Socioemotional skills as mediators of the family effect on school performance

This article analyzes whether socio-emotional skills mediate the effect of the family, including economic, cultural and social capital, on the school performance of elementary school students. Socio-emotional and socioeconomic data collected through the SENNA instrument by the Social Economy Research and Studies Laboratory (LEPES) of USP/RP in 2018 were used. The sample corresponds to students from the 5th to 9th grade of elementary school in the municipal education network of Sobral-CE, in the Northeast of Brazil. Data on academic performance obtained from the municipal House of External Assessment were also used. As a method, a mediation model based on Hayes (2018) was employed. The results reveal that the skills studied act as mechanisms of transmission of the family effect. For economic capital variables, only emotional resiliency does not stand out as a relevant mediator. For cultural capital, engagement and openness stand out. For social capital, self-management, amity and resiliency stand out.