IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v12y2025i1d10.1057_s41599-025-05812-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Preschool education and non-cognitive skills: evidence from rural China’s junior high students

Author

Listed:
  • Wenting Liu

    (Center for Experimental Economics in Education, Faculty of Education, Shaanxi Normal University)

  • Yijia Li

    (Center for Experimental Economics in Education, Faculty of Education, Shaanxi Normal University)

  • Lidong Zhang

    (Center for Experimental Economics in Education, Faculty of Education, Shaanxi Normal University)

  • Yuyang Xie

    (Center for Experimental Economics in Education, Faculty of Education, Shaanxi Normal University)

  • Jin Zhao

    (School of Marxism, Xi’an University of Finance and Economics)

  • Hongyu Guan

    (Center for Experimental Economics in Education, Faculty of Education, Shaanxi Normal University)

Abstract

Non-cognitive abilities, such as social skills and self-control, are vital for individual success. Preschool education is a critical period for developing these abilities, with long-term benefits often linked to early childhood interventions. Using data from the China Education Panel Survey (CEPS), this study employs OLS regression, PSM, and IV modeling to assess the impact of preschool education on rural junior high school students’ non-cognitive abilities. The analysis controls for individual and family characteristics and includes county-fixed effects. The study finds that preschool attendance significantly enhances non-cognitive abilities, especially in dimensions like positive emotions and extraversion. PSM and IV analyses confirm these findings, suggesting that preschool education improves family dynamics and peer relationships, which in turn foster non-cognitive development. The findings highlight the importance of early education investments and suggest that policies supporting preschool education can lead to significant long-term social and economic benefits.

Suggested Citation

  • Wenting Liu & Yijia Li & Lidong Zhang & Yuyang Xie & Jin Zhao & Hongyu Guan, 2025. "Preschool education and non-cognitive skills: evidence from rural China’s junior high students," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-14, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:12:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-025-05812-w
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-025-05812-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-025-05812-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-025-05812-w?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:12:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-025-05812-w. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.nature.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.