Students do better in school when they can understand, manage emotions

Emotionally intelligent students get better grades and higher test scores, study says

December 12, 2019

Science Daily/American Psychological Association

Students who are better able to understand and manage their emotions effectively, a skill known as emotional intelligence, do better at school than their less skilled peers, as measured by grades and standardized test scores.

"Although we know that high intelligence and a conscientious personality are the most important psychological traits necessary for academic success, our research highlights a third factor, emotional intelligence, that may also help students succeed," said Carolyn MacCann, PhD, of the University of Sydney and lead author of the study. "It's not enough to be smart and hardworking. Students must also be able to understand and manage their emotions to succeed at school."

The research was published in the journal Psychological Bulletin.

The concept of emotional intelligence as an area of academic research is relatively new, dating to the 1990s, according to MacCann. Although there is evidence that social and emotional learning programs in schools are effective at improving academic performance, she believes this may be the first comprehensive meta-analysis on whether higher emotional intelligence relates to academic success.

MacCann and her colleagues analyzed data from more than 160 studies, representing more than 42,000 students from 27 countries, published between 1998 and 2019. More than 76% were from English-speaking countries. The students ranged in age from elementary school to college. The researchers found that students with higher emotional intelligence tended to get higher grades and better achievement test scores than those with lower emotional intelligence scores. This finding held true even when controlling for intelligence and personality factors.

What was most surprising to the researchers was the association held regardless of age.

As for why emotional intelligence can affect academic performance, MacCann believes a number of factors may come into play.

"Students with higher emotional intelligence may be better able to manage negative emotions, such as anxiety, boredom and disappointment, that can negatively affect academic performance," she said. "Also, these students may be better able to manage the social world around them, forming better relationships with teachers, peers and family, all of which are important to academic success."

Finally, the skills required for emotional intelligence, such as understanding human motivation and emotion, may overlap with the skills required to master certain subjects, such as history and language, giving students an advantage in those subject areas, according MacCann.

As an example, MacCann described the school day of a hypothetical student named Kelly, who is good at math and science but low in emotional intelligence.

"She has difficulty seeing when others are irritated, worried or sad. She does not know how people's emotions may cause future behavior. She does not know what to do to regulate her own feelings," said MacCann.

As a result, Kelly does not recognize when her best friend, Lucia, is having a bad day, making Lucia mad at her for her insensitivity. Lucia then does not help Kelly (as she usually does) later in English literature class, a class she often struggles in because it requires her to analyze and understand the motivations and emotions of characters in books and plays.

"Kelly feels ashamed that she can't do the work in English literature that other students seem to find easy. She is also upset that Lucia is mad at her. She can't seem to shake these feelings, and she is not able to concentrate on her math problems in the next class," said MacCann. "Because of her low emotion management ability, Kelly cannot bounce back from her negative emotions and finds herself struggling even in subjects she is good at."

MacCann cautions against widespread testing of students to identify and target those with low emotional intelligence as it may stigmatize those students. Instead, she recommends interventions that involve the whole school, including additional teacher training and a focus on teacher well-being and emotional skills.

"Programs that integrate emotional skill development into the existing curriculum would be beneficial, as research suggests that training works better when run by teachers rather than external specialists," she said. "Increasing skills for everyone -- not just those with low emotional intelligence -- would benefit everyone."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/12/191212095906.htm

Reading with toddlers linked to reduced harsh parenting, enhanced child behavior

May 23, 2019

Science Daily/Rutgers University

People who regularly read with their toddlers are less likely to engage in harsh parenting and the children are less likely to be hyperactive or disruptive, a Rutgers-led study finds.

Previous studies have shown that frequent shared reading prepares children for school by building language, literacy and emotional skills, but the study by Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School researchers may be the first to focus on how shared reading affects parenting.

The study, published in the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, suggests additional benefits from shared reading -- a stronger parent-child bond and less hyperactivity and attention problems in children.

"For parents, the simple routine of reading with your child on a daily basis provides not just academic but emotional benefits that can help bolster the child's success in school and beyond," said lead researcher Manuel Jimenez, an assistant professor at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School's department of pediatrics, and an attending developmental behavioral pediatrician at Children's Specialized Hospital. "Our findings can be applied to programs that help parents and caregivers in underserved areas to develop positive parenting skills."

The study reviewed data on 2,165 mother-child pairs from 20 large U.S. cities in which the women were asked how often they read to their children at ages 1 and or 3. The mothers were re-interviewed two years later, about how often they engaged in physically and/or psychologically aggressive discipline and about their children's behavior. The study controlled for factors such as parental depression and financial hardship that can contribute to harsh parenting and children's disruptive behavior.

The results showed that frequent shared reading at age 1 was associated with less harsh parenting at age 3, and frequent shared reading at age 3 was associated with less harsh parenting at age 5. Mothers who read frequently with their children also reported fewer disruptive behaviors from their children, which may partially explain the reduction in harsh parenting behaviors.

The findings can strengthen programs that promote the academic, emotional and socioeconomic wellbeing of children, the authors said.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190523111403.htm

Time parents spend with children key to academic success

Study used parental death, divorce to measure impact

February 4, 2019

Science Daily/Ohio State University

The time parents spend with their children has a powerful effect on their educational achievement, according to a large study with a novel approach. Researchers analyzed data on children in Israel who lost a parent through death or divorce.

Researchers analyzed data on children in Israel who lost a parent through death or divorce.

They found that when it came to one measure of a child's academic success, the educational attainment of the surviving or custodial parent had more impact than the educational level of the parent who died or left the home.

And the longer the absence of a parent, the less impact his or her education had on the child's success and the greater the impact of the remaining parent.

"In the ongoing debate over what helps children succeed academically, we show that genetics is not the only major factor," said Bruce Weinberg, co-author of the study and professor of economics at The Ohio State University.

"It is also about the time that parents spend with their children."

The research was conducted by Eric Gould and Avi Simhon of Hebrew University in Israel, as well as Weinberg. The study has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Labor Economics and will be published Feb. 4, 2018 on the website of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

The study involved more than 22,000 children in Israel who lost a parent before age 18, more than 77,000 whose parents divorced and more than 600,000 who did not experience parental death or divorce.

The researchers looked at whether these children passed the "matriculation exam," a high-stakes test required to attend college. About 57 percent of high-school students in the country pass the test.

The researchers started the study by looking at children who experienced the death of one parent, Weinberg said.

"We found that if a mother dies, her education becomes less important for whether her child passes the test, while at the same time the father's education becomes more important. If a father dies, the reverse happens," he said.

"These relationships are stronger when the parent dies when the child is younger."

In other words, Gould said, parenting matters.

"Student success is not coming just from smart parents having smart kids," he said.

Study results rejected the argument that the parents' income is really what helps the children of the highly educated succeed academically.

If that were so, then losing a father should hurt children academically more than losing a mother because fathers tend to earn more.

"That's not what we found. The loss of a mother -- who tends to spend more time than the father with her children -- had a bigger effect than loss of a father in our study," Weinberg said.

But what about parents who remarry after losing a spouse? The study found that the negative effect on academic success of losing a mother can at least be partially minimized if the child gains a stepmother. If the father does not remarry, the effect of the loss is more acute: No one can compensate for the loss of the mother except for the father.

The study didn't find any differences in academic success for children whose mothers remarried after their father died, versus those who did not. That may be because mothers' education levels generally had more impact on their children's success than that of fathers because of the more time moms spend with their kids.

Results also showed that mothers' education was more closely linked to children's academic success in larger families. The researchers believe that was because women with more children spent more time with their kids and less time working outside the home, according to findings.

Overall, the effects of losing a parent were stronger on girls than on boys, the study showed.

Similar results were also found with children whose parents had divorced. The educational level of the mother -- whom the child typically lived with -- had a larger effect on academic success than did the education of the other parent, Weinberg said.

"We found similar results in those children who experienced parental death and parental divorce. That provides strong evidence that our results are more general than just for children who suffered a parental death," Weinberg said.

"Other studies show that highly educated parents tend to spend more time with their children. Our results may suggest one reason why they do: It has a strong impact on academic success."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/02/190204085926.htm