Similarities and differences in social and emotional profiles among students in Canada, USA, China, and Singapore: PISA 2015

• Published in: Research papers in education 2022-07, Vol.37 (4), p.558-583
• Main Authors: Tze, Virginia M. C., Li, Johnson C.-H., Daniels, Lia M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Achievement Tests; Cooperative Learning; Correlation; Cross Cultural Studies; cross-cultural comparison; Cultural Influences; Cultural Traits; Empathy; Factor Analysis; Foreign Countries; International Assessment; International comparisons; latent profile analysis; Mathematics Achievement; Measurement; Prediction; Problem Solving; Profiles; Reading Achievement; Scores; Secondary School Students; Skills; Social Emotional Learning; Social motivation; Social relations; Social skills; Social-emotional skills; standardised international student achievement; Student Characteristics; Students; Teams; Test scores; Thresholds
• ISSN: 0267-1522; 1470-1146
• DOI: 10.1080/02671522.2020.1864760

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 We identified three profiles labelled Sociable, Reserved and Withdrawn in Canada, Singapore, and the United States; whereas, we found three profiles labelled Solitary, Team-oriented, and Reserved in students in China.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.