Making (Up) the Grade? Estimating the Genetic and Environmental Influences of Discrepancies Between Self-reported Grades and Official GPA Scores

Relationships between grit, physical activity, and academic success in university students: Domains of physical activity matter

ObjectiveTo examine the relationships between contexts of physical activity, grit, and GPA in a college population.Participants:875 Undergraduate students from a large, southern university participated between October 2018 and March 2020.Methods:Participants completed an electronic survey evaluating physical activity and grit. The university provided official GPAs. Multiple linear regression models evaluated the correlations between grit, the different physical activity domains, and GPA.Results:Grit was positively associated with domestic physical activity, leisure time physical activity, and GPA. Consistency of interest had no associations with the domains of physical activity or GPA. Perseverance of effort was positively associated with walking, active transport physical activity, domestic physical activity, leisure physical activity, and GPA.Conclusion:Perseverance of effort is related to different domains of physical activity and GPA. Future studies should investigate if increasing leisure time physical activity causes increases in perseverance of effort.

Probing gaps in educational outcomes within the U.S.: A dual moderation multiple mediator latent growth model

Racial/ethnic disparities in math achievement are especially troubling because math proficiency predicts long-term educational outcomes, but the mechanisms underlying these disparities remain unclear. Previous research has demonstrated that across diverse samples, both within and outside the United States, the relation between students' academic aspirations and later postsecondary attainment is mediated by initial levels of math ability and by growth in that ability across time. The key issue examined in this investigation is the extent to which students' underestimation or overestimation of their math ability (i.e., calibration bias) moderates those mediated effects and whether this moderation varies as a function of race/ethnicity. Using data from two longitudinal national surveys (i.e., NELS:88 and HSLS:09), these hypotheses were tested in samples of East Asian American, Mexican American, and Non-Hispanic White American high school students. In both studies and in all groups, the model explained large portions of the variance in postsecondary attainment. In East Asian Americans and non-Hispanic White Americans, calibration bias moderated the effect mediated by 9th grade math achievement. The strength of this effect was greatest at high levels of underconfidence and steadily weakened as self-confidence grew, suggesting that some degree of underconfidence may be achievement-promoting. Indeed, in the East Asian American sample, this effect became negative at high levels of overconfidence (i.e., academic aspirations actually predicted the lowest postsecondary attainment levels). Educational implications of these findings are discussed and possible reasons for the failure to find moderation effects in the Mexican American sample are explored.

Longitudinal associations between academic achievement and depressive symptoms in adolescence: Methodological considerations and analytical approaches for identifying temporal priority

Failure to meet educational expectations in adolescence can derail an individual's potential, leading to hardship in adulthood. Lower academic achievement is also associated with poorer mental health, and both share common pathways to adult functional outcomes like employment status and economic security. Although linked in adolescence, and predictive of similar outcomes in adulthood, methodological and analytical limitations of the literature do not permit the assessment of the temporal priority between academic achievement and mental health. This omission of directionality hampers intervention and prevention efforts. In this narrative review, we summarize the literature on the temporal ordering between academic achievement and depressive symptoms in adolescence, a particularly vulnerable developmental period. We propose methodological and analytical strategies to guide future research to disentangle the chronological ordering between academic achievement and depressive symptoms-recommendations that can be used to examine other sets of correlated variables over time. Specifically, we highlight methodological issues that require attention such as the need to understand reciprocal and cascading influences over time by attending to repeated measures and timing, measurement consistency, reporter effects, examination of processes and mechanisms, and missing data. Finally, we discuss the need to embrace analytical methods that separate within-person from between-person effects; account for heterogeneity in associations using person-centered approaches; and use the two approaches as complementary, rather than competing, for a more holistic examination of temporality.

Within-Individual Changes in Impulsivity and Sensation Seeking from Childhood to Early Adulthood and Educational Attainment

Developmental perspectives recognize the importance of the development of impulsivity and sensation seeking for later life educational attainment. The current study examines the effect of developmental trajectories of impulsivity and sensation seeking across adolescence and into young adulthood on educational attainment in adulthood. The study sample consists of N = 5529 youth from a population-based sample from the United States (48.96% female; 46.95% Black or Hispanic). Latent growth curve models are used to examine associations between within-individual changes in impulsivity and sensation seeking and educational attainment. The findings point to the existence of multiple forms of risk taking during different developmental stages, with some offering a positive long-term effect on overall educational attainment.

Examining the accuracy of students' self-reported academic grades from a correlational and a discrepancy perspective: Evidence from a longitudinal study

The present longitudinal study examined the reliability of self-reported academic grades across three phases in four subject domains for a sample of 916 high-school students. Self-reported grades were found to be highly positively correlated with actual grades in all academic subjects and across grades 9 to 11 underscoring the reliability of self-reported grades as an achievement indicator. Reliability of self-reported grades was found to differ across subject areas (e.g., mathematics self-reports more reliable than language studies), with a slight yet consistent tendency to over-report achievement levels also observed across grade levels and academic subjects. Overall, the absolute value of over- and underreporting was low and these patterns were not found to differ between mathematics and verbal subjects. In sum, study findings demonstrate the consistent predictive utility of students' self-reported achievement across grade levels and subject areas with the observed tendency to over-report academic grades and slight differences between domains nonetheless warranting consideration in future education research.

Revisiting the Association Between Television Viewing in Adolescence and Contact With the Criminal Justice System in Adulthood

A substantial number of previous studies have reported significant associations between television viewing habits and a host of detrimental outcomes including increased contact with the criminal justice system. However, it remains unclear whether the results flowing from this literature are generalizable to other samples and whether previously observed associations are confounded due to uncontrolled genetic influences. The current study addresses these limitations using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health). The results of the preliminary models, which do not include controls for genetic influences, produced a pattern of results similar to those previously reported in the extant literature. The results of the genetically informed models revealed that the associations between television viewing and antisocial outcomes are not causal, but rather are driven by uncontrolled genetic influences. Further replication is required, but these findings suggest that results drawn from the extant literature may not be trustworthy.