Abstract
Background Japanese higher education institutions are increasingly embracing Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) programs to enhance students' mental health. Nevertheless, there is currently a lack of meta-analyses examining the efficacy of these programs in Japan. Methods A systematic search was conducted on PubMed, PsychINFO, Web of Science, Dissertation Abstracts, CiNii Articles, and J-STAGE. Studies meeting the following criteria were included: (a) published; (b) written in Japanese or English; (c) targeted higher education students; (d) designed to enhance one or more social-emotional skills; (e) included a control group; (f) conducted within a higher education setting; and (g) provided sufficient data for effect size calculation. This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of universal SEL programs for Japanese higher education students and examine potential moderators. The Evidence Project risk of bias tool was utilized for risk assessment. Results The meta-analysis of 32 studies revealed that universal SEL programs demonstrated a small to medium overall effect (ES = .34) and small to medium effects in enhancing social-emotional skills (ES = .33) and attitudes towards the self and others (ES = .37), addressing conduct problems (ES = .37), and mitigating emotional problems (ES = .41) at post-intervention. Moderator analysis indicated a decrease in the overall effect of SEL programs when they were delivered to larger groups of higher education students. However, the present meta-analysis could not conduct moderator analysis for individual outcome categories, except for emotional problems, due to the limited number of eligible studies. Conclusions Future research should investigate enhanced delivery methods for SEL programs, particularly in larger groups, possibly by integrating digital technologies. As the pool of eligible studies expands, future research should conduct meta-analyses with more extensive moderating analyses.