Adolescents’ social-emotional skills profiles, relationships at school, school anxiety, and educational aspirations

Abstract This study examined adolescents’ social-emotional skills profiles before the educational transition to upper secondary education. Further, the study examined differences in gender; socioeconomic status (SES); and perceived social relationships, educational aspirations, and school anxiety across the profiles. The study used OECD data collected from 2452 adolescents aged 15 from 53 schools in Helsinki. Using latent profile analysis, five social-emotional skills profiles were identified: average (54%), average-high (23%), empathic-stressed (10%), low-empathic-tolerant (10%), and high (3%). Further analyses revealed that adolescents with high social and emotional skills generally reported higher educational aspirations, lower school anxiety, and perceived their relationships at school more positively. However, adolescents with empathic-stressed profile reported similarly high educational aspirations and high school anxiety. Girls were more likely to belong to the empathic-stressed and low-empathic-tolerant profiles, and adolescents with lower SES to low-empathic-tolerant or average profiles. The findings may inform more targeted strength-based school practices.