Noncognitive Skills and Success in Life : the Importance of Motivation and Self-Regulation

Using a sample of high-school students from North Rhine-Westphalia, I find evidence that noncognitive skills significantly increase performance in school and success in professional life as well as happiness at age forty-three. Since test scores for cognitive skills are available for the students in the sample, I can disentangle the effect of cognitive and noncognitive skills. The analysis shows that a high degree of self-regulation increases success in school as well as income, occupational prestige and happiness significantly. However, there are differences between males and females. Furthermore, different attribution and motivation strategies also influence performance in professional life. A straightforward conclusion of the analysis is that parents investment in the noncognitive skills of their children is worthwhile and the costs of doing so are rather modest.