A polycentric vision of social-emotional skills across 15 sites in the OECD SSES 2023

Social-emotional (SE) skills are fundamental to adolescent development, yet how these skills interconnect as systems across cultural contexts remains underexplored. Drawing on data from 45,908 15-year-olds across 15 culturally diverse sites participating in the OECD 2023 Survey on Social and Emotional Skills (SSES), this study employed network analysis to examine the structure of 15 skills mapped to the Big Five personality framework. Two main findings emerged. First, optimism, persistence, and achievement motivation formed a universal motivational core, consistently exhibiting the highest expected influence across all sites, with the achievement motivation–persistence link showing the greatest cross-context stability. Second, cross-cultural comparisons revealed polycentric patterns: South American sites (Bogotá, Chile, Peru, Sobral) cohered around achievement motivation; European sites clustered with optimism as a central node; and Asian sites exhibited marked heterogeneity, with empathy central in Gunma (Japan) but peripheral in Jinan (China). These findings advance understanding of SE skills as culturally mediated systems rather than isolated traits, demonstrating that skill levels and network influence are distinct dimensions of social-emotional functioning. The study provides an empirical foundation for designing culturally responsive social and emotional learning (SEL) interventions that balance universal priorities with context-sensitive adaptation.