Similarities and differences in social and emotional profiles among students in Canada, USA, China, and Singapore: PISA 2015. Issue 4 (4th July 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Tze, Virginia M. C.; Li, Johnson C.-H.; Daniels, Lia M.
• Is Part Of: Research papers in education. Volume 37:Issue 4(2022)
• Page Start: 558
• Page End: 583
• Publication Date: 2022-07-04
• Subjects: Social-emotional skills -- latent profile analysis -- cross-cultural comparison -- standardised international student achievement; Education -- Periodicals; 370.941
• DOI: 10.1080/02671522.2020.1864760
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0267-1522

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Although previous research showed that discrete social-emotional skills such as empathy, motivation, and social relationships in school significantly predict achievement, students tend to use various social-emotional skills in combination. As such previous investigations cannot comment on how different combinations or profiles of students' social-emotional skills predict achievement relative to discrete skills. Likewise, little is known about cross-national comparisons of social-emotional skill profiles (SESP), and the extent to which SESP differ on their academic achievement. The purposes of this study were three-folded: 1) to determine whether a four-factor social-emotional skills model could be used for cross-national comparisons; 2) to identify social-emotional profiles in 15-year-old students from four different countries – Canada, the United States, China, and Singapore; and 3) to evaluate how different profiles predict students' reading, maths, and collaborative problem-solving (CPS) test scores. Our results showed multigroup measurement invariant in the structure, loadings, and thresholds of the four-factor social-emotional skills model. We identified three profiles labelled Sociable, Reserved and Withdrawn in Canada, Singapore, and the United States; whereas, we found three profiles labelled Solitary, Team-oriented, and Reserved in students in China. Finally, the way each profile associated with reading, maths and CPS in each country appeared to align with the cultural expectations of learning.