Does Social Intelligence Training Improve Daily Well-Being and Responsiveness to Daily Negative and Positive Events in Custodial Grandmothers?

This article examines the effectiveness of an online Social Intelligence Training (SIT) program in improving daily well-being, socioemotional skills, and emotional responsiveness to daily positive and negative events among custodial grandmothers (CGMs)—grandparents who raise grandchildren full-time in the absence of the birth parents. In a randomized clinical trial involving 200 CGMs across the United States, participants completed 14-day daily surveys before and after engaging in either the SIT program or an attention control condition focused on healthy living habits. Results indicated that CGMs who completed the SIT program showed stronger emotional responsiveness to daily positive events, with improvements in positive affect, social engagement, and perspective-taking, while no significant changes were observed in response to daily negative events. The study highlights the SIT program's potential as a scalable, accessible intervention to support the socioemotional functioning of this vulnerable population, though effects were modest and data collection occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, which may have influenced outcomes and attrition.