Effectiveness of Life Skills Intervention for Children From Disadvantaged Backgrounds: Insights Form 4-year Longitudinal Study

Abstract

The present study examines the effectiveness of an After-School Life Skills (ASLS) intervention to improve the life skills of 110 students from socially disadvantaged backgrounds at public schools of urban Bangalore in south India. These students completed ASLS intervention from 2014 to 2018 during which the life skills were assessed on a yearly interval and the data were analyzed using repeated measure ANOVA. The results show that ASLS intervention significantly improved the students’ life skills. Post hoc comparisons at time 1 shows that young students who participated in ASLS intervention significantly improved their life skills over the 4 years’ time, although no significant variances were observed between measurement periods. The overall effect was found to be significant in improving the life skills, which shows that integrating life skills education in the school curriculum is critical and a timely need.