Parents and Caregivers Support Social and Emotional Learning at Home and in Schools. ACT Research. Issue Brief

Social and emotional (SE) skills are interpersonal, self-regulatory, and task-related behaviors that are important for adaptation to and successful performance across all domains of life, including education and workplace settings (Casillas et al., 2015). Family engagement affects the development of these important skills (Brooks & Lambert, 2019). As such, parents and caregivers are viewed as an integral part of social and emotional learning (SEL). For instance, the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) includes families and caregivers as part of their model of SEL (2023). Given the importance of family involvement, a growing number of studies have examined the perceptions of family members toward SEL. For example, studies have found that parents support teaching students SE skills in schools (Committee for Children, 2022; Daley et al., 2002; Horowitz, 2022; National PTA, 2022). Additionally, parents perceive SEL positively (Committee for Children, 2022; Murano et al., 2022) and think SE skills are important to develop (Daley et al., 2021). These positive perceptions suggest that caregivers are generally supportive of SEL. To examine this support more directly, the current study surveyed caregivers of high school students.