than for reading skills. This research contributes to earlier literature that early basic skills are not only predictive for hard objective outcomes, such as income and BMI, but also for how satisfied individuals are with how their life has turned out so far. This implies that the relevance of basic skills extends beyond traditional objective outcomes. The fact that early basic skills relate to how satisfied these individuals are as adults suggests that the development of these skills is crucial for future contentment over the years. Our findings suggest that math skills in particular maintain their direct relevance for life satisfaction throughout an individual’s life. Income and daily functioning are found to be mediators in the relationship between early basic skills and adult life satisfaction. Our results suggest that early basic skills may lead to higher income levels. This higher income, in turn, can provide access to better resources and opportunities, making individuals more satisfied in life. In addition, our mediation results suggest that early basic skills enhance daily functioning, which in its turn positively relates to how satisfied individuals are in their lives. Income and daily function do, however, not explain the full relationship between early basic skills and life satisfaction, which implies that other pathways are relevant to fully comprehend this relationship. The second research question of Chapter 2 is: In which life domains do early basic predict individuals’ satisfaction in adulthood? I find that while early basic skills do significantly predict individuals’ life satisfaction, they do not predict satisfaction in all life domains. Early basic skills significantly relate to individuals’ general health satisfaction, their sat139
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