Cited by 176Early Childhood Education and DevelopmentGrit, Self-Efficacy, and MotivationCognitive Abilities and Testing

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 110 of the 110 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 88 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of effects of early life non-cognitive skills on academic, psychosocial, cognitive and health outcomes

Open access

Abstract

Success in school and the labour market relies on more than high intelligence. Associations between ‘non-cognitive’ skills in childhood, such as attention, self-regulation and perseverance, and later outcomes have been widely investigated. In a systematic review of this literature, we screened 9,553 publications, reviewed 554 eligible publications and interpreted results from 222 better-quality publications. Better-quality publications comprised randomized experimental and quasi-experimental intervention studies (EQIs) and observational studies that made reasonable attempts to control confounding. For academic achievement outcomes, there were 26 EQI publications but only 14 were available for meta-analysis, with effects ranging from 0.16 to 0.37 s.d. However, within subdomains, effects were heterogeneous. The 95% prediction interval for literacy was consistent with negative, null and positive effects (−0.13 to 0.79). Similarly, heterogeneous findings were observed for psychosocial, cognitive and language, and health outcomes. Funnel plots of EQIs and observational studies showed asymmetric distributions and potential for small study bias. There is some evidence that non-cognitive skills associate with improved outcomes. However, there is potential for small study and publication bias that may overestimate true effects, and the heterogeneity of effect estimates spanned negative, null and positive effects. The quality of evidence from EQIs underpinning this field is lower than optimal and more than one-third of observational studies made little or no attempt to control confounding. Interventions designed to develop children’s non-cognitive skills could potentially improve outcomes. The interdisciplinary researchers interested in these skills should take a more strategic and rigorous approach to determine which interventions are most effective. Smithers et al. find that, although there is some evidence that non-cognitive skills are associated with improved academic, psychosocial and health outcomes, the evidence is weak and heterogeneous. More rigorous research is required in this field.

Overview

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/s41562-018-0461-x

Cites

110 of 110 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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Verification

Claims the paper makes

65 Own result · 53 Not checked yet · 25 Own interpretation · 24 No basis given · 19 Own method

Verify all 88 references — free account
  • It may state two separate claims as one. 62
  • Probably not a substantial claim. 67
112 of 112
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    No prior systematic assessment of effects of improving different types of non-cognitive skills existed.

    “While it may be intuitive that there is more to success in life than high intelligence, there has been no attempt to systematically assess the research evidence on effects of improving different types of non-cognitive skills.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Children who develop cognitive and non-cognitive skills early in life have better outcomes later in life.

    “The investment logic is that children who develop cognitive and non-cognitive skills early in life have better outcomes later in life.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Data on effects of early life cognitive skills on later life outcomes are very limited.

    “However, data on effects of early life cognitive skills on these kinds of later life outcomes are very limited.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Non-cognitive skills such as sustained attention may scaffold later development of cognitive and non-cognitive abilities.

    “Non-cognitive skills, such as being able to sustain attention, may be especially important in this regard because they can scaffold later development of cognitive and non-cognitive abilities.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Observational results comparing higher and lower non-cognitive skills are often used as evidence for their importance in the same way as experimental results.

    “In observational (correlational) data, results from comparing outcomes for higher and lower levels of non-cognitive skills is often used as evidence for their importance in the same way as results from experimental studies.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Effects of interventions on the target non-cognitive skill are likely closer to 0.2 to 0.5 SD.

    “In reality, effects of interventions on the target non-cognitive skill might be closer to 0.2 to 0.5 SD.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Problems of endogeneity and confounding are well known and may substantially bias associations between non-cognitive skills and later outcomes.

    “Problems of endogeneity and confounding are well known and may result in substantial bias of the association of non-cognitive skills and later outcomes.”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    Conditional exchangeability between exposed and unexposed is assumed for interpreting causal effects from observational data.

    “One of the key assumptions is conditional exchangeability between exposed and unexposed.”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    When p was reported as less than a specific value, p was assumed to equal that value (e.g., p<0.01 assumed p=0.01) for calculating confidence intervals.

    “If p was reported as less than a specific value we assumed p equalled that value, e.g. if p was reported as p<0.01 we assumed p=0.01 for the purpose of calculating confidence intervals.”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    The y intercept of Egger regression is expected to be zero if there is an even spatial spread of studies within the funnel.

    “The expectation is that the y intercept is zero if there is an even spatial spread of studies within the funnel.”
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Metadata

Authors
Smithers, L. G., Sawyer, A. C. P., Chittleborough, C. R., Davies, N. M., Davey Smith, G., & Lynch, J. W.
Affiliations
  • The University of Adelaide (AU)
  • University of Bristol (GB)
Corresponding author
Lynch, John W.
Venue
Nature Human Behaviour
Published
2018-11-05
Volume
2
Issue
11
Pages
867-880
ISSN
2397-3374 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2898299779
Cited by
175
References
110
Citations by year
2026: 13 · 2025: 24 · 2024: 27 · 2023: 29 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 34 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 11
FWCI
5.77
Type
journal article
Language
en
Locations
  • Nature Human Behaviour (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Bristol Research (University of Bristol) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • Explore Bristol Research (acceptedVersion, other-oa)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • Adelaide Research & Scholarship (AR&S) (University of Adelaide) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • University of Bristol
  • Medical Research Council (MC_UU_12013, MC_UU_00011/1)
  • Economic and Social Research Council (ES/N000757/1)
  • National Health and Medical Research Council (1099422, 1056888)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Education › Early Childhood Education and Development
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Grit, Self-Efficacy, and Motivation
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
Keywords
non-cognitive skills, early childhood, academic performance, psychosocial outcomes, cognitive outcomes, health outcomes, self-regulation, attention, perseverance, literacy, publication bias, small-study bias, confounding adjustment, quality of evidence

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