Enhancing emotional intelligence at school: Evaluation of the effectiveness of a two-year intervention program in Spanish pre-adolescents

•One intervention year improved the EI dimensions, except for adaptability.•All the positive changes remained stable during a 6-month period.•A second intervention year maintained or improved the results of the first year.•Without intervention, the EI dimensions did not increase overtime.•Without intervention, there was a significant decrease in stress management.

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a two-year intervention program to promote emotional intelligence (EI) at school. Participants were 228 primary school pupils between 10 and 11 years old. This study evaluated the effects of the intervention using a pre- and post-experimental design with a control group and four evaluation moments. EI was assessed with the EQ-i:YV questionnaire by Bar-On and Parker (2000), adapted to Spanish by Ferrándiz, Hernández, Bermejo, Ferrando, and Sáinz (2012). The results showed the effectiveness of the intervention, highlighting an increase in all the EI dimensions of the Bar-On model: intrapersonal, interpersonal, stress management, adaptability, and general mood. These findings suggest that EI can be improved. Results are discussed, and recommendations are made for future implementation.