Childhood personality and academic performance: A sibling fixed-effects study

OBJECTIVE

This study investigated the associations between personality traits at age 8 and academic performance between ages 10 and 14, controlling for family confounds.

BACKGROUND

Many studies have shown links between children's personality traits and their school performance. However, we lack evidence on whether these associations remain after genetic and environmental confounders are accounted for.

METHOD

Sibling data from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) were used (n = 9701). First, we estimated the overall associations between Big Five personality traits and academic performance, including literacy, numeracy, and foreign language. Second, we added sibling fixed effects to remove unmeasured confounders shared by siblings as well as rating bias.

RESULTS

Openness to Experience (between-person β = 0.22 [95% CI: 0.21-0.24]) and Conscientiousness (between-person β = 0.18 [95% CI 0.16-0.20]) were most strongly related to educational performance. Agreeableness (between-person β = 0.06 [95% CI -0.08-0.04]) and Extraversion (between-person β = 0.02 [95% CI 0.00-0.04]) showed small associations with educational performance. Neuroticism had a moderate negative association (between-person β = -0.14 [95% CI -0.15-0.11]). All associations between personality and performance were robust to confounding: the within-family estimates from sibling fixed-effects models overlapped with the between-person effects. Finally, childhood personality was equally predictive of educational performance across ages and genders.

CONCLUSIONS

Although family background is influential for academic achievement, it does not confound associations with personality. Childhood personality traits reflect unbiased and consistent individual differences in educational potential.

The relationship between homework time and academic performance among K-12: A systematic review

Background

Homework is a common educational task given to students around the world. It demands mental exertion, but staying focused can be challenging, especially for K-12 students. Too much homework can increase their cognitive load and mental fatigue, leading to decreased motivation and performance. This can cause boredom with homework and learning. To lessen their load and make homework more effective, it is important to establish the connection between homework duration and academic achievement.

Objectives

To evaluate the relationship between homework time and academic performance among K-12 students.

Search Methods

On November 5, 2021, we retrieved articles from a variety sources. Firstly, we searched 10 electronic databases for related publications, including Academic Search Premier, APA PsycArticles, APA PsycInfo, Business Source Premier, Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), Journal Storage (JSTOR), Learning and Technology Library (LearnTechLib), OCLC FirstSearch, Social Sciences Citation Index (Web of Science), and Teacher Reference Center. We also searched two publisher platforms: ScienceDirect and Taylor & Francis Online Database. Secondly, we consulted five educational organization website such as, American Educational Research Association, Best Evidence Encyclopedia, Education Endowment Foundation, European Educational Research Association, What Works Clearinghouse, and the Open Grey database for unpublished studies. We then searched Open Dissertations and ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global databases to locate the relevant dissertations and theses. Additionally, we hand-searched seven educational journals to identify unpublished documents, reports, and potential studies not indexed in the databases. Lastly, we searched Campbell Library to identify relevant reviews and primary (and nearly eligible studies) in these reviews. We also searched Google Scholar for related studies and checked the citations of eligible studies as well as their bibliographies.

Selection Criteria

Studies with the following criteria were included: - Population: K-12 school students with no disabilities or not attending special education schools;- Intervention: Homework assigned regularly by schoolteachers to students to complete during non-school hours;- Comparison: Different time spent on the homework;- Outcomes: Academic performance was the primary outcome. The secondary outcomes were academic motivation and the quality of homework;- Study design: Treatment-control group design or comparison group design studies.

Data Collection and Analysis

We reviewed the titles, abstracts, and full texts of the retrieved records. Our team extracted and coded all relevant information from the studies that met our inclusion criteria. To evaluate the risk of bias, we used the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool for randomized controlled trials and ROBINS-I for non-randomized controlled trials. A random-effect meta-analysis was conducted to determine the effect of homework on academic achievement as compared to no homework. A funnel plot, trim-and-fill method and Egger's test were used to test for any publication bias. Due to the insufficient data on homework duration and academic achievement, we analyzed these data using qualitative synthesis.

Main Results

Eleven publications were identified that examined the relationship between homework duration and academic outcomes using an experimental design. Based on their focus, we categorized them into two groups: comparisons of homework with no homework and comparison of homework with less homework. There were 10 articles with 14 independent reports that compared academic performance between students who did homework and those who did not. Overall, the meta-analysis revealed that the students who did homework had better academic performance than that those who did not (n = 14; g = 0.45, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.24-0.66; Q = 454.30, I 2 = 71.30%, τ 2 = 0.11), especially in arithmetic computation (n = 5; g = 0.46, 95% CI: 0.17-0.75; Q = 13.03, I 2 = 69.29%, τ 2 = 0.07) and arithmetic problems solving (n = 6; g = 0.17, 95% CI: 0.02-0.33; Q = 6.87, I 2 = 27.17%, τ 2 = 0.01), but not in arithmetic concepts (n = 3, g = -0.02, 95% CI: -0.22-0.18; Q = 1.46, I 2 = 0.00%, τ 2 = 0.00). Two experiments explored the effectiveness of homework moderated by homework time. In Koch (1965), the effects of long daily homework (20-30 min) and short daily homework (10-15 min) were compared. The authors found that achievement in arithmetic concepts was higher with long homework assignments every day. Recently, Dolean and Lervag (2021) confirmed the effect of homework on writing skills, and their findings were consistent with those of Koch (1965), who found that increasing time spent on homework was associated with greater writing achievement (average 20 min each time).

Authors' Conclusions

Homework could be used as a supplement to enhance the academic performance of primary school students. However, the optimal amount of time they should dedicate each day to homework to achieve the best results remains uncertain. More high-quality experiments are needed to determine the ideal homework duration for these students. Furthermore, additional research is required to understand the impact of homework on secondary school students.

The High Five Model as a predictor of academic performance over conventional psychological predictors in university students

Introduction

The High Five Model (HFM) categorizes five positive human characteristics-erudition, peace, joviality, honesty, and tenacity-utilizing an inductive psycholexic approach. This study examines the predictive power of HFM on academic performance among university students, hypothesizing that it surpasses conventional predictors such as academic motivation, exam anxiety, and academic procrastination.

Methods

A non-experimental cross-sectional correlational design was implemented using a non-probabilistic convenience sample of 1,007 Ecuadorian university students (403 females). Self-reported measures of the "high factors," academic motivation, exam anxiety, and academic procrastination were collected. Linear regression analysis was utilized to evaluate the predictive capacity of the HFM on academic performance.

Results

The analysis revealed that the high factors of the HFM significantly predict academic performance, demonstrating a stronger predictive ability than traditional psychological predictors.

Discussion

The findings suggest that incorporating the HFM into academic settings could enhance understanding and prediction of student performance. This could potentially inform targeted interventions that leverage these high factors, thereby fostering better academic outcomes. Further research could explore the integration of the HFM with other educational strategies and its applicability across diverse educational contexts.

Conscientiousness and Cognitive Ability as Predictors of Academic Achievement: Evidence of Synergistic Effects From Integrative Data Analysis

Cognitive ability is the most powerful predictor of academic achievement. However, increasing attention is being paid to the role of personality traits in students’ academic achievement. Results indicate incremental effects beyond cognitive ability, especially for conscientiousness. Investigating the interplay of conscientiousness and cognitive ability can increase understanding of students’ academic achievement and learning. This study examined whether there are interaction effects of a synergistic or compensatory nature. We applied the approach of integrative data analysis, using four highly powered data sets with a total of 18,637 upper secondary school students in Germany to investigate this research question across four different achievement measures and three educational domains (i.e., school subjects). We used an integrative approach and pooled the results across the four samples to obtain an average estimate of the hypothesized interaction effects. Findings support a small synergistic interaction, indicating that conscientiousness moderates the association between cognitive ability and achievement. This means conscientiousness can enhance the positive effects of cognitive ability. In conclusion, results highlight the role of the type of academic measure used and the domain investigated in understanding how personality and achievement are related, providing evidence of the interplay between effort-related traits such as conscientiousness and cognitive ability.

PROTOCOL: The relationship between homework time and academic performance among K-12 students: A systematic review

This review will synthesize the results from publications focused on homework time and academic performance, and estimate the relationship between the two. Our objectives are: (1) To identify the extent of the relationship between homework time and students' academic performance; (2) To analyze the differences in the effectiveness of homework time across genders, grades, subject and regions; and (3) To identify the potential factors that affect homework time, such as academic subject, task difficulty, type of homework, mode of homework, parental involvement, and feedback on homework.

Big Five personality traits and academic performance: A meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE AND METHOD

This meta-analysis reports the most comprehensive assessment to date of the strength of the relationships between the Big Five personality traits and academic performance by synthesizing 267 independent samples (N = 413,074) in 228 unique studies. It also examined the incremental validity of personality traits above and beyond cognitive ability in predicting academic performance.

RESULTS

The combined effect of cognitive ability and personality traits explained 27.8% of the variance in academic performance. Cognitive ability was the most important predictor with a relative importance of 64%. Conscientiousness emerged as a strong and robust predictor of performance, even when controlling for cognitive ability, and accounted for 28% of the explained variance in academic performance. A significant moderating effect of education level was observed. The relationship of academic performance with openness, extraversion, and agreeableness demonstrated significantly larger effect sizes at the elementary/middle school level compared to the subsequent levels. Openness, despite its weak overall relative importance, was found to be an important determinant of student performance in the early years of school.

CONCLUSION

These findings reaffirm the critical role of personality traits in explaining academic performance through the most comprehensive assessment yet of these relationships.

Ability Tests Measure Personality, Personality Tests Measure Ability: Disentangling Construct and Method in Evaluating the Relationship between Personality and Ability

Although personality and cognitive ability are separate (sets of) constructs, we argue and demonstrate in this article that their effects are difficult to tease apart, because personality affects the performance on cognitive tests and cognitive ability affects the item responses on personality assessments. Cognitive ability is typically measured with tests of items with correct answers; personality is typically measured with rating-scale self-reports. Oftentimes conclusions regarding the personality-ability relationship have as much to do with measurement methods as with the construct similarities and differences. In this article, we review key issues that touch on the relationship between cognitive ability and personality. These include the construct-method distinction, sources of test score variance, the maximal vs. typical performance distinction, and the special role for motivation in low-stakes testing. We review a general response model for cognitive and personality tests that recognizes those sources of test score variance. We then review the approaches for measuring personality through performance (objective personality tests, grit game, coding speed, economic preferences, and confidence), test and survey behavior (survey effort, response time, and item position effects), and real-world behavior (study time, registration latency, behavior residue, and social media). We also discuss ability effects on personality tests, indicated by age and cognitive ability effects, anchoring vignette rating errors, and instructions to 'fake good'. We conclude with a discussion of the implications for our understanding of personality and ability differences, and suggestions for integrating the fields.

Personality and Intelligence Interact in the Prediction of Academic Achievement

Personality predicts academic achievement above and beyond intelligence. However, studies investigating the possible interaction effects between personality and intelligence when predicting academic achievement are scarce, as is the separate investigation of broad personality factors versus narrow personality facets in this context. Two studies with 11th grade students (Study 1: N = 421; Study 2: N = 243) were conducted to close this research gap. The students completed the Intelligence-Structure-Test 2000 R measuring general reasoning ability, and a well-established personality inventory based on the Five Factor Model. Academic achievement was operationalized via Grade Point Average. Using hierarchical regression and moderation analyses, Study 1 revealed that Conscientiousness interacted with intelligence when predicting academic achievement: there was a stronger association between intelligence and academic achievement when students scored higher on the Conscientiousness scale. Study 2 confirmed the findings from Study 1 and also found a moderation effect of Neuroticism (stronger association between intelligence and academic achievement with lower values on the Neuroticism scale). Analyses at the facet level revealed much more differentiated results than did analyses at the domain level, suggesting that investigating personality facets should be preferred over investigating personality domains when predicting academic achievement.

Secondary Level Achievement

Abstract. The study was developed in the context of Personality and Social Cognitive Theory with constructs that encapsulate non-intellective processes of academic achievement. The goal was to explore the role of the Five Factor Model (FFM) of personality in academic performance and to use this model as a reference point to test the incremental validity of two measures of Self-efficacy (Academic and Emotional) and an indicator of Absenteeism. Participants (N = 120) were comprised of 17-year-old male (n = 47) and female (n = 73) opportunistically sampled secondary level college students. A cross-sectional design was used to examine the relationship between the independent variables (FFM, Academic Self-efficacy, Emotional Self-efficacy, and Absenteeism) and the outcome variable, Grade Points Average (GPA). Correlation analysis found that four FFM factors and the two Self-efficacy measures were associated with GPA. In a hierarchical regression analysis, the FFM explained 22% variance on performance and the two Self-efficacy measures added 9% incremental variance followed by 3% for Absenteeism. Overall, the non-intellective constructs explain a substantial 34% variance on achievement and provide focal points for theoretical, empirical, and pedagogical evaluation. Moreover, they are suggestive of the pathways and processes that support learning, augment ability, and enhance achievement.

Students’ Self-Reflections on their Personality Scores Applied to the Processes of Learning and Achievement

Research on personality in the educational context has primarily focused on quantitative approaches, so this study used a mixed methods approach to capture the boarder aspects of students' learning processes. Goals were to ensure that student responses were reliable and normal (quantitative data), and to examine qualitative reflections on students’ personality scores for breadth and depth in the context of learning and achievement. To facilitate these goals, undergraduate psychology students ( N = 307) completed a 50-item version of a measure of the Five Factor Model in a seminar and subsequently wrote a personal evaluation of their scores with reference to academic achievement. Quantitative analysis demonstrated that the data were reliable and demonstrated individual differences. Qualitative analysis was clustered around six themes – five personality factors and students' reflections on their overall scores. Students overwhelmingly endorsed their scores on the measure by presenting their reflective experiential narrative. Moreover, they reflected on personal strengths and challenges as they set goals for educational development. This facilitated enhanced awareness of qualities that complement ability, support learning and enhance achievement. Other outcomes included enhanced self-awareness and self-presentation and awareness of the role of traits in educational, social and emotionality aspects of their student experience.

Paradoxical Personality and Academic Achievement in College Students From Buenos Aires

This paper presents a study on paradoxical personality, defined as a distinctive feature in creative persons, developed with 350 college students from Buenos Aires. Goals aimed at describing and analysing possible significant differences of paradoxical traits in students from diverse majors representing seven different fields of study, and examining the relationship between each bipolar trait and academic achievement. The sample was composed of 7 groups (n = 50 by group) representing fields of study typically offered in public universities, Biology, Computer Science, Engineering, Law, Nutrition, Psychology, and History of Art. Analyses by career provided descriptive information about students of these majors, concerning their paradoxical personality profiles. Correlational studies verified significant associations between academic achievement and most paradoxical traits in majors such as Computer Science, Nutrition and Psychology. Results are discussed regarding practical outcomes and teaching programs.

High school dropout and long-term sickness and disability in young adulthood: a prospective propensity score stratified cohort study (the Young-HUNT study)

Background

High school dropout and long-term sickness absence/disability pension in young adulthood are strongly associated. We investigated whether common risk factors in adolescence may confound this association.

Methods

Data from 6612 school-attending adolescents (13–20 years old) participating in the Norwegian Young-HUNT1 Survey (1995–1997) was linked to long-term sickness absence or disability pension from age 24–29 years old, recorded in the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Organisation registers (1998–2008). We used logistic regression to estimate risk differences of sickness or disability for school dropouts versus completers, adjusting for health, health-related behaviours, psychosocial factors, school problems, and parental socioeconomic position. In addition, we stratified the regression models of sickness and disability following dropout across the quintiles of the propensity score for high school dropout.

Results

The crude absolute risk difference for long-term sickness or disability for a school dropout compared to a completer was 0.21% or 21% points (95% confidence interval (CI), 17 to 24). The adjusted risk difference was reduced to 15% points (95% CI, 12 to 19). Overall, high school dropout increased the risk for sickness or disability regardless of the risk factor level present for high school dropout.

Conclusion

High school dropouts have a strongly increased risk for sickness and disability in young adulthood across all quintiles of the propensity score for dropout, i.e. independent of own health, family and socioeconomic factors in adolescence. These findings reveal the importance of early prevention of dropout where possible, combined with increased attention to labour market integration and targeted support for those who fail to complete school.

Psychoticism and Disruptive Behavior can be also Good Predictors of School Achievement

The relations of Gf (Standard Progressive Matrices Raven), Gc (verbal scale of Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Version), personality dimensions (Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Junior Version), and disruptive behavior (TDAH scale) with school achievement (measured by TDE test and PISA test) were investigated. Two samples of students (total N = 534) representing a broad range of socioeconomic status (SES) participated in this study. Path models were conducted. The results demonstrated that (1) in both samples no sex differences related to school achievement were found; (2) in the first sample, after controlling for age and SES differences, Gf and psychoticism predicted (.38 and −.13, respectively) school achievement (measured by TDE test); (3) in the second sample, after controlling for SES differences to which additional measures were administered, Gf and Gc positively predicted (.22 and .40, respectively) school achievement (measured by PISA test). In addition, psychoticism and disruptive behavior also predicted school performance (−.14 and −.28, respectively). Some theoretical and practical implications are discussed.