Men from Mars and women from Venus? A study on the social-emotional skills of male and female students in the Italian lower secondary school

outcomes has drawn increasing attention from social scientists. These non-cognitive dimensions have been shown to play a crucial role alongside cognitive achievements in influencing students’ trajectories. As such, it becomes essential to investigate how socio-emotional skills are distributed among students and whether disparities emerge based on gender, territorial origin, and socio-economic background. This paper presents findings from the ENRICH project (Evaluating Non-cognitive Skills for Resilience, Innovation and Change), which aims to assess the socio-emotional competencies of first-year students in lower secondary education (typically aged 11-12) across Italy. The measurement framework draws on the theoretical and methodological model developed by the OECD in the Survey on Social and Emotional Skills (SSES) and focuses on key dimensions such as resilience, emotional control, curiosity, and sociability. The study is guided by the following research questions: 1 Are there significant gender-based differences in the socio-emotional skills reported by students? 2 Are these differences consistent across all measured dimensions, or do they appear in specific competencies only? 3 To what extent do territorial, socio-economic, and cultural factors shape the magnitude and direction of disparities in these skills? We employ a quantitative research design, relying on data collected through self-administered questionnaires. The items were adapted from the OECD SSES framework to fit the Italian context. The results reveal clear, yet skill-specific, gender differences. Boys report higher levels of stress resistance, assertiveness, optimism and sociability, whereas girls score higher in empathy and responsibility. Creativity slightly favours girls and there is no meaningful difference in persistence. Territorial and socio-economic patterns are statistically reliable yet modest in size: averages shift across North, Centre and South, as well as across ESCS groups, but the gender gap is the strongest factor. Overall, the evidence suggests that socio-emotional disparities are not uniform, but rather contextsensitive. This is consistent with the idea of differentiated socialisation and school climates. While the effects are small, they are consequential given their breadth and early appearance. This contribution offers two main insights to the scientific debate. First, it empirically demonstrates how gender operates as a mechanism of differentiation even in less formal domains of education, such as social and emotional competencies. Second, it underscores the relevance of the intersection between gender, socio-economic, and cultural factors and territory in understanding the reproduction of social inequalities in contemporary Italy.