Life skills comprehension: Dilemmas and potential alternatives

Life skills represents a fascinating topic for human sciences, particularly psychology, due to the possibility of contributing to human development and self-realization across the life-span. However, some aspects need to be clarified to better understand the effects of life skills in human functioning, namely: (a) how to understand the concept of life skills, (b) what types of life skills exist and how they should be identified, (c) what are the stages implicated in life skills learning, (d) what life skills are learned across the lifespan, and (e) what methods and techniques can be used to train life skills. These questions are discussed in this paper by presenting some potential solutions. Also, the Life Skills Efficacy Model that proposes three hypotheses to explain the efficacy of learning life skills is presented. To conclude, some major challenges are discussed in terms of the study of life skills.
This study was conducted at the Psychology Research Centre (CIPsi; PSI/01662), School of Psychology, University of Minho, and was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT; UID/01662/2025) through the Portuguese State Budget. The Centre is registered under the DOI: https://doi.org/10.54499/UID/01662/2025.