Girls’ double burden: Gender gaps in social–emotional skills and their unequal effects on achievement.

Social-emotional skills contribute to students' well-being and academic success, yet research has paid limited attention to potential sex differences in their impact on academic achievement. This study examines sex differences in covitality-defined as the synergy of multiple social-emotional strengths-among early adolescents in Chile and explores whether sex moderates the relationship between covitality and academic achievement. A sample of 257 fifth- and sixth-grade students from three low socioeconomic status schools in Santiago was used to assess overall covitality and its four dimensions: belief in self, belief in others, emotional competence, and engaged living. Results indicated that male students reported significantly higher overall covitality scores than females, with particularly pronounced differences in belief in self and engaged living. While all four covitality dimensions positively predicted academic achievement, the effects were stronger for male than for female students in three of the four dimensions. These sex differences are interpreted as suggested evidence of a broader gender gap in socioemotional resources during early adolescence, shaped by differential gender socialization, with implications for gender-responsive educational policy and practice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).