Students Taking on Effective Post-Graduate Skills (STEPS)

We collaborated with Loyola Career Services staff to develop, implement, and evaluate a course geared toward helping students effectively transition out of college and into young adult life. We adapted an existing Career and Life Planning course by incorporating socio-emotional skill-building, in the domains of self-perception, self-expression, interpersonal skills, decision making, and stress management. Analyses revealed small effects, favoring the SE-enhanced curriculum, in select aspects of social-emotional skills across the semester, adjusting for baseline levels when relevant, as well as a pattern of greater social-emotional benefits for those who engaged in higher levels of out-of-class skills practice. Students completed assessments at the beginning and end of the course, and at follow-ups post-graduation, including measures to examine effects on students’ growth and development, well-being, interpersonal skills, and other social-emotional skills.