The Roles of Social-Emotional Skills in Students’ Academic and Life Success: A Multi-Informant, Multi-Cohort Perspective

Although social-emotional skills are more malleable than cognitive skills and have potential benefits for a range of academic and life outcomes, previous studies on the topic have suffered from many issues (e.g., consideration of only a small subset of skills, single-informant and single-cohort design). To address these limitations, this study used a multi-informant (self, teacher, and parent) and multi-cohort (ages 10 and 15 from Finland, N = 5,533) perspective to study the association between social-emotional skills and 20 educational (e.g., school grades and engagement), psychological (e.g., life satisfaction, social relationships), and health outcomes (e.g., eating habits, sleep trouble). Results showed that (a) there was a modest level of inter-rater agreement on social-emotional skills, with the highest agreement between students and parents (mean r = .41); (b) inclusion of multi-informant ratings substantially enhanced the ability of social-emotional skills in predicting outcome variables, with parent- and self-rated skills playing important, unique roles; (c) by modeling skills at the facet-level rather than at the domain-level, we identified the key skills for different outcomes and found significant variation in facets’ predictive utility even within the same domain; (d) although the old cohort showed lower levels of most social-emotional skills (9/15), there were only very minor changes in the inter-rater agreement and predictive utility on outcomes. Overall, Self-Control, Optimism, Trust, and Energy were found among the four most important skills for academic and life success. We further identifed unique contribution of each skill for certain outcomes, which points the way to effective and precise interventions.

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Study of factors related to social and emotional skills in early childhood in Japan

European Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/eurpub/ckaa166.388 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽

Author(s):

M Kobayashi ◽

M Takakura ◽

K Kakazu ◽

S Gredzuk ◽

T Masuzawa ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Cognitive Skills ◽

Multivariate Logistic Regression Analysis ◽

Self Control ◽

Intervention Programme ◽

Okinawa Island ◽

Emotional Skills ◽

Social And Emotional ◽

Social And Emotional Skills ◽

The Social

Abstract Background There are numerous reports that social and emotional skills in early childhood have profound influence on lifelong health. The aim of this research is to determine the relation between the lifestyle and the social and emotional skills among children in present day Japan. Methods The object of analysis was a total of 110 parents of kindergarten students (56 boys, 48 girls,6 gender unknown) from 3 kindergartens in central Okinawa Island. The survey was conducted in mid-December 2019. Regarding the content of the survey, parents were asked to answer on a five-point scale, based on their subjective opinion, how good is their child, as compared to other children, in each of the 9 sub-scales of the social and emotional skills proposed in the 2015 OECD report, namely “perseverance,” “self-control,” “passion for goals,” “sociability,” “respect,” “caring,” “self-esteem,” “optimism,” “confidence.” Additionally, other question items were set, mainly to ask about the child's own lifestyle. Results The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis are following. As for “achieving goals:” 3 items for perseverance - “there are few likes and dislikes about food (OR:2.67, 95％CI:1.03～6.94, p=.043),” “Time for playing games on smartphone is determined (OR:3.21, 95％CI:1.19～8.68, p=.021),” “Eat more fruits (OR:3.03, 95％CI:1.24～8.26, p=.016),” are statistically significant. [Other results are omitted in this abstract] Conclusions It became clear that the acquisition of social and emotional skills during early childhood generally involves regular lifestyle and “discipline” at home as a whole. Besides, it is important for parent and child to do various activities together, including those aiming to increase cognitive skills. This study is considered to be a powerful evidence for the development of future intervention programme, aimed at acquiring social and emotional skills in early childhood. Key messages In early childhood family and kindergarten have to cooperate to foster social and emotional skills, important for lifelong health. This study is considered to be a powerful evidence for the development of future intervention programme, aimed at acquiring social and emotional skills in early childhood.

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Assessing Preschool Children’s Social Pretend Play Competence: An Empirical Comparison of Three Different Assessment Methods

10.31235/osf.io/hpzyk ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ann-Kathrin Jaggy ◽

Sonja Perren ◽

Fabio Sticca

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Skills ◽

Pretend Play ◽

Criterion Validity ◽

Second Order ◽

Emotion Understanding ◽

Assessment Methods ◽

Social Emotional ◽

Teacher Report ◽

Emotional Skills ◽

Order Factor

Pretend play may be beneficial for young children’s social development. However, empirical results to date are inconsistent and limited, which is partly due to a lack of psychometrically sound measures for children’s social pretend play competence. The current study aimed to compare and validate different assessment methods for children’s social pretend play competence. In total, 64 3- to 4-year-old children participated in the study (age: M = 46.4, SD = 3.8). Assessments were conducted twice, three months apart. Social pretend play competence was assessed using a standardized role play test (Tools of the Play Scale), a social pretend play situation with a peer (Dyadic Pretend Play Assessment), and a teacher report. Children’s Theory of Mind, emotion understanding, and language comprehension were assessed. Educators reported on children’s social-emotional skills. Research Findings: All three instruments showed a good factorial validity, measurement invariance and sensitivity to intra-individual change. A second-order factor of all three methods was identified. The Tools of the Play Scale and the teacher report yielded good criterion validity. The second-order factor showed even better criterion validity: Children with higher social pretend play competence showed higher social-cognitive skills as well as social-emotional skills. Practice or Policy: Limitations and applications of the instruments are discussed.

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Executive Functions and Metacognitive Monitoring Are Not Interchangeable in Educational Settings: Their Shared and Unique Contribution to Academic Outcomes

10.31234/osf.io/4jhnz ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Rina PY Lai ◽

Michelle Renee Ellefson ◽

Claire Hughes

Keyword(s):

Executive Functions ◽

Academic Outcomes ◽

Cognitive Skills ◽

Latent Variable ◽

Unique Contribution ◽

Metacognitive Monitoring ◽

Cognitive Predictors ◽

Domain Specific ◽

Variable Approach ◽

Latent Variable Approach

Executive functions and metacognition are two cognitive predictors with well-established connections to academic performance. Despite sharing several theoretical characteristics, their overlap or independence concerning multiple academic outcomes remain under-researched. To address this gap, the present study applies a latent-variable approach to test a novel theoretical model that delineates the structural link between executive functions, metacognition, and academic outcomes. In whole-class sessions, 469 children aged 9 to 14 years (M = 11.93; SD = 0.92) completed four computerized executive function tasks (inhibition, working memory, cognitive flexibility, and planning), a self-reported metacognitive monitoring questionnaire, and three standardized tests of academic ability. The results suggest that executive functions and metacognitive monitoring are not interchangeable in the educational context and that they have both shared and unique contributions to diverse academic outcomes. The findings are important for elucidating the role between two domain-general cognitive skills (executive functions and metacognition) and domain-specific academic skills.

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A multilevel analysis of the influence of bullying participant roles upon the trajectories of adolescents’ social and emotional competencies

School Psychology International ◽

10.1177/0143034321988972 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 014303432198897

Author(s):

Vítor Alexandre Coelho ◽

Marta Marchante

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Self Control ◽

Social Emotional ◽

Emotional Competencies ◽

Social And Emotional ◽

Self Reports ◽

One Year ◽

Competencies Development ◽

Bullying Participant Roles ◽

Social And Emotional Competencies

This study analyzed how social and emotional competencies evolved according to adolescents’ involvement in bullying, and whether gender influenced social and emotional competencies’ development. Five-hundred-fourteen students ( Mage = 12.71; SD = 1.09) were assessed through self-reports at three different time points for one year. Results showed that students involved in the three analyzed bullying roles displayed a more negative trajectory in all but one social emotional competence analyzed compared to students not involved in bullying. The exception was students who bullied others for responsible decision making. Additionally, gender differences were only found in self-esteem trajectories; boys displayed a more pronounced decrease. In larger classes, students displayed higher levels of self-control, social awareness and responsible decision-making. These results showed that reduced social and emotional competencies were a consequence of bullying involvement for every bullying role analyzed.

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Developing social-emotional skills through imaginative teaching methods in elementary education

Early Child Development and Care ◽

10.1080/03004430.2020.1854241 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-16

Author(s):

Xanthippi Tsortanidou ◽

Thanasis Daradoumis ◽

Elena Barberá

Keyword(s):

Elementary Education ◽

Teaching Methods ◽

Social Emotional ◽

Emotional Skills

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PRESCHOOL CHILDREN'S INTEREST, SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL SKILLS, AND EMERGENT MATHEMATICS SKILLS

Psychology in the Schools ◽

10.1002/pits.21912 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 53 (4) ◽

pp. 390-403 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Greta L. Doctoroff ◽

Paige H. Fisher ◽

Bethany M. Burrows ◽

Maria Tsepilovan Edman

Keyword(s):

Social Emotional ◽

Emotional Skills ◽

Mathematics Skills ◽

Emergent Mathematics

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Madam Secretary, help us improve social-emotional learning

Phi Delta Kappan ◽

10.1177/0031721717708298 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 98 (8) ◽

pp. 64-69 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Maurice J. Elias ◽

Samuel J. Nayman ◽

Joan C. Duffell ◽

Sarah A. Kim

Keyword(s):

Education System ◽

Character Development ◽

Social Emotional Learning ◽

Social Emotional ◽

High Quality ◽

College Career ◽

Life Success ◽

Quality Programs ◽

The U.S

Considering the key role of social-emotional and character development (SECD) competencies in college, career, and life success — and considering that many of those competencies are teachable — there is no excuse for failing to incorporate them systematically into our education system. That would be the equivalent of depriving children of oxygen. This article is addressed to the U.S. Secretary of Education and other education policymakers and offers them specific recommendations to guide policy that would yield high-quality programs of support for SECD in all schools.

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