Applying social emotional learning across secondary school transition: An evaluation of the Motus social emotional learning pilot program

The transition into secondary/middle school can diverge adolescents into positive and negative developmental trajectories. Social emotional learning (SEL) programs can improve social-emotional skills and psychological well-being (PWB). However, there has been little examination of the potential utility of SEL programs across secondary school transition, and whether their effectiveness varies by the socioeconomic status of the school (SES), COVID-19 school closures, gender, baseline well-being scores, and implementation fidelity. This study examined these patterns in the Motus SEL pilot program: An Irish program designed to develop primary school students' social-emotional competencies before transitioning into secondary school. This study aimed to (a) longitudinally investigate the effect of the Motus SEL program on emotion regulation, social support, self-esteem, and PWB across secondary school transition and (b) examine the moderating role of school SES, COVID-19 school closures, gender, baseline PWB, and implementation fidelity. At baseline (T1), 568 primary school students aged 11–13 years completed measures of emotion regulation, self-esteem, social support, and PWB before the transition. One week later, 335 students received the Motus SEL program, and 233 students acted as a classroom-comparison group. At one-month follow-up (T2) one week after the program, and at six-month follow-up (T3) post-secondary school transition, both groups completed the same measures to examine program effects. Multi-level models found that the program positively predicted cognitive reappraisal use and PWB. When examining moderators, there was variation across genders. The program significantly reduced emotional suppression use for girls but not boys across the transition. These findings demonstrate that SEL can improve emotion regulation and PWB and there may be differential effects across genders.