Assessing social-emotional skills in youth—is a commonly used framework lacking?

A study in the PsyCh Journal uncovered numerous limitations when applying a popular framework for assessing social-emotional skills (such as empathy, persistence, and curiosity) to children and adolescents around the world.

Researchers assessed the framework (the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Survey on Social and Emotional Skills) across 9 countries (US, Canada, China, South Korea, Finland, Colombia, Russia, Portugal, and Turkey). The adult-derived framework, which groups 15 skills into 5 categories aligned with the Big Five personality traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability), was not supported by data from more than 60,000 10- and 15-year-olds across 10 international cities.

The structure of skills changed with age and varied significantly by culture. A 10-year-old's “skill map” looked more like a blended mix, while a 15-year-old’s map showed more distinctions but was still not the same as the adult map the test was based on. Also, the pattern of skills looked different in different cities—from Houston to Helsinki to Suzhou—suggesting that local values, education systems, and social expectations influence which skills cluster together.

“Our findings challenge the assumption that a single, adult-based framework of social emotional skills works equally well for children and adolescents across different cultures,” said corresponding author Bo Ning, PhD, of Shanghai Normal University. “To measure these skills fairly and effectively, we need age-appropriate and culturally-sensitive approaches.”

URL upon publication: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pchj.70108

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About the Journal
PsyCh Journal is China's first international psychology journal, bridging the knowledge gap between China and the rest of the world. We explore basic mechanisms of the human mind and behaviour, delivering scientific knowledge to enhance the world's understanding of culture and society. We publish peer-reviewed research articles, reports and reviews spanning the whole field of scientific psychology and its applications across all levels, from molecular to individual to society. Our extensive indexing helps make your work more discoverable by a global audience.

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