Addressing Adolescence: Advocating for Age- and Gender-Responsive Social and Emotional Learning during Emergencies

Abstract

For adolescents, uniquely gendered conflict experiences are colored by the broader sociocultural context. Although interventions exist to address adolescents’ social and emotional learning (SEL) in emergencies, little is known of their gendered effects. We systematically review studies of SEL in humanitarian contexts to explore gendered trends in effects and opportunities. Although studies largely fail to disaggregate findings by gender, when disaggregated, adolescent girls consistently benefitted more on social outcomes than their male peers, while males, especially older adolescents, frequently had better wellbeing outcomes than female adolescents. Yet studies that disaggregated findings by both age and gender complicate these trends further and point to the challenge of supporting SEL outcomes as older adolescents move closer to adulthood. When programs are incompatible with adolescents’ realities or ignore structural issues and gender norms, they do not reap positive outcomes. Rather, gender responsive programs show the most promise.