Estudi De La Desregulació Emocional En Escolars De Dues Etapes Evolutives: Avaluació, Detecció I Intervenció

Emotional regulation skills refer to the way individuals manage their emotional experiences, representing a complex and essential process acquired throughout development. This process is influenced by both neurobiological and social-contextual factors. Acquiring the ability to regulate emotions is fundamental to human functioning and adjustment. Scientific evidence indicates that strong emotional regulation skills are significantly associated with higher levels of social competence, better social relationships, improved academic performance, and greater adaptation to school environment demands, as well as higher resilience levels, among other benefits. Conversely, difficulties in emotional regulation, the inability or limited ability to modulate emotional responses, have been linked to the presence of psychopathological and health problems.

Regarding emotional regulation across the lifespan, Bowlby's attachment theory, in conjunction with Hoffman's Circle of Security, posits that the early years of life are crucial for the initial learning of emotions through primary caregivers. The ability to regulate emotions effectively is shaped by the interactions and modulations a child experiences in their early years with their primary caregivers, as well as through observation and interaction with family members and close acquaintances. Consequently, aspects such as emotional bonds, including those with teachers, and parenting styles are highly relevant. In fact, parental self-regulation, referring to parents' ability to regulate their own emotions, directly interacts with the co-regulation of their children. Co-regulation is understood as the mechanism enabling mutual emotional regulation between individuals. As children and adolescents develop, they acquire more coping strategies and become increasingly capable of attending to and reflecting on their own emotional states and those of others. Cognitive development and brain maturation further enhance their regulatory capacity, making it more effective and adaptive. However, some studies suggest that during mid-adolescence, individuals tend to exhibit fewer adaptive regulation strategies, possibly due to increased parent-child conflicts or heightened emotional difficulties characteristic of this developmental stage. Thus, emotional regulation difficulties are considered a transdiagnostic factor associated with nearly all forms of psychopathology in adolescents.

The prevalence of emotional symptoms and disorders such as anxiety and depression is high in children and adolescents, underscoring the need for prevention and intervention efforts focused on enhancing emotional skills from early developmental stages. These interventions should not be confined solely to the family or social environment of children and adolescents. Various researchers, from both theoretical and practical perspectives, emphasize the importance of integrating emotional education within educational institutions.

Intervention programs designed to strengthen emotional regulation skills generally follow two main approaches. One focuses on working with families and children from the age of three, coinciding with the start of schooling and the expansion of social relations beyond the family. The other consists of programs implemented in classrooms, targeting primary and secondary education. Notably, emotional intelligence programs in secondary education emphasize conflict resolution and classroom coexistence. Programs such as Conflict Mediation and CONVES: Program to Improve School Coexistence indicate that secondary education initiatives outnumber those in primary education by a ratio of two to one and exceed early childhood programs fourfold, highlighting the need for research and development efforts at the earliest educational stages.

Given the growing interest in fostering emotional well-being in classrooms and recognizing teachers as facilitators of emotional learning, this approach enhances students' self-awareness and decision-making skills, goal attainment, and conflict resolution abilities. This paradigm shift has led to an increased emphasis on incorporating learning experiences that support children's emotional well-being within the education system. This is evident in the recent implementation of DECRET 175/2022, de 27 de September, which governs basic education curricula and emphasizes the importance of holistic student development through six vectors, particularly the sixth, named Emotional Well-being.