Assessing the impact of adolescent critical thinking on decision-making

Abstract

Critical thinking plays a pivotal role in supporting decision-making through teenagers, affecting cognitive development through social interactions and learning environments, permitting well-informed choices, and providing individuals with leadership positions in the future. This study investigates Kolkata teenagers' critical thinking skills (CTS) and decision-making (DM). Cross-sectional research includes 249 secondary and higher-secondary students from five Kolkata metropolitan schools. Gender, education level, caste, parental education, and family income on CTS and DM scores were considered. This study illuminates that decision-making significantly influences critical thinking, explaining 14.3% of its variation, supporting a crucial connection. Female students were better at decision-making, while male students were better at critical thinking. Scheduled caste students had more of both. Students in secondary school have better skills than those in higher education. Students with mothers’ graduation degrees and family incomes between 15,000 and 20,000 had better critical thinking and decision-making skills. Further review will be needed to comprehensively understand the impact of the environment on the cognitive processes of critical thinking and decision-making in adolescents. Future concerns might improve the scope of analysis to encompass a broader range of geographic areas and deal with qualitative research approaches.