The Viola Voice

Theater Aids Emotional Development
By: Psych Central Senior News Editor
on Friday, Jul, 20, 2007July 20, 2007 at 8:05 amUniversity of Illinois,
Urbana-Champaign, and the study’s lead author.

Reviewed by: John M. Grohol, Psy.D.
on

Researchers report high school theater programs can strengthen
adolescent emotional skills.

In a unique study, researchers at the University of Illinois, Urbana-
Champaign conducted open-ended interviews and observations to gain an
in-depth understanding of one setting—a high school theater program.

Ten teenagers were interviewed every two weeks over a three-month
period while the theater group rehearsed a musical.
The study appears in the July-August 2007 issue of the journal Child
Development.

Adolescents face formidable challenges in emotional development. To
become functional adults, they must learn to manage the emotions that
unfold in complex social interactions, including those in
collaborative work groups. Yet little is known about the day-to-day
circumstances of adolescents’ emotional development.

Two adults who led the production also were interviewed biweekly. In
addition, the researchers observed the rehearsals weekly. During the
rehearsals, teenagers reported frequent emotional experiences,
including disappointment, anger, anxiety, and exhilaration.

The program provided a culture that helped them learn to respond
constructively to the events and feelings associated with these
different emotions, the researchers found. The adults provided models
and helped the teens cultivate strategies to manage strong emotions.
The youth learned from repeatedly using these strategies to employ
positive emotions to motivate their work; they also learned how to
manage their own and others’ negative emotions.

The theater setting supported this process by putting the youth in
situations in which emotions were likely to occur because the
expectation of hard work created stress and tension. Moreover,
intense emotions were accepted and discussed openly with a climate of
concern for others. The adults and youth alike stated shared beliefs
about the importance of emotional experience, and the adolescents
drew on the models and ideas of the culture as they learned about the
dynamics of emotions in themselves and in groups.

The researchers also found that the young people were very actively
engaged in the process of emotional learning. In the theater setting,
they were proactive in learning to manage emotional situations,
evaluated experiences and put to use the insights they gained, and
actively drew on the ideas and assistance of adults and peers.

“The development of ‘emotional intelligence’ is important to adult
work and family life, but many young people arrive in adulthood with
incomplete emotional skills,” according to Reed W. Larson, professor
of human and community development at the

“These preliminary findings suggest how, under the right conditions,
adolescents strengthen these skills. Although further research is
needed, youth programs and schools that provide these conditions may
be more likely to facilitate emotional learning. “

Source: Society for Research in Child Development