The relationship between cognitive and non-cognitive skills

This research aims to extending the literature about the determinants of educational output by exploring the existing relationship between cognitive and non-cognitive skills. To do this, we exploit an extensive dataset about a sample of students enrolled in the last course of compulsory secondary education in the region of Asturias, which was built specifically for the purpose of this research. Using this information we are able to measure non-cognitive skills such as students' effort, motivation or responsibility. Moreover, we also have available information about their academic records, which can be used as a proxy of cognitive competences, and many other variables related to the family background, study habits, leisure activities or their relationship with their parents. Assuming that both dimensions of the educational output are heavily interrelated, we adopt an econometric approach based on a bivariate ordered probit model with an endogenous regressor which allows us to estimate simultaneously the determinants of both educational outputs and the link between them. The results of the empirical analysis show that there is a positive and significant relationship between the non-cognitive skills and academic achievement. However, this relationship is not significant when we consider different groups of students. Specifically, we observe that there is no significant relationship between the two variables studied when we only analyze male students or students belonging to large families. Another interesting result comes from the fact that there are important divergences in the identification of the main determinants of each educational output.