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?

Peer acceptance and rejection during secondary school: Do associations with subsequent educational outcomes vary by socioeconomic background?

Research shows that peer relationships are associated with students' school adjustment. However, the importance of advantageous and disadvantageous factors for students' educational outcomes may vary by socioeconomic positioning. Drawing on sociometric and register data from a nationally representative sample of Swedish youth (n = 4996, girls 50%; migration background 19%), this study asks if family socioeconomic status moderates associations between youth's peer relationships and their subsequent educational outcomes. Based on preregistered analyses, associations that peer acceptance and rejection at age 14-15 years share with school grades at ~16 years and completion of upper secondary school at ~20 years were tested. The findings showed that positive and adverse peer relationships are most consequential for the educational outcomes of socioeconomically disadvantaged youth.

How School Climate Affects the Development of the Social and Emotional Skills of Underprivileged-Background Students-An Empirical Study Based on the SSES2019 Data

Background: Promoting the development of the social and emotional skills of underprivileged-background students is an integral part of educational and social equity. To date, there has been a lack of relevant research in this field. Aims: This study investigated the impacts of cooperative school climate and competitive school climate on the development of the social and emotional skills of underprivileged-background students. Sample: This study used the data of Chinese underprivileged-background students (N = 1739) from the Study on Social and Emotional Skills conducted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD-SSES2019). Methods: This study selected the ordinary least squares (OLS) analysis method and the quantile regression (QR) analysis method. Results: The ordinary least squares (OLS) analysis results showed that cooperative school climates promoted the development of various dimensions of the social and emotional skills of underprivileged-background students, while competitive school climates had significant negative impacts on the collaboration and emotional regulation of underprivileged-background students and had no significant impact on the other three major domains, namely engagement with others, open-mindedness, and task performance. A quantile regression analysis further explored the heterogeneity in the impacts of cooperative school climate and competitive school climate on the development of the social and emotional skills of underprivileged-background students through quantile regression and found that the impacts of a competitive school climate on underprivileged-background students with different levels of social and emotional skills were homogeneous, while the impacts of a competitive school climate on underprivileged-background students with different levels of social and emotional skills were heterogeneous. Conclusions: These findings provide a greater insight into the roles of school cooperative climate and school competitive climate in the development process of the social and emotional skills of underprivileged-background students.

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.

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.