Adapting to life contexts: evaluating the acquisition and types of life skills

Life skills are essential to human functioning, particularly during the transition into adulthood. This study analyzed the validity of two related measures of life skills (Life Skills Acquisition Questionnaire—LSAQ; and Life Skills Questionnaire—LSQ), which may serve as useful tools for understanding which life skills are learned and how their acquisition progresses. A quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted with a final sample of 1148 high school students who completed LSAQ, LSQ, and a measure of academic achievement expectations (AAEs). Factorial structure, reliability, convergent, discriminant and predictive validity, as well as temporal stability was assessed for both measures. LSAQ results endorsed either a four-factor model or a second-order latent factor, both encompassing key stages of life skills development (i.e., motivation, learning, automatization, and transference). LSQ results supported validity for six life skills (motivation, time management, stress management, communication, teamwork, and leadership). Both instruments showed the predictive validity of AAEs and good temporal stability. Both measures can help practitioners and researchers evaluate whether opportunities such as intervention programs affect the acquisition and diver-sity of life skills that students gain. They are also useful for testing theoretical models of life skills and for providing insights into how these skills are developed.
This study was conducted at three different research centers: (a) the Psychology Research Centre (CIPsi; PSI/01662), School of Psychology, University of Minho, supported by the Portuguese Foun-dation for Science and Technology (FCT; UID/01662/2025) through the Portuguese State Budget. The CIPsi is registered under the DOI: https://doi.org/10.54499/UID/01662/2025; (b) the Research Centre for Human Development (supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology, ref. UIDB/04872/CEDH); and (c) the Health Sciences Research Unit: Nursing (UICISA: E), University of Coimbra (supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology, ref. UID/00742/2025), DOI: https://doi.org/10.54499/UID/00742/2025