This paper describes the concept and content of early adolescents’ emotional skills among the general population. The research literature contains many emotional skills-related terms with overlapping meanings, and it can be challenging to determine which are applicable for example, to a music therapy assessment tool. This study comprises the first phase of developing an assessment tool for early adolescents’ emotional skills, namely, determining what is to be assessed.

A scoping review of the literature is presented with written definitions of emotional skills-related terms, as well as a concept analysis of the terms performed using Walker and Avant’s method.

The components of early adolescents’ emotional skills are presented. Early adolescents’ emotional skills comprise several skill components as presented in the current research literature. These components help in understanding the multifaceted entirety of emotional skills.

This paper presents the term emotional skills as a practical, general term that includes the content of other emotional skills-related terms. The concept analysis’ outcome, the components of early adolescents’ emotional skills, is applicable to future research as a theoretical framework for developing an assessment tool for early adolescents’ emotional skills. The components are also useful for music therapy clinicians to analyse their work with early adolescents and to communicate in detail the phenomenona related to emotional skills in therapy.