The thesis is devoted to the analysis of socio-psychological characteristics of teenagers emotional intelligence as a factor in preventing school bullying. Theoretical analysis of the existing conceptualizations of the general laws of development of emotional intelligence is carried out. As a result of theoretical and methodological review, has been find out that in a broad sense, emotional intelligence is defined as a person's ability to realize, accept and manage emotional states and feelings: both their own and other people's. The main factors and specifics of manifestations and consequences of bullying in the school environment are substantiated. The theoretical model of social and psychological features of development of emotional intelligence of participants of bullying in the school environment is described. It is determined that bullying is quite common in society, has a complex role structure and various forms of manifestation. In essence, bullying is a specific form of communicative interaction of an aggressive nature, in which a stronger (more authoritative) person (or group of persons) systematically and purposefully pursues another (weaker, outsider). The situation of bullying is not limited to the roles of "aggressor" and "victim", it "involves" others, making them active or passive participants in this relationship. The generalization of the theoretical review of scientific works shows that the ability to recognize their own emotions, manage them, the ability to correctly identify the emotional state, motivation and intentions of others, stable self-esteem based on self-knowledge and self-acceptance is a prerequisite for minimizing victim or antisocial behavior. The socio-psychological features of the bullying structure in the conditions of general secondary education are empirically established, the level of development of emotional intelligence of schoolchildren and the degree of their involvement in the bullying process is determined. As a result of the analysis of the received empirical data it is defined that the most widespread form of bullying among pupils of establishments of general secondary education of 12-16 years is verbal. Based on a comparison of the characteristics of emotional intelligence of schoolchildren with the degree of their involvement in the bullying process, we found the dependence of the frequency of bullying in the school environment on the degree of development of emotional intelligence of its participants. The integrative level of emotional intelligence development directly correlates with the degree of involvement in the bullying process as a "defender" and "observer", and the feedback is observed with the degree of involvement in the bullying process as a "helper" and "aggressor"; the degree of involvement in the bullying process as an "aggressor" is inversely correlated with the level of development of "emotional awareness" and "empathy"; the degree of involvement in the bullying process as a "helper" is inversely correlated with the level of development of "emotional awareness", "empathy" and "self-motivation"; the degree of involvement in the bullying process in the role of "victim" is inversely correlated with the level of development of "management of their emotions"; There is a direct relationship between the indicators of all scales of emotional intelligence and the degree of involvement in the bullying process as a "defender" and "observer". According to the results of the study, a program to combat bullying in the school environment was developed and tested by including in the program a component aimed at increasing the level of emotional intelligence of school-age children. This program consists of a set of specially organized activities, including components aimed at improving the level of emotional intelligence of school-age children: socio-psychological training "Emotional intelligence: the ability of the future", introduced into the educational process of 2 secondary schools, and interactive theater productions for schoolchildren on the topic "Stop Bullying", held at 17 school in Chernihiv. To assess the effectiveness of the proposed program to prevent school bullying, the following was conducted: a re-study of the level of development of emotional intelligence of adolescents, which showed statistically significant differences between indicators before and after training; questionnaires about the manifestations of bullying over the past two weeks (the frequency of manifestations has decreased); conversations with school staff on the impact of interactive theater productions on communicative interaction between students (theater productions had a strong but short-term effect, which confirms the need to combine them with training programs for the development of emotional intelligence).
