The Relationship Between Social-Emotional Learning Skills and Peer Perception of Leadership in a Sample of Underserved Middle School Youths

This study evaluated the relationship between social-emotional learning (SEL) and peer perceptions of youth leadership in a group of 203 students (38.9% Hispanic; 28.6% Black; 21.2% White; 10.3% Asian; 1.0% Others) in Grades 6th-8th from two diverse urban middle schools in New Jersey. Results indicated that SEL had a significant and positive impact on peer-nominated student leadership. Additionally, gender moderated the relationship between SEL and leadership, such that SEL had a stronger positive effect for female students than it did for male students on leadership nominations in spring 2016, but not fall 2015. Moreover, SEL had a stronger positive effect on leadership for nonnative English-speaking students than it did for native English speakers for both timepoints. These findings, their implications for theory and practice, study limitations, and future directions were explored.