2.1 Introduction Early reading and math skills serve as foundations for the set of skills that people acquire in life. These early skills are linked to socioeconomic status in adulthood, higher educational attainment, higher incomes, better labor market outcomes, and better health (e.g., Crawford & Cribb, 2013; Fischbach et al., 2013; Hanushek et al., 2015; Hatch et al., 2007; McIntosh & Vignoles, 2001; Ritchie & Bates, 2013; Sabates & Parsons, 2012; Von Stumm et al., 2013). Yet, whether the value of these early skills extends beyond these outcome measures and how this value evolves during life has remained underexplored in the literature. This chapter investigates the relationship between early skills and individuals’ life satisfaction, which is a key indicator of overall life quality. We explore how ten-year-olds’ reading and math skills relate to life satisfaction at different stages of adulthood. These relationships may differ for reading and math skills, as reading presumably corresponds to social interactions, communication, and accessing information, while math is needed for logical reasoning and problem-solving. This also holds for variations throughout the life course. For instance, early reading skills might be more relevant to life satisfaction in early adulthood, when social integration and information gathering are crucial, whereas early math skills may relate more strongly to satisfaction in later years. To improve our understanding of these relationships, we analyze the relationships separately for reading and math skills, analyze satisfaction in specific life domains (e.g., health, career, relationships), and investigate factors that mediate these relationships. 15
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