Social-emotional learning intervention effects: the role of universal versus indicated implementation settings

We assessed the role of implementation setting (universal or indicated) on the effects of social-emotional skill (SEL) intervention, focusing on school climate and psychosocial adjustment. Taking Topper Training as a case intervention, we used pretest-posttest data from 444 eight to twelve-year-old children across three conditions: universal implementation, indicated implementation, and no-intervention control. School climate improved in the universal implementation setting and psychosocial adjustment improved in both implementation settings. There were no significant differences between the implementation settings, however, larger effect sizes on psychosocial adjustment were found in the indicated implementation setting. Universal implementation of SEL interventions seems most effective when targeting the broader school environment (i.e., school climate), but also has small effects on psychosocial adjustment. Indicated implementation seems to yield larger effects on psychosocial adjustment. This suggests that practitioners should carefully align implementation settings with the behavior they aim to change when selecting interventions.