quantitative, descriptive data from a Skillstreaming Student Checklist, to investigate how students self-rated their own prosocial skills. The researchers found that the participants were able to identify prosocial skills but did not always choose to apply the prosocial skills they learned to social situations with teachers and peers. All participants communicated positive feelings towards the intervention and liked having the opportunity to escape and process their emotions. Many felt it provided them with tools they could recall and apply to their school settings. Students emphasized the importance of relationships in relation to their behavior, and students interpreted their relationships based on attributes of fairness and care. In discussion of findings, research supported the importance of relationship between teachers and students and supported the finding that students often know prosocial skills and expectations in the school setting but choose their behavior based on the relationship between the student and the teacher. Keywords: prosocial intervention, elementary students, behavioral challenge, school discipline, prosocial skills, emotional intelligence, social-emotional competence, social-emotional learning, RTI, PBIS, Skillstreaming, student perspectives