Ryberg Renee
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 155 Hamilton Hall, CB # 3210, Chapel Hill, NC USA 27599-3210,
Adv Life Course Res. 2018 Sep;37:1-14. doi: 10.1016/j.alcr.2018.05.002. Epub 2018 May 21.
Research based on youth in the United States and Europe has established the importance of noncognitive skills for successful transitions to adulthood. The influence of noncognitive skills may vary by social and economic contexts, though, and nine in ten youth worldwide live in developing countries where noncognitive skills have not been rigorously studied. I specifically examine the role that self-concept plays in predicting education/work status in the transition to adulthood among youth in Andhra Pradesh, India. Using data from the Young Lives study, I investigate the measurement properties of positive self-concept and use structural equation modeling to examine whether this competence in early adolescence (age 11-12) predicts whether youth (age 18-19) are in school, work, both, or are not currently in education, employment, or training (NEET). Findings suggest that positive self-concept is associated with youth staying in school rather than working, and young women staying in school rather than being NEET, and its effect size is comparable to those of cognitive skills. The present study contributes to the field's understanding of a noncognitive skill, self-concept, in a new setting and points to the importance of future work investigating the role noncognitive skills play in the lives of young people in diverse settings, and the conditions under which these skills are influential.
基于美国和欧洲青少年的研究已证实，非认知技能对于成功过渡到成年期至关重要。然而，非认知技能的影响可能因社会和经济背景而异，全球十分之九的青少年生活在发展中国家，在这些国家，非认知技能尚未得到严格研究。我特别考察了自我概念在预测印度安得拉邦青少年向成年期过渡中的教育/工作状况时所起的作用。利用“青年生活”研究的数据，我研究了积极自我概念的测量属性，并使用结构方程模型来检验这种青春期早期（11至12岁）的能力是否能预测青少年（18至19岁）是在上学、工作、两者皆有，还是目前未接受教育、就业或培训（即处于“尼特”状态）。研究结果表明，积极的自我概念与青少年继续上学而非工作、年轻女性继续上学而非处于“尼特”状态相关，其效应大小与认知技能的效应大小相当。本研究有助于该领域在新环境中理解一种非认知技能——自我概念，并指出未来开展研究的重要性，即探究非认知技能在不同环境中对年轻人生活所起的作用，以及这些技能产生影响的条件。
