Personality, cognitive ability, and academic performance: Differential associations across school subjects and school tracks

Field of Study and Gender Moderation of the Association of Personality and Math Anxiety with Numeracy

Math anxiety and personality influence numeracy, although the nature of their contribution has been overlooked. In the present study, we investigated whether their association with numeracy depended on field of study and gender in higher education. Participants were Italian undergraduates in either the humanities (N = 201) or Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM; N = 209) fields of study. These participants remotely completed standardized tests assessing numeracy, math anxiety, personality, intelligence, and basic numerical skills. We tested whether math anxiety and personality interacted with field of study and gender in predicting numeracy. Results showed that math anxiety was negatively associated with numeracy independently of field of study and gender, while the effect of personality, especially neuroticism, on numeracy interacted with field of study over and above intelligence and basic numerical skills. Specifically, humanities undergraduates with higher neuroticism levels scored lower in numeracy than STEM undergraduates. These findings underscore the importance of emotional experience for a good performance in mathematics, beyond math anxiety and the other personality traits, in the students that are less familiar with mathematics. Finally, no robust gender moderation emerged, suggesting that its role may be overridden by differences associated with career choice.

Interplay of socioeconomic status, cognition, and school performance in the ABCD sample

Coming from a disadvantaged background can have negative impact on an individual's educational trajectory. Some people however seem unaffected and cope well with the demands and challenges posed by school education, despite growing up in adverse conditions, a phenomenon termed academic resilience. While it is uncertain which underlying factors make some people more likely to circumvent unfavorable odds than others, both socioeconomic status (SES) and cognitive ability have robustly been linked to school performance. The objective of the present work is to investigate if individual cognitive abilities and SES interact in their effect on grades. For this purpose, we analyzed SES, cognitive, and school performance data from 5001 participants from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. Ordinal logistic regression models suggest similar patterns of associations between three SES measures (parental education, income-to-needs ratio, and neighborhood deprivation) and grades at two timepoints, with no evidence for interaction effects between SES and time. Parental education and income-to-needs ratio were associated with grades at both timepoints, irrespective of whether cognitive abilities were modeled or not. Neighborhood deprivation, in contrast, was only a statistically significant predictor of reported grades when cognitive abilities were not factored in. Cognitive abilities interacted with parental education level, meaning that they could be a safeguard against effects of SES on school performance.

Do community-related traumatic events affect academic outcomes among adolescents? Quasi-experimental evidence from the Sewol disaster in South Korea

The sinking of the South Korean ferry Sewol in April 2014 claimed a total of 304 lives. Among the victims were 250 students from Dan-won High School in the city of Ansan and 11 of their teachers. For the residents of Ansan, the tragedy marked the beginning of widespread psychological distress and overwhelming grief. Exploiting the disaster's quasi-experimental nature, we employ a difference-in-differences (DID) strategy to measure its impact on the academic performance of Ansan's high school students in 5 major subjects. Using peers from Ansan's neighboring cities as the control group, our results reveal that the disaster impaired performances particularly in mathematics and natural science, a finding that is more pronounced for female students. Our results highlight that it is of uttermost importance to provide comprehensive psychological support and interventions to traumatized students but also to the communities they live in to minimize adverse effects on educational attainment.

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.

Predicting School Grades: Can Conscientiousness Compensate for Intelligence?

Intelligence and noncognitive factors such as conscientiousness are strongly related to academic performance. As theory and research differ with respect to their interplay in predicting performance, the present study examines whether conscientiousness compensates for intelligence or enhances the effect of intelligence on performance in 3775 13th grade students from Germany. Latent moderation analyses show positive main effects of intelligence and conscientiousness on grades. Further, analyses reveal synergistic interactions in predicting grades in biology, mathematics, and German, but no interaction in predicting grades in English. Intelligence and grades are more strongly linked if students are conscientious. Multigroup models detected gender differences in biology, but no differences with respect to SES. In biology, conscientiousness has especially strong effects in intelligent men. Conscientiousness thus enhances the effect of intelligence on performance in several subjects.

Monetary versus grade incentives depending on personality traits: A field experiment on undergraduate students' performance

This study aims to examine the role of personality on the effectiveness in improving students' performance of two extrinsic incentives: monetary and grade incentives. To achieve this goal, we conducted a randomized field experiment in which students in a Microeconomics course were offered the opportunity to participate in a practice test program, with no effects on the grade of the course itself. In the call to participate, students were informed that participants would be randomly assigned to one of two groups. Whereas in the control group students would not be monetarily incentivized, participants assigned to the treatment group would be paid according to their performance in the practice tests. In addition, we elicited the big five personality and risk aversion traits of the participants (168 undergraduates). All subjects received grade incentives in the later official course exam, in which no monetary incentives were offered. We used non-parametric tests to carry out both between-subjects and within-subjects performance comparisons. Controlling for potential confounding factors like students' gender and academic record, our OLS regressions indicate that although monetary incentives are effective in improving students' performance in practice tests, their effect does not carry over to the course exam. Furthermore, we find that the effectiveness of grade incentives (used in the course exam) on improvement as a substitute for monetary incentives (adopted in practice tests), is higher the more conscientious the students are.

Contextualizing Potential Factors Impacting on Behaviors of Primary School Adolescents in Northern Uganda

Our study contextualized empirical factors influencing adolescent behaviors. An assessment using focus group discussion (FGD) was done with randomly selected adolescents in primary schools in Northern Uganda to explore the influence of child poverty and parenting among other factors on adolescents' behaviors. A semi-structured interview guide and in-depth interviews were also conducted for parents/guardians and teachers, respectively. Adolescents expressed desirable developmental outcomes contrary to teachers' concerns regarding achieving them. Parenting and places of residence had a significant positive impact on adolescent behaviors, with the village residence having a much earlier influence compared to parenting. Our findings revealed a scanty understanding of child poverty, parenting, and adolescent development among parents/guardians. Any action-oriented toward awareness would promote adolescent behavioral development.

Disentangling the Association Between the Big Five Personality Traits and Student Achievement: Meta-Analytic Evidence on the Role of Domain Specificity and Achievement Measures

Students’ academic achievement is a central predictor of a long list of important educational outcomes, such as access to higher education and socioeconomic success. Prior studies have extensively focused on identifying variables that are related to academic achievement and an important variable in this context appears to be students’ personality. Notably, although findings from more recent studies suggested that the association between student achievement and personality varies by the subject domain (language vs. STEM) and the type of achievement measure (grades vs. test scores), systematic meta-analytical evidence is still lacking. To address this gap in the educational research literature, we conducted a meta-analysis based on 78 studies, with 1491 effect sizes representing data from 500,218 students and 110 samples from elementary to high school. We used a random-effects model with robust variance estimation to calculate mean effect sizes and standard deviations. We found moderating effects of measure or domain for all five personality traits, with differences in the direction of the effects. Our results highlight the importance of the domain and measure when examining how personality traits relate to academic achievement in school. The combination of subject domain and achievement was also found to be relevant for some of the traits. These findings emphasize that subject domains and types of achievement measures should be explicitly considered when investigating the personality saturation of student achievement. We discuss implications for future research, highlighting that there is no “best” or “more objective” achievement measure but, instead, that achievement measures should be chosen based on the research question of interest.

A closer look at the domain-specific associations of openness with language achievement: Evidence on the role of intrinsic value from two large-scale longitudinal studies

BACKGROUND

Many empirical investigations focus on how personality traits and academic motivation are related to academic achievement. Regarding the personality traits described in the five-factor model, prior research has shown associations between openness to experience and language achievement in particular. Following the principle of trait activation, associations with intrinsic value can explain these domain-specific relationships of openness with achievement.

AIMS

This study investigated whether intrinsic value mediates the associations of openness to experience with language achievement to understand these associations more closely. Based on the principle of trait activation, we combined openness to experience with intrinsic value as a motivational construct more proximal to behaviour.

SAMPLES

We capitalized on two large-scale longitudinal data sets (N = 1994; M = 16.8 years; 51% female; and N = 2722; M = 17.34 years; 58% female) of German-speaking students in upper secondary education with two points of measurement, respectively.

METHODS

We assessed achievement using report card grades and standardized test scores, capturing three language subskills: reading and listening, measured by standardized tests, and writing competencies, measured by essay assignments. We conducted mediation analysis using bootstrapped confidence intervals and robust standard errors to account for dependencies in the data due to students clustered within classrooms.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

Overall, our results show that intrinsic value mediated the relationship between openness and achievement in English as a foreign language. The results remained stable when controlling for prior achievement, predicting achievement gains. Our investigation provides empirical insights into the manifestations of personality in academic contexts. We discuss the limitations of our approach, with a focus on the use of a mediation analysis in this research design.

University students in COVID-19 lockdown: The role of adaptability and fluid reasoning in supporting their academic motivation and engagement

This study drew on Job Demands-Resources theory and data from 500 Australian university students to investigate the role of COVID-related lockdown, perceived adaptability, and fluid reasoning in students' self-efficacy-and the role of these factors in students' engagement and disengagement. Lockdown was associated with higher disengagement; perceived adaptability was associated with higher self-efficacy; and both perceived adaptability and fluid reasoning were significantly and positively associated with engagement. Self-efficacy significantly mediated the relationship between perceived adaptability and engagement and disengagement, while moderation tests revealed that fluid reasoning yielded a significant positive role for the self-efficacy of students in lockdown. These findings shed light on factors during COVID-19 that are implicated in students' academic development and provide direction for psycho-educational interventions.

What Is Mathematical Giftedness? Associations with Intelligence, Openness, and Need for Cognition

It is common practice in the educational system to foster high mathematical abilities in schools as well as in specific promotional programs. Still, little is known about the construct of mathematical giftedness itself. In line with intellectual investment theories, our study investigates the relationship between fluid intelligence (figural and numerical), openness, and the need for cognition with mathematical abilities. The current study is based on a sample (N = 115) of seventh graders participating in the application process for a promotion program. The results of our regression analyses show a positive link between fluid intelligence and mathematical abilities. However, neither the association with openness nor the need for cognition reached significance, emphasizing the importance of cognitive abilities for mathematical giftedness. Limitations and further directions are discussed.

Machiavellianism and learning-related subjective well-being among Chinese senior high school students: A moderated mediation model

Based on the life history theory and broadening construction theory, the study aimed to investigate the influence of Machiavellianism on the learning-related subjective well-being and the underlying mechanism, 582 Chinese senior high school students (16.8 ± 0.9 years old) including 289 girls (48.3%) and 310 boys were recruited to participate in this study, and they anonymously filled out questionnaires regarding Machiavellianism, learning-related subjective well-being, gratitude, and subjective family economic level. The results showed that: (1) a higher level of Machiavellianism was associated with a lower level of learning-related subjective well-being; (2) gratitude partially mediated the relationship between Machiavellianism and learning-related subjective well-being; (3) subjective family economic level moderated the links between Machiavellianism and learning-related subjective well-being, and between gratitude and learning-related subjective well-being. This study explained how and when Machiavellianism affected Chinese senior high school students’ learning-related subjective well-being and provided a deeper understanding of the relationship between Machiavellianism and learning-related subjective well-being.

The Behavioral, Emotional, and Social Skills Inventory (BESSI): Psychometric Properties of a German-Language Adaptation, Temporal Stabilities of the Skills, and Associations with Personality and Intelligence

Social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) skills comprise a broad set of abilities that are essential for building and maintaining relationships, regulating emotions, selecting and pursuing goals, or exploring novel stimuli. Toward an improved SEB skill assessment, Soto and colleagues recently introduced the Behavioral, Emotional, and Social Skills Inventory (BESSI). Measuring 32 facets from 5 domains with 192 items (assessment duration: ~15 min), BESSI constitutes the most extensive SEB inventory to date. However, so far, BESSI exists only in English. In three studies, we comprehensively validated a novel German-language adaptation, BESSI-G. Moreover, we expanded evidence on BESSI in three ways by (1) assessing the psychometric properties of the 32 individual skill facets, in addition to their domain-level structure; (2) providing first insights into the temporal stabilities of the 32 facets over 1.5 and 8 months; and (3) investigating the domains’ and facets’ associations with intelligence, in addition to personality traits. Results show that BESSI-G exhibits good psychometric properties (unidimensionality, reliability, factorial validity). Its domain-level structure is highly similar to that of the English-language source version. The facets show high temporal stabilities, convergent validity with personality traits, and discriminant validity with fluid and crystallized intelligence. We discuss implications for research on SEB skills.

Personality development in adolescence: Examining big five trait trajectories in differential learning environments

This study addresses two questions: Do Big Five traits change from early to middle adolescence? How do developmental trajectories differ between educational environments (i.e., secondary school tracks)? We used a representative random sample from Germany, following 6th graders (T1, N = 1662; age: M = 11.68; SD = 0.63; female = 47.4%; from N = 87 primary schools) to the end of compulsory secondary education over three measurement points (i.e., assessing students in 6th, 7th, and 9th grade). Results of latent change modeling indicated overall increases in mean levels for all personality traits from early to middle adolescence. Regarding selection effects, the results indicated that more conscientious, agreeable, extraverted, open, and emotionally stable sixth graders were more likely to transit into an academic rather than a non-academic secondary school track. Moreover, the results showed that these initial differences in personality traits seemed to diminish between 6th and 9th grade for all personality traits. Additionally, controlling for selection effects, a contextual effect was discernible for conscientiousness. This study highlighted the potential role of differential learning environments for modifying changes in personality traits during adolescence.

Numeracy Gender Gap in STEM Higher Education: The Role of Neuroticism and Math Anxiety

The under-representation of women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) is ubiquitous and understanding the roots of this phenomenon is mandatory to guarantee social equality and economic growth. In the present study, we investigated the contribution of non-cognitive factors that usually show higher levels in females, such as math anxiety (MA) and neuroticism personality trait, to numeracy competence, a core component in STEM studies. A sample of STEM undergraduate students, balanced for gender (N_F = N_M = 70) and Intelligent Quotient (IQ), completed online self-report questionnaires and a numeracy cognitive assessment test. Results show that females scored lower in the numeracy test, and higher in the non-cognitive measures. Moreover, compared to males’, females’ numeracy scores were more strongly influenced by MA and neuroticism. We also tested whether MA association to numeracy is mediated by neuroticism, and whether this mediation is characterized by gender differences. While we failed to detect a significant mediation of neuroticism in the association between MA and numeracy overall, when gender was added as a moderator in this association, neuroticism turned out to be significant for females only. Our findings revealed that non-cognitive factors differently supported numeracy in females and males in STEM programs.

Being Snoopy and Smart

Abstract. Curiosity is a basic driver for learning and development. It has been conceptualized as a desire for new information and knowledge that motivates people to explore their physical and social environment. This raises the question of whether curiosity facilitates the acquisition of knowledge. The present study ( N = 100) assessed epistemic curiosity and general knowledge as well as fluid intelligence (i.e., reasoning ability, processing speed, memory) in a student sample. The results indicate that epistemic curiosity is moderately related to knowledge ( r = .24) and reasoning ability ( r = .30). None of the fluid intelligence measures did moderate the relationship between curiosity and knowledge (interaction terms β < |.08|). Rather, reasoning ability mediated the relationship between epistemic curiosity and general knowledge (indirect effect: β = .10, p < .05). The findings suggest that epistemic curiosity facilitates the acquisition of knowledge by promoting reasoning. One might speculate that epistemically curious individuals enrich their environment, which in turn enhances their cognitive ability.

Fluid Intelligence and Competence Development in Secondary Schooling: No Evidence for a Moderating Role of Conscientiousness

Fluid intelligence and conscientiousness are important predictors of students’ academic performance and competence gains. Although their individual contributions have been widely acknowledged, less is known about their potential interplay. Do students profit disproportionately from being both smart and conscientious? We addressed this question using longitudinal data from two large student samples of the German National Educational Panel Study. In the first sample, we analyzed reading and mathematics competencies of 3778 fourth graders (Mage = 9.29, 51% female) and gains therein until grade 7. In the second sample, we analyzed the same competencies in 4942 seventh graders (Mage = 12.49, 49% female) and gains therein until grade 9. The results of (moderated) latent change score models supported fluid intelligence as the most consistent predictor of competence levels and gains, whereas conscientiousness predicted initial competence levels in mathematics and reading as well as gains in mathematics (but not reading) only in the older sample. There was no evidence for interaction effects between fluid intelligence and conscientiousness. We found only one statistically significant synergistic interaction in the older sample for gains in reading competence, which disappeared when including covariates. Although our findings point to largely independent effects of fluid intelligence and conscientiousness on competence gains, we delineate avenues for future research to illuminate their potential interplay.

Beyond Competencies: Associations between Personality and School Grades Are Largely Independent of Subject-Specific and General Cognitive Competencies

The Big Five personality traits are established predictors of school grades. However, the mechanisms underlying these associations are not yet well understood. Effects of personality on grades might arise because behavioral tendencies facilitate learning and increase subject-specific competencies. Alternatively, personality effects on grades might be independent of cognitive competencies and reflect otherwise valued behaviors or teachers’ grading practices. In the current study, we drew on large-scale data of 7th and 9th graders in Germany to explore the extent to which personality predicted grades even after accounting for competencies. Controlling for competencies and other key covariates, we cross-sectionally and longitudinally examined personality–grade associations across different school subjects, grade levels, and school types. Results indicate that the predictive power of personality is largely independent of subject-specific and general cognitive competencies. The largest effects emerged for conscientiousness. For openness, associations with grades partly overlapped with competencies, suggesting that openness may operate by fostering competencies. Overall, our results suggest that the associations between personality and grades unfold mostly independently of course mastery. This finding underlines the socioemotional value of personality in the classroom and encourages a more fine-grained view of the interplay between personality, competencies, classroom behavior, and grades.

Patterns of Domain-Specific Learning Among Medical Undergraduate Students in Relation to Confidence in Their Physiology Knowledge: Insights From a Pre-post Study

RESEARCH FOCUS

The promotion of domain-specific knowledge is a central goal of higher education and, in the field of medicine, it is particularly essential to promote global health. Domain-specific knowledge on its own is not exhaustive; confidence regarding the factual truth of this knowledge content is also required. An increase in both knowledge and confidence is considered a necessary prerequisite for making professional decisions in the clinical context. Especially the knowledge of human physiology is fundamental and simultaneously critical to medical decision-making. However, numerous studies have shown difficulties in understanding and misconceptions in this area of knowledge. Therefore, we investigate (i) how preclinical medical students acquire knowledge in physiology over the course of their studies and simultaneously gain confidence in the correctness of this knowledge as well as (ii) the interrelations between these variables, and (iii) how they affect the development of domain-specific knowledge.

METHOD

In a pre-post study, 169 medical students' development of physiology knowledge and their confidence related to this knowledge were assessed via paper-pencil questionnaires before and after attending physiology seminars for one semester. Data from a longitudinal sample of n = 97 students were analyzed using mean comparisons, regression analyses, and latent class analyses (LCAs). In addition, four types of item responses were formed based on confidence and correctness in the knowledge test.

RESULTS

We found a significant and large increase in the students' physiology knowledge, with task-related confidence being the strongest predictor (apart from learning motivation). Moreover, a significantly higher level of confidence at t2 was confirmed, with the level of prior confidence being a strong predictor (apart from knowledge at t2). Furthermore, based on the students' development of knowledge and confidence levels between measurement points, three empirically distinct groups were distinguished: knowledge gainers, confidence gainers, and overall gainers. The students whose confidence in incorrect knowledge increased constituted one particularly striking group. Therefore, the training of both knowledge and the ability to critically reflect on one's knowledge and skills as well as an assessment of their development in education is required, especially in professions such as medicine, where knowledge-based decisions made with confidence are of vital importance.

The longitudinal interplay of personality and school experiences in adolescence

The school environment is one key developmental context that is assumed to shape individual characteristics during adolescence. However, little is known about which school experiences are central to personality change or whether school experiences and personality co-shape each other over time. We address this gap by examining the longitudinal interplay between seven school experiences in the three domains of achievement, social relationships, and well-being, and the Big Five personality traits at four measurement points from fifth to eighth grade. By using data from the German TRAIN study ( N = 3,473, MageT1 = 11.1 years, 45% female), we estimated bivariate latent growth curve models and cross-lagged panel models to illustrate this longitudinal interplay. Results demonstrated correlated change between school experiences and personality with differentiated patterns for achievement variables and a general longitudinal interplay with the social relationship and well-being variables. Furthermore, we found cross-lagged effects in both directions, although there were more effects of personality on school experiences. The most consistent predictor of school experiences was conscientiousness, whereas well-being in school in particular was related to personality change 1 year later. We integrate our findings into the current picture of personality development in adolescence and the role of school-related environmental factors.

Role of personality traits in collaborative group works at flipped classrooms

The Flipped Classroom (FC) approach is an important model for individualizing teaching, improving motivation, interaction, and increasing academic performance in a student-centered learning environment. However, at FC, not all students benefit equally from teaching opportunities. There may be important individual differences that affect their academic performance. The relationship between personality traits and academic performance in the FC model in which collaborative group studies are carried out is important for the design of individualized learning environments. In this context, the aim of this study is to research the relationship between academic success and personality traits within a collaborative flipped classroom model. Additionally, in this study, the differentiation of the relationship between academic success and personality traits according to gender, motivation, engagement, and interaction variables were examined. In this research, relational screening model was utilized. The application was achieved through the participation of 167 students for a 14-week period in Turkey. In the research, self-description form and data collection instruments were utilized. At the end of this research, Extraversion from personality traits is the strongest predictor of academic performance in FC. According to descriptive statistics, it was found that female students scored higher in FC settings for extraversion, and male students had higher scores for openness than other structures. In addition, it was found that the motivation scores of women and engagement scores of men were prominent. It was observed that the openness personality of the students with low motivation and the agreeableness of the students with high motivation is more dominant than the other personality structures. Students with the low level of engagement had the highest openness, and those with high agreeableness scores were the highest. The students with the low level of interaction had the highest openness scores, while those with high levels of interaction had the highest conscientiousness. While personality traits and academic achievements of students differed significantly according to gender, motivation and interaction levels, no significant difference was found according to engagement levels. The results reached in this study will guide the applicators about how the students become more ready to learn based on the personality traits of the classroom in which the FC model was utilized.

Understanding Loneliness in Adolescence: A Test of Competing Hypotheses on the Interplay of Extraversion and Neuroticism

Given that adolescents often experience fundamental changes in social relationships, they are considered to be especially prone to loneliness. Meanwhile, theory and research highlight that both extraversion and neuroticism are closely intertwined with individual differences in loneliness. Extant research has explored the linear main effects of these personality traits, yet potential non-linear associations (e.g., exponential effects) and the potential interplay of extraversion and neuroticism (e.g., mutual reinforcement effects) remain unknown. We addressed these open questions using cross-sectional and one-year longitudinal data from two adolescent samples (overall N = 583, Mage = 17.57, 60.55% girls) and an information-theoretic approach combined with polynomial regression. Analyses showed little evidence for interaction effects but revealed non-linear effects in addition to the main effects of extraversion and neuroticism on loneliness. For example, the positive cross-sectional association between neuroticism and loneliness was stronger at higher neuroticism levels (i.e., exponential effect). Results differed across loneliness facets in that both traits predicted emotional loneliness, but only extraversion predicted social loneliness. Longitudinal analyses showed that loneliness changes were mainly related to neuroticism. We discuss results in the light of sample differences, elaborate on the importance to differentiate between emotional versus social aspects of loneliness, and outline implications for adolescent development.

Two Forms of Social Inequality in Students' Socio-Emotional Skills: Do the Levels of Big Five Personality Traits and Their Associations With Academic Achievement Depend on Parental Socioeconomic Status?

Some researchers and policymakers advocate a stronger focus on fostering socio-emotional skills in the hope of helping students to succeed academically, especially those who are socially disadvantaged. Others have cautioned that this might increase, rather than reduce, social inequality because personality traits conducive to achievement are themselves unevenly distributed in disfavor of socially disadvantaged students. Our paper contributes to this debate. Analyzing representative, large-scale data on 9,300 ninth graders from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) and using the Big Five personality traits as a measure of socio-emotional skills, we cast light on two related yet distinct aspects of social inequality in socio-emotional skills: First, do levels of personality traits conducive to achievement vary as a function of students' parental socioeconomic status (pSES)? Second, do the returns to personality traits in terms of trait–achievement relations vary as function of pSES? Results showed that differences in Big Five traits between students with different pSES were small (0.04 ≤ |r| ≤ 0.09), especially when compared with pSES-related differences in cognitive skills (fluid intelligence) and sex-related differences in personality. The returns to Conscientiousness—the personality trait most relevant to achievement—in terms of its relations to academic achievement were higher in higher- vs. lower-SES students. Trait–achievement relations did not vary as a function of pSES for the other Big Five traits. Overall, both types of inequality were limited in magnitude. We discuss the implications of these findings for policy and practice and delineate directions for further research.

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.

Personality and psychosocial functioning in early adolescence: Age-differential associations from the self- and parent perspective

Although psychosocial functioning and personality are indisputably interrelated in adulthood, much less is known about these associations in early adolescence. Accordingly, the goal of the current study was twofold. First, we investigated associations between adolescents’ personality and three broad indicators of psychosocial functioning: academic achievement, social relationships, and psychosocial adjustment. Second, we tested differential effects by comparing these associations across three different cohorts (Grades 5, 7, and 9) and across two raters of adolescents’ personality: self- and parent reports. Our sample consisted of N = 2667 students and their parents. According to latent regression models, adolescents’ personality traits showed significant associations with all psychosocial functioning variables: Achievement was most consistently associated with emotional stability, openness, and conscientiousness; social relationships were most consistently associated with agreeableness and conscientiousness; and psychosocial adjustment was related to all of the Big Five traits. Most associations did not vary across grades, whereas self-reported extraversion showed lower associations in later grades. Looking at rater-specific effects, we found fewer and usually smaller associations with parent- than with self-rated personality, again with the most significant differences with extraversion. We discuss the consistent interrelatedness between adolescents’ personality and psychosocial functioning but also highlight important exceptions in grade- and rater-specificities.

Unraveling the Relationship Between Teacher-Assigned Grades, Student Personality, and Standardized Test Scores

The Big Five personality traits play a major role in student achievement. As such, there is consistent evidence that students that are more conscientious receive better teacher-assigned grades in secondary school. However, research often does not support the claim that students that are more conscientious similarly achieve higher scores in domain-specific standardized achievement tests. Based on the Invest-and-Accrue Model, we argue that conscientiousness explains to some extent why certain students receive better grades despite similar academic accomplishments (i.e., achieving similar scores in domain-specific standardized achievement tests). Therefore, the present study examines to what extent the relationship between student personality and teacher-assigned grades consists of direct as opposed to indirect associations (via subject-specific standardized test scores). We used a representative sample of 14,710 ninth-grade students to estimate these direct and indirect pathways in mathematics and German. Structural equation models showed that test scores explained between 8 and 11% of the variance in teacher-assigned grades in mathematics and German. The Big Five personality traits in students additionally explained between 8 and 10% of the variance in grades. Finally, the personality-grade relationship consisted of direct (0.02 | β| ≤ 0.27) and indirect associations via test scores (0.01 | β| ≤ 0.07). Conscientiousness explained discrepancies between teacher-assigned grades and students' scores in domain-specific standardized tests to a greater extent than any of the other Big Five personality traits. Our findings suggest that students that are more conscientious may invest more effort to accomplish classroom goals, but fall short of mastery.

The joint power of personality and motivation dynamics for occupational success: Bridging two largely separated fields

When establishing a career in adulthood, two major socioemotional ingredients are expected to affect people’s success: how people act (personality) and what motivates them to act this way (motivation). However, little is known about whether and how personality and motivation change together and how their possible dynamic interplay predicts success. We investigated the roles that changes in personality and expectancy beliefs played in explaining occupational success in 4121 participants assessed after high school ( Mage = 22.80, SDage = 0.70; 63% female) and about 20 years later. We used latent change models and moderated structural equation modeling to investigate correlated change and latent change interactions of personality and expectancy beliefs in predicting success. Results illustrated that besides being related in a nomological net, personality and expectancy beliefs also illustrated a strong interrelatedness in change across time. We found the clearest joint change dynamics between emotional stability, conscientiousness, self-concept, and self-efficacy. Changes in personality and expectancy beliefs were furthermore associated with objective and subjective occupational success. The results call for a more integrative view on personality-motivation dynamics across time for understanding the long-term adaptive ingredients of occupational success stories in adulthood.

What teachers and parents can add to personality ratings of children: Unique associations with academic performance in elementary school

Adults’ ratings of children’s personality have been found to be more closely associated with academic performance than children’s self-reports. However, less is known about the relevance of the unique perspectives held by specific adult observers such as teachers and parents for explaining variance in academic performance. In this study, we applied bifactor (S–1) models for 1411 elementary school children to investigate the relative merits of teacher and parent ratings of children’s personalities for academic performance above and beyond the children’s self-reports. We examined these associations using standardized achievement test scores in addition to grades. We found that teachers’ unique views on children’s openness and conscientiousness had the strongest associations with academic performance. Parents’ unique views on children’s neuroticism showed incremental associations above teacher ratings or self-reports. For extraversion and agreeableness, however, children’s self-reports were more strongly associated with academic performance than teacher or parent ratings. These results highlight the differential value of using multiple informants when explaining academic performance with personality traits.

The predictive role of personality traits on academic performance of medical students: The mediating role of self-efficacy

Background: Determining the variables influencing students’ academic performance is one of the main preoccupations in medical colleges. Therefore, this study examined the effect of the Big Five personality traits on medical students’ academic performance, considering the mediating role of self-efficacy.

Methods: We applied a cross sectional research design using a PLS-SEM approach. A total of 249 medical students participated in this study. Two valid and reliable questionnaires, including Big Five Inventory (BFI-10) and New General Self Efficacy (GSE) were used. Data were analyzed using both SPSS 18 and PLS2 software.

Results: The validity and reliability of the questionnaires were confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis. The results revealed that openness (β= 0.16, p<0.001), conscientiousness (β=0.22, p<0.001), agreeableness (β=0.19, p<0.001), and self-efficacy (β=0.24, p<0.001) had a significant positive and direct effect on academic performance. Neuroticism (β=-0.21, p<0.001) had a significant negative and direct effect on academic performance. Also, openness (β=0.47, p<0.001) and conscientiousness (β=0.33, p<0.001) had a direct positive effect on self-efficacy. Neuroticism (β=-0.15, p<0.001) had a direct negative effect on self-efficacy. Moreover, the results showed an indirect positive effect of conscientiousness (β=0.08, p<0.001) and openness (β=0.11, p<0.001) on academic performance through self-efficacy. In addition, the results showed that neuroticism (β=-0.03, p<0.001) had an indirect negative effect on academic performance through self-efficacy.

Conclusion: This study discovered the relationships between personality traits, self-efficacy, and academic performance of medical students. The results showed that individual differences in personality traits directly and indirectly play an essential role, through self-efficacy, in contributing to the students’ academic performance.

Big Five Personality Traits Predict Successful Transitions From School to Vocational Education and Training: A Large-Scale Study

Educational transitions play a pivotal role in shaping educational careers, and ultimately social inequality. Whereas parental socioeconomic status (SES) and cognitive ability have long been identified as key determinants of successful educational transitions, much less is known about the role of socio-emotional skills. To address this gap, the present study investigated whether Big Five personality traits predict success in the transition from secondary school to vocational education and training (VET) above and beyond SES, cognitive ability, and other covariates. Using data from Starting Cohort 4 of the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS; N = 4,137), we defined seven indicators of successful transition: obtaining a VET position, number of acceptances for VET positions, starting a VET position, (the absence of) dropout intentions and actual dropout, final VET grade, and satisfaction with VET. The results revealed that some Big Five traits were incrementally associated with several indicators of transition success. Conscientiousness emerged as the single most relevant trait, predicting all the transition success indicators but 1 (dropout intentions). The other Big Five traits had much weaker and less consistent links with transition success. Extraversion predicted the final VET grade and obtaining a VET position; Agreeableness was linked to a higher risk of dropout. Openness and Emotional Stability had no incremental effects on transition success. There was also some evidence for both compensatory and synergistic interactive effects, with Openness moderating mainly the effects of parental SES (on dropout intentions, actual dropout, and number of acceptances), and Agreeableness moderating the effects of cognitive ability (on obtaining a VET position, number of acceptances, and satisfaction with VET). Although individual effect sizes were small, the Big Five’s joint contribution to transition success was non-negligible, and often larger than that of sociodemographic characteristics and cognitive ability. Our results suggest a hitherto underappreciated contribution of personality to successful transitions to VET.

Character Strengths Are Related to Students' Achievement, Flow Experiences, and Enjoyment in Teacher-Centered Learning, Individual, and Group Work Beyond Cognitive Ability

While character strengths have been found to predict educational outcomes beyond broad personality traits and cognitive ability, little is known about their differential contribution to success and positive learning experiences in different school settings. In this study, we use trait activation theory to investigate the relationships of students’ character strengths with achievement, flow experiences, and enjoyment in different learning situations (i.e., teacher-centered learning, individual tasks, and group work). In studying these relationships, we controlled for psychometric intelligence. Secondary school students (N = 255; 46.3% male; mean age = 14.5 years) completed a self-report measure of character strengths, the VIA-Youth (Park and Peterson, 2006b). Cognitive ability was assessed using a standardized intelligence test (PSB-R; Horn et al., 2003) at baseline. Three months later, students completed the Flow Short Scale (Rheinberg et al., 2003) adapted to the three learning situations and indicated their typical enjoyment of these situations. Both the students and their teachers (N = 18; 50% male; mean age = 44.8 years) provided ratings on school achievement in each of the three learning situations. Results indicate that, as expected, (a) certain character strengths (love of learning and perseverance) show consistent relationships with achievement and positive learning experiences (flow and enjoyment) above and beyond cognitive ability across all learning situations, whereas (b) other character strengths show differential trait-outcome relationships (e.g., the character strength of teamwork was predictive of achievement and positive learning experiences in group work). Taken together, these results suggest that different character strengths play a role in different school situations and that their contribution to explaining variance in educational outcomes is incremental to the contribution of cognitive ability.

Personality-achievement associations in adolescence-examining associations across grade levels and learning environments

OBJECTIVE

This study examined associations between the five-factor personality traits and indicators of academic achievement (grades and test scores). A particular aim was to investigate whether personality-achievement associations differ between primary and secondary educational contexts and whether these differences vary between differential learning environments, that is academic versus nonacademic secondary schools.

METHOD

We used two representative random samples from Germany: N = 3,658 6th graders in their last year of primary school and N = 2,129 9th graders attending different secondary school tracks (n = 566 academic track students; n = 1,563 nonacademic track students).

RESULTS

First, our results confirmed positive associations between Conscientiousness, Openness, Extraversion, and Agreeableness and academic achievement as well as negative associations between academic achievement and Neuroticism. Second, associations with Conscientiousness were more pronounced for school grades than for test scores. Third, associations were higher for 6th than for 9th graders in the overall sample for all personality traits with the exception of Openness. Fourth, personality-achievement associations differed between academic and nonacademic track students.

CONCLUSION

In sum, our results suggest the need for an educational stage-specific perspective and contextually sensitive approach when examining personality-achievement associations.