A study of Lebanese teenagers reveals that strong emotional competence enhances coping strategies, wellbeing, and signs of post-traumatic growth amidst ongoing social and economic upheaval. The research highlights the importance of integrating emotional skills training into school programmes to foster resilience in crisis-affected regions.
A study of Lebanese adolescents has found that emotional competence is linked to better coping, greater wellbeing and signs of post-traumatic growth in a setting shaped by chronic instability. The research, published in Frontiers in Psychology, examined 766 students aged 14 to 20 from public schools and looked at how intrapersonal and interpersonal emotional skills related to outcomes such as psychological wellbeing and growth after adversity.
Using structural equation modelling, the authors found that adolescents with stronger ability to understand and manage their own emotions, as well as those better at handling emotions in relationships, were more likely to use adaptive coping strategies such as active coping, planning, acceptance and positive reframing. Those coping habits, in turn, were associated with higher wellbeing and stronger post-traumatic growth. The indirect links were statistically significant for both emotional skill measures, suggesting that coping may be an important pathway through which emotional competence translates into positive outcomes.
The findings fit with wider research showing that emotional intelligence and constructive coping are closely tied to mental health in adolescence. They also carry particular weight in Lebanon, where young people are growing up amid economic strain, political uncertainty and repeated social disruption. The study’s authors said the results support integrating emotional skills training into school-based support programmes, especially in crisis-affected settings. They also cautioned that the work was cross-sectional, relied on self-reports and cannot prove cause and effect.
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