Social-Emotional Learning of 2-Year-Olds Within Peer Interactions in Early Childhood Education Settings: A Scoping Review

Research has highlighted social-emotional learning (SEL) as a critical domain for 2-year-olds (2YOs), as well as the crucial role of their peers in the Early Childhood Education (ECE) context. Although strong evidence indicates that children begin developing social-emotional skills before 24 months, limited research has explored SEL in 2YOs, particularly in the context of peer relationships. With global increases in the enrolment of 2YOs in ECE, 2YOs have engaged more frequently in complex peer group interactions that offer expanded opportunities for their SEL. This scoping review explores the existing literature on 2YOs' peer-related SEL within ECE contexts in the last 10 years (2014-2025). The search reveals a predominant focus on adult-child relationships and home-based contexts. Consequently, 13 highly related empirical studies were identified from an initial corpus of 755 studies. Based on these 13 studies, this scoping review aims to map the following: (i) how SEL is defined for 2YOs, (ii) the methodologies and theoretical perspectives adopted to investigate 2YOs' peer interactions, and (iii) the role of peers in 2YOs' SEL. The findings indicate that most studies adopt quantitative methodologies grounded in developmental psychology perspectives, often relying on predetermined SEL indicators to assess and interpret 2YOs' SEL and peer interactions. These findings underscore the need for more qualitative and in-depth investigations of 2YOs' SEL in peer contexts. Additionally, there is a call for more diverse methodologies and study designs to deepen our understanding of this important area of early childhood development.