An Exploration in Social and Emotional Health of Vietnamese High School Students

Social and emotional health (SEH) aims to promote academic success and create school well-being. SEH has not been studied in Vietnam. This article focused on exploring the SEH of Vietnamese high school students because of the high-risk level in mental health that appeared in this group. The study was carried out using a qualitative case study approach to interviewing 74 students, 12 teachers, 7 school administrators, and 4 school counselors. We interpreted four features of SEH's expression of Vietnamese students: (1) Confident but lack of individual perspectives, (2) Respectful but lack of listening and empathy in school relationships, (3) Balanced but lack of authentic perception of emotions and effective emotional management, (4) Satisfied but lack of sustainability and action. This study has broadened our understanding of external behaviours and current limitations in the young people's SEH from their perspectives in a developing Southeast Asian country to promote positive psychological development in school-based prevention programs.