Inequalities in adolescents' social, emotional, and behavioral skills: Differences across social categories and their intersections

Abstract

This paper explores inequalities in adolescents' social, emotional, and behavioral skills. We examine whether skills vary by gender, parental education, immigrant background, school track—and their intersections. In two samples of German adolescents (age 14–20y; N = 3162), we fielded the Behavioral, Emotional, and Self-Regulatory Skills Inventory (BESSI), enabling a fine-grained assessment of 32 skill facets from five domains. Analyses revealed skill advantages for youth whose parents completed academic education and youth without immigrant background across most skills. Gender and school track had more varied effects mostly in favor of girls and adolescents attending academic tracks. Inequalities tended to be most pronounced for Innovation Skills. Intersectional analyses suggested that skill inequalities across intersectional strata (i.e., combinations of social categories) arose primarily from main effects of social categories, rather than intersectional interactions. We conclude that inequalities in SEB skills are small but systematic and unfold primarily as main effects.

Educational relevance and implications

Our research explored whether adolescents differ in their levels of social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) skills depending on their gender, immigrant background, parents' education, and school track. We found that parents' education and immigrant background were the factors generating most consistent inequalities in SEB skills, with skill advantages for adolescents whose parents completed academic education and autochthonous adolescents across all skill domains and most skill facets, especially in Innovation Skills (e.g., information processing, creative skill, abstract thinking skill). Gender differences and, to a lesser extent, differences by school track were also present but more varied in terms of which subgroup showed skill advantages: On most skills, girls showed skill advantages over boys (with the exception of Emotional Resilience), as did and adolescents attending an academic school track over those attending a vocational track. We further established that inequalities in SEB skills mainly arise from the simple effects of the social categories, rather than through complex interactions among their intersections. Our findings constitute a step towards helping educators, policymakers, and researchers identify groups of adolescents who are at a heightened need of support in developing SEB skills. This may help in developing targeted interventions and policies aimed at fostering equitable development of SEB skills in the future. Addressing these inequalities is essential for reducing educational gaps and enhancing the academic success and wellbeing of all students.