The Effect of Early Noncognitive Skills on Social Outcomes in Adolescence

In this study we investigate the impact of early noncognitive skills on several outcomes during adolescence which are important for both educational and labour market success. Although noncognitive skills remain malleable until adulthood, their fundamental elements are created during early childhood. Our empirical analysis is based on the Mannheim Study of Children at Risk, an epidemiological cohort study which observes children from birth until adulthood. We analyse how noncognitive skills, developed during the first two years of life, influence an adolescent’s educational success, delinquent behaviour, health risk behaviour and autonomy. The four non-cognitive skills considered in this study are: attention span, approach, prevailing mood and distractability. According to the results, a child’s attention span and his approach are crucial noncognitive skills with a long-term impact on observable outcomes during adolescence. Children with a clear interest in new things and children with a high attention span during early childhood do much better in terms of educational success, autonomy and health risk behaviour during adolescence. Contrary to this, we find that a prevailing bad temper and a high distractability during early childhood only negatively impact the performance and behaviour of those adolescents with extremely low non-cognitive skills. Moreover, gender differences can be observed between boys and girls with identical noncognitive skills. Boys are less successful in school than girls, their tobacco and alcohol consumption is significantly higher and they are less independent during adolescence. Our analysis shows that the most important risk group is made up of children with low noncognitive skills who were born with organic or psychosocial risks. The school achievements of children whose birth weight was low are significantly lower than those of other children with the same noncognitive skills during early childhood. Children who are raised by single parents or whose parents are less educated or delinquent consume much more alcohol during adolescence and are clearly more likely to become delinquent themselves. Thus, our economic analysis underlines the importance of early childhood with regard to a number of social outcomes during adolescence. It is the first of its kind to focus on noncognitive skills.

Coneus, Katja and Manfred Laucht (2008), The Effect of Early Noncognitive Skills on Social Outcomes in Adolescence, ZEW Discussion Paper No. 08-115, Mannheim.