ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Educational Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1605930
Beyond the Campus: The Development of Social Emotional Competence in Freshmen through a Community-Based Elder-care Volunteer Service Project 3
Provisionally accepted
- 1Jing Hengyi School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Jiangsu Province, China
- 2Institute of Vocational and Adult Education, Facutly of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, Shanghai Municipality, China
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Enhancing social emotional competence for freshmen is crucial for their successful integration into diverse university and social environments. While existing research mainly focused on the impact of specific social emotional learning courses on freshmen, there has been limited exploration of the influence of social practice participation. This study investigates the impact of intergenerational volunteer service on freshmen's SEC growth through a collaborative project between H University and G Community from October to December 2024. Through semi-structured interviews with thirteen first-year student volunteers who participated in a community-based eldercare project. The findings indicate that participation in this initiative significantly enhanced freshmen's SEC in five key areas: (1) broaden students' perspectives on university life, (2) reduce study-related anxiety, (3) strengthen social connections and social awareness, (4) promote altruistic behavior and responsible decision-making, and (5) enhance self-confidence and self-efficacy. The results highlight that SEC development is an interactive process involving cognition, behavior, and emotion. Furthermore, eldercare communities serve as unique informal learning spaces.
Keywords: social emotional learning, Social emotional competence, college freshmen, Inte rgenerational interaction, Community-based volunteer service
Received: 04 Apr 2025; Accepted: 10 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lyu, Lin and Zhu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Hanxiao Lin, Jing Hengyi School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, 311121, Jiangsu Province, China
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