Promoting emotional competence in school-aged children: The effects of the PATHS curriculum

TLDR

PATHS is a school‑based preventive intervention designed to enhance children’s ability to discuss and understand emotions. The study examined the effectiveness of the PATHS curriculum on school‑aged children’s emotional development. A randomized field trial in 30 classrooms assessed 286 children (grades 2–3, ~30 % special needs) who received PATHS lessons delivered by trained teachers over most of a school year. PATHS improved emotional vocabulary, discussion fluency, emotion‑management efficacy, and developmental understanding for both low‑ and high‑risk children, with larger gains among those with higher teacher‑rated psychopathology.

Abstract

Abstract This study examined the effectiveness of the PATHS (Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies) curriculum the emotional development of school-aged children. PATHS, a school-based preventive intervention model was designed to improve children's ability to discuss and understand emotions and emotion concepts. The intervention field trial included 30 classrooms in a randomized design and involved the assessment of 286 children from grades 2 and 3. Approximately 30% of the children were in self-contained special needs classrooms, with the remainder in regular education. Teachers were trained in the intervention model and provided PATHS lessons during most of the one school year. Results indicated that the intervention was effective for both low- and high-risk (special needs) children in improving their range of vocabulary and fluency in discussing emotional experiences, their efficacy beliefs regarding the management of emotions, and their developmental understanding of some aspects of emotions. In some instances, greater improvement was shown in children with higher teacher ratings of psychopathology. Discussion focused on the nature of change school-based prevention trials.