Self-efficacy in life skills and satisfaction among adolescents in school transitions

BACKGROUND: Life skills, according to the World Health Organization, can promote youth well-being through educational school programs. Among life skills, decision-making and problem-solving skills can help adolescents consciously choose their career path. The Italian school system, in fact, requires students, already at a young age (13–14 years old) to make important decisions about their future, like for example choosing the high school that they would like to attend. This study aims to analyze differences in decision-making, self-efficacy, and life satisfaction in a sample of adolescents in secondary school in Italy. It aims to analyze whether there are differences in those dimensions according to students’ age, gender, regularity, and future choice intentions. DESIGN AND METHODS: Here we present a cross-sectional study involving 2104 students, balanced by gender, and attending upper secondary school in Italy. Participants completed Soresi and Nota’s questionnaires on life satisfaction and Caprara’s questionnaire on problem-solving self-efficacy. The data were processed using MANOVA. RESULTS: Research results show significant differences in self-efficacy and school satisfaction in relation to the age at which school transition occurred. Specifically, incoming preadolescents (13–14 years old) scored lower than outgoing late adolescents (17–18 years old) in both decision-making self-efficacy and school satisfaction. Girls scored lower than boys in decision-making self-efficacy. Students who expressed the intention to drop out of school scored lowest on both the self-efficacy and perceived support satisfaction scales. CONCLUSIONS: The results highlight the importance of promoting the development of self-efficacy in life skills and school satisfaction to help students in school transitions.