Carpendale Emma J, Green Melissa J, White Sonia L J, Williams Kate E, Tzoumakis Stacy, Watkeys Oliver J, Harris Felicity, O'Hare Kirstie, Carr Vaughan J, Laurens Kristin R
School of Psychology and Counselling, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Centre for Inclusive Education (C4IE), Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Br J Educ Psychol. 2025 Jun;95(2):496-512. doi: 10.1111/bjep.12735. Epub 2025 Jan 17.
The transition from primary to secondary school presents a challenging developmental milestone which often marks a decline in academic performance. Social-emotional skills are recognized as fundamental to academic success but longitudinal research is needed to determine the extent of their association over this transition period.
This study sought to determine the association between self-reported social-emotional competencies of students in their final year of primary school (Year 6; age ~11 years) and reading and numeracy performance in their first year of secondary school (Year 7; age ~12 years).
The study used a large Australian sample (n = 23,865), drawn from the New South Wales Child Development Study population cohort.
The Middle Childhood Survey-Social-Emotional Learning assessment, administered during Year 6, comprises the five competencies defined by the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL): Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills and Responsible Decision-Making. These data were linked with students' Year 7 reading and numeracy scores from the standardized National Assessment Program-Literacy and Numeracy measure. Associations were examined in multi-level structural equation models which accounted for prior (Year 5) academic achievement and sociodemographic covariates. Multi-group analyses explored invariance across girls and boys.
Self-Awareness and Self-Management demonstrated significant and meaningful positive relationships with reading and numeracy performance. Associations with reading were invariant by sex but boys demonstrated significantly stronger associations than girls on numeracy.
Findings suggest that bolstering primary school students' intrapersonal social-emotional competencies may safeguard their academic achievement over the transition into secondary school.
从小学升入中学是一个具有挑战性的发展里程碑，往往标志着学业成绩下降。社会情感技能被认为是学业成功的基础，但需要纵向研究来确定在这个过渡时期它们之间关联的程度。
本研究旨在确定小学最后一年（6年级；年龄约11岁）学生自我报告的社会情感能力与中学第一年（7年级；年龄约12岁）阅读和算术成绩之间的关联。
该研究使用了来自新南威尔士儿童发展研究人群队列的大量澳大利亚样本（n = 23,865）。
6年级时进行的童年中期社会情感学习调查评估，包括学术、社会和情感学习协作组织（CASEL）定义的五项能力：自我意识、自我管理、社会意识、关系技能和负责任的决策。这些数据与学生7年级来自标准化国家评估计划——读写和算术测量的阅读和算术分数相关联。在考虑了之前（5年级）学业成绩和社会人口统计学协变量的多层次结构方程模型中检验关联。多组分析探讨了男孩和女孩之间的不变性。
自我意识和自我管理与阅读和算术成绩呈现出显著且有意义的正相关关系。与阅读的关联在性别上是不变的，但在算术方面，男孩的关联比女孩显著更强。
研究结果表明，增强小学生的个人社会情感能力可能会保障他们在升入中学过渡阶段的学业成绩。
