The Impact of 21st Century Skills on the Life Satisfaction of the General Public
The Impact of 21st Century Skills on the Life Satisfaction of the General Public

Summary/Abstract: Certain skills have been identified as the key success factors of the 21st century. However, we hardly know about their impact on a person’s quality of life. It is the intention of this study to investigate the influence of these skills on life satisfaction, along with a few human characteristics that will be discussed. The six skills of the 21st century that will be discussed include problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, communication, collaboration and technological skills, and the two human characteristics are social responsibility and being a nature lover. A total of 510 responses were collected from shoppers in Bangkok. The results of the multiple regression analysis using demographic variables as the controlled constructs indicated that critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, and technological skills, as well as age and household income, have a positive impact on life satisfaction. Critical thinking was seen to be the most needed skill to be targetted especially for the older and the low household income segments, whereas technology skills should be promoted in the high household income segment. In order to better the life satisfaction of the young, a change is needed on their part-they need to be socially responsible and need to change from being negative to being positive. Further, older people’s strengths in problem solving should be utilized in order to increase the quality of everyone’s life.

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