Why success starts at nursery school: Children who demonstrate good social skills at a young age more likely to have gone to university or have a successful job 

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Children who demonstrate good social skills at nursery-school age go on to be more successful in life, say researchers.

In a study spanning nearly 20 years, US researchers found 25-year-olds who were reported by teachers to have demonstrated better social competency as children – including the abilities to share, help others and resolve peer problems – were more likely to have graduated from university, be gainfully employed and to not have been arrested than those with lesser social skills.

The study, by Pennsylvania State University, will be published in the American Journal of Public Health. 

Children who demonstrate good social skills at nursery-school age go on to be more successful in life, say researchers (file picture)

Once the youngsters reached their 20s, researchers followed up to see how they were faring, socially and occupationally.

Those who demonstrated better behaviour as children were more likely to have graduated college, to be gainfully employed and to not have been arrested than students with lesser social skills.

Damon Jones, senior research associate at the Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Centre in the U.S., said: 'This research by itself doesn't prove that higher social competence can lead to better outcomes later on.

'But when combined with other research, it is clear that helping children develop these skills increases their chances of success in school, work and life.'

Jones and his colleagues analysed data collected from more than 700 students who were participating in the Fast Track Project, a study conducted by four universities - Penn State, Duke University, Vanderbilt University and the University of Washington.

The Fast Track Project is a prevention program for children at high risk for long-term behavioral problems.

The individuals studied for this research were part of the control group and did not receive any preventive services.

Nursery teachers rated students on eight items using a five-point scale assessing how each child interacted socially with other children (file picture)

Overall, the sample was representative of children living in lower socio-economic status neighborhoods.

Nursery teachers rated students on eight items using a five-point scale assessing how each child interacted socially with other children.

Items included statements such as 'is helpful to others,' 'shares materials' and 'resolves peer problems on own.'

The researchers compared the teachers' assessments to the students' outcomes in five areas during late adolescence through age 25 - including education and employment, public assistance, criminal activity, substance abuse, and mental health.

Jones and colleagues report their results online and in a future issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

Overall, the researchers found that a higher rating for social competency as a nursery school pupil was significantly associated with all five of the outcome domains studied.

For every one-point increase in a student's social competency score, he or she was twice as likely to graduate from college and 46 percent more likely to have a full-time job by the age of 25.

For every one-point decrease in the child's score, he or she had a 67 percent higher chance of having been arrested and an 82 percent higher chance of being in or on a waiting list for public housing at age 25.

The study controlled for the effects of poverty, race, having teenage parents, family stress and neighborhood crime, and for the children's aggression and reading levels in kindergarten.

'The good news is that social and emotional skills can improve, and this shows that we can inexpensively and efficiently measure these competencies at an early age,' said Jones.

Evidence from numerous intervention studies indicate that social and emotional learning skills can be improved throughout childhood and adolescence.

Jones and his colleagues plan to continue this work in order to further understand how social competency can predict future life outcomes, and further understand intermediary developmental processes whereby early social-emotional skills influence long-term adult outcomes.