Socioemotional skills and academic performance in adolescents from a public educational institution: A cross-sectional correlational study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21780719Keywords:
adolescence, learning, academic performance, socioemotional skills, studentsAbstract
Introduction: Socioemotional skills are part of adolescents' integral development and have been associated, to varying degrees, with school performance. The magnitude of that relationship is not uniform across studies, and some findings are weak or inconsistent. Objective: To describe levels of socioemotional skills and examine their relationship with academic performance in adolescents from a public educational institution. Materials and methods: Quantitative, correlational, cross-sectional study. A total of 183 students aged 12 to 18 years from a public educational institution were included through non-probability sampling. Socioemotional skills were assessed with a 15-item Likert questionnaire organized into five dimensions: self-awareness, self-regulation, autonomy, empathy and collaboration. Academic performance was represented by the school grade-point average. Sample characteristics were described and Pearson correlations between the study variables were analyzed. Results: Mean school GPA was 3.49 and mean total socioemotional score was 51.26 out of 75. The highest mean dimension was collaboration (10.80), followed by self-awareness (10.64), empathy (10.40), autonomy (10.16) and self-regulation (9.26). Correlations between school GPA and individual dimensions were low; only self-awareness and the total score showed statistical significance in the reported analysis. Most participants were classified at the autonomous socioemotional level. Conclusions: In this sample, socioemotional levels were predominantly resolutive and autonomous, with low correlations between socioemotional dimensions and school GPA. These findings suggest a limited relationship between both variables in the evaluated context and do not allow causal inferences about the impact of socioemotional development on academic performance.
References
Corcoran RP, Cheung ACK, Kim E, Xie C. Effective universal school-based social and emotional learning programs for improving academic achievement: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 50 years of research. Educ Res Rev. 2018;25:56-72. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2017.12.001
Zhao Y, Sang B. The effect of social-emotional learning programs on elementary and middle school students' academic achievement: a meta-analytic review. Behav Sci (Basel). 2025;15(11):1527. doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15111527
Ha C, McCarthy MF, Strambler MJ. Disentangling the effects of social and emotional learning programs on student academic achievement across grades 1-12: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Rev Educ Res. 2025. doi: https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543251367769
MacCann C, Jiang Y, Brown LER, Double KS, Bucich M, Minbashian A. Emotional intelligence predicts academic performance: a meta-analysis. Psychol Bull. 2020;146(2):150-186. doi: https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000219
Quílez-Robres A, Usán Supervía P, Lozano-Blasco R, Salavera C. Emotional intelligence and academic performance: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Think Skills Creat. 2023;49:101355. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2023.101355
Torres Díaz SE, Hidalgo Apolo GA, Suarez Pesántez KV. Habilidades sociales y rendimiento académico en adolescentes de secundaria. Horizontes Rev Investig Cienc Educ. 2020;4(15):267-276. doi: https://doi.org/10.33996/revistahorizontes.v4i15.114
Núñez Hernández CE, Hernández del Salto V, Camino D. Las habilidades sociales en el rendimiento académico en adolescentes. Rev Comun SEECI. 2018:37-49. doi: https://doi.org/10.15198/seeci.2018.0.37-49
Cruz AM, Carlo G, Gülseven Z. A longitudinal study of prosocial behaviors predicting later academic performance in US Latine early adolescents. J Adolesc. 2024;97(1):113-123. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/jad.12401
Atkins JL, Vega-Uriostegui T, Norwood D, Adamuti-Trache M. Social and emotional learning and ninth-grade students' academic achievement. J Intell. 2023;11(9):185. doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence11090185
McCormick MP, Cappella E, O'Connor E, McClowry SG. Social-emotional learning and academic achievement. AERA Open. 2015;1(3). doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858415603959
Fairless ME, Somers CL, Goutman RL, Konecki JL. Adolescent achievement: relative contributions of social emotional learning, self-efficacy, and microsystem supports. Educ Urban Soc. 2020;53(5):561-584. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0013124520962085
Daily SM, Mann MJ, Kristjánsson ÁL, Smith ML, Zullig KJ. School climate and academic achievement in middle and high school students. J Sch Health. 2019;89(3):173-180. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/josh.12726
O'Malley MD, Voight A, Renshaw TL, Eklund KR. School climate, family structure, and academic achievement: a study of moderation effects. Sch Psychol Q. 2015;30(1):142-157. doi: https://doi.org/10.1037/spq0000076
Wang W, Vaillancourt T, Brittain H, McDougall P, Krygsman A, Smith D, et al. School climate, peer victimization, and academic achievement: results from a multi-informant study. Sch Psychol Q. 2014;29(3):360-377. doi: https://doi.org/10.1037/spq0000084
Neumark-Sztainer D, Perry CL. Peer harassment, school connectedness, and academic achievement. J Sch Health. 2003;73(8):311-316. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1746-1561.2003.tb06588.x
Steinmayr R, Heyder A, Naumburg C, Michels J, Wirthwein L. School-related and individual predictors of subjective well-being and academic achievement. Front Psychol. 2018;9:2631. doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02631
Mena Edwards MI, Romagnoli Espinosa C, Valdés Mena AM. El impacto del desarrollo de habilidades socioafectivas y éticas en la escuela. Rev Electron Actual Investig Educ. 2009;9(3):1-21. Disponible en: https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/447/44713064006.pdf
Valencia Pereira DJ, Vera Ostaiza TA. El estado socioemocional en el desempeño académico de los estudiantes de la educación básica. Rev Mapa. 2021;5(23). Disponible en: https://www.revistamapa.org/index.php/es/article/view/274
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Lizza Anahí Ramírez, Juan Alejandro Rodríguez (Autor/a)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Articles are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International — CC BY 4.0 licence. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication. Any reuse must acknowledge authorship, cite the original source and indicate whether changes were made.
