Can non-cognitive skills compensate for background disadvantage? -- the moderation of non-cognitive skills on family socioeconomic status and achievement during early childhood and early adolescence

Abstract

Combining the theory of resources substitution and recent evidence on the importance of children's non-cognitive skills from social sciences, this study asks whether family socioeconomic status' effects on achievement are contingent on or moderated by children's non-cognitive skills. I address this question from a longitudinal perspective by focusing on two developmental stages: early childhood and early adolescence. To overcome the methodological challenges involved in answering these questions, I use Structural Nested Mean Models (SNMM), a recent development in statistical methods. Using data from Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS), I test the hypothesis that higher non-cognitive skills will reduce family SES's effects on achievement in a longitudinal setting. The results corroborate the hypothesis, indicating that non-cognitive skills will moderate family SES's effects, and higher non-cognitive skills will lessen family SES's effects on achievement. In addition, such moderation effects are significant during both focal developmental stages of early childhood and early adolescence.