The Resilience and Sense of Belonging of Latinx Students in a Social-Emotional Learning Program

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that when students of color attend ethnically congruent schools, they have an easier time making friends and feel more connected to their peers, and school-based friendships have been found to positively influence students' social-emotional development. Additionally, struggling to make friends often results in social marginalization and isolation during adolescence, which adversely affects students' self-esteem, ethnic pride, and sense of belonging. The current study explored the association between program quality and student outcomes, including resilience and sense of belonging, among Latinx and non-Latinx middle school students participating in a Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) program, Compass. Specifically, this study considers how these outcomes differ for students who attend ethnically congruent schools versus ethnically incongruent schools. A total of 3,458 students from 15 middle schools took a self-report survey measuring their resilience, sense of belonging, and Circle (the primary component of Compass) quality. Results showed that non-Latinx students who attend an ethnically congruent school reported a significantly lower Circle quality score than non-Latinx students at ethnically incongruent schools and Latinx students regardless of ethnic congruence. The associations between the Circle quality and resilience and sense of belonging of Latinx students were not significantly stronger compared to non-Latinx students. These findings suggest that when schools decide to implement SEL programs, they carefully consider the ethnic makeup of students and how that might affect their engagement in it. The present study highlights the need for more research about the effects of ethnic congruence on social-emotional developmental outcomes. Keywords: Social-emotional learning, ethnic congruence, Latinx, resilience, sense of belonging