Additional Information

The project is designed as an interdisciplinary study, that includes three age cohorts from the German and French speaking parts of Switzerland. The study looks at the influence of family, school, peers and the extended social surroundings regarding competence development and important transitions in the course of children’s and young people’s lives. Each of the selected age cohorts represents a prototypal stage in the course of growing up and becoming an adult: middle childhood (6 year olds); middle adolescence (15 year olds) and late youth or early adulthood (21 year olds).

Furthermore the study investigates the acquisition of values as well as decision-making and responsibility, which are especially important for the social integration in modern societies. These include empathy, being respectful towards others, tolerance, cooperation, solidarity, and the moral power of judgement. The theoretical and empirical focus lies on the interdependence between these cross-sectoral basic competences and other important capabilities (e.g. achievement motivation), psychosocial resources (e.g. self-efficacy) and relational resources (e.g. the quality of relationships with related parties).