The Social Gradient in Social and Emotional Skills

Social and emotional skills are critical for children’s development and success in educationand work life. Despite their importance for human capital development, few studies haveexamined how these skills vary across socioeconomic backgrounds. Evidence of a socialgradient in social and emotional skills would highlight an additional factor contributing tothe persistence of socioeconomic disparities across generations. Using four large datasetsfrom Norway, we analyze the social gradient in a comprehensive set of social and emotionalskills throughout childhood (e.g. behavior problems, executive function, relationship skills).We standardize family income rank across datasets by using national population registrydata to define income tertile cutoffs. Our findings reveal a significant and consistent socialgradient across assessments, samples, and ages, underscoring its role in drivingintergenerational persistence in socioeconomic status.