Comparison of the Effectiveness of Life Skills Training and Affective Capital Enhancement Training on Buoyancy and Empathy among 4-6 Year-Old Children

Vitality and empathy are very important for the better functioning of preschool children. Therefore, the present study aimed to compare the effectiveness of life skills training and affective capital training in buoyancy and empathy among 4-6-year-old children.

This research was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest, posttest, and follow-up design with a control group. The statistical population included preschool children in preschool centers in the winter of 2022 in Isfahan, Iran. Out of them, 45 preschool children were selected by purposive sampling method and randomly assigned to two experimental groups and a control group (15 children for each group). The vitality (Buoyancy) scale of Bang et al. (2019) and the empathy questionnaire of Davis (1980) were used to assess dependent variables in three stages. The two training groups were each trained for ten 45-minute sessions, and the control group did not receive any training. The data were analyzed using an analysis of covariance and post hoc Bonferroni test.

The results pointed out that there was a significant difference between life skills training and affective capital training with the control group in vitality (P<0.01); nonetheless, there was no significant difference between the two training groups (P>0.05). In empathy, only there was a significant difference between affective capital training and the control group (P<0.01).

Considering the effectiveness of life skills training and affective capital training in improving vitality and the effectiveness of affective capital training on improving empathy, it is suggested that this training be used in preschool centers for 4-6-year-old children.