Cognitive ability, personality, and academic performance in adolescence

Does positive thinking predict variance in school grades over and above that predicted by cognitive ability? Six hundred and thirty nine high school students participated in a three-year longitudinal study that predicted grades using cognitive ability and three positive thinking variables – self-esteem, hope, and attributional style. Hope, positive attributional style and cognitive ability predicted higher grades, whilst self-esteem was a less consistent predictor of academic performance. Structural equation modelling revealed significant paths from cognitive ability, gender, and a second order positive thinking factor to grades. The results suggest that intelligence, gender, and positive thinking each play a unique role in predicting academic performance in youth. Some suggestions for further research are made.     

School socio-economic status and student socio-academic achievement goals in upper secondary contexts

In recent years motivational researchers have spent considerable time examining race/ethnicity and gender differences in academic and social achievement goals, but little time examining the influence of socioeconomic status (SES). This lack of attention is surprising given that both student motivation and SES have been shown to predict academic attainment. This study surveyed the academic and social achievement goal orientations of 16–17 year old students (n = 130) attending two schools with markedly different socioeconomic profiles. Analyses showed significant differences between the schools on the academic achievement goal scales, with students at the low SES school less likely to endorse adaptive combinations of mastery and performance goals than their high SES counterparts. Students who did not expect to finish senior high school also endorsed social goals that may manifest as disruptive behaviours in the classroom. The findings suggest that SES may influence the adoption of academic achievement goals but not necessarily social achievement goals. Implications for theory and research are discussed.     

Test anxiety: contributions of gender,age, parent's occupation and self-esteem among secondary school students in Nigeria

Most of the previous studies on test anxiety have focused on students in higher institutions with little research on test anxiety in secondary school students. The present study examined the contributions of gender, age, parent's occupation and self-esteem on test anxiety among secondary school students. Participants were 281 students (males?=?156, females?=?125; mean age?=?17.05, SD?=?1.87) who were candidates for centralised, high-stakes examinations in two randomly selected secondary schools in Onitsha, Anambra state, Nigeria. Data were collected using questionnaires comprising the State Self-esteem Scale, the Test Anxiety Inventory and spaces for the provision of relevant socio-demographic information. Results of a hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that age and gender did not significantly contribute to test anxiety. Parent's occupation explained 2% of the variance in test anxiety and self-esteem contributed 10% in explaining test anxiety. Based on the findings, personal predispositions explain test anxiety among school students more than do their demographics.     

Influence of Socio-Demographic Factors on SRAVEN Performance

This exploratory study aimed to investigate the influence of specific socio-demographic variables on a computerized test of non-verbal neuropsychological performance. Six hundred and thirty South African first year students were assessed using the University of Pennsylvania Computerized Neuropsychological Test Battery (PennCNP). Fluid intelligence was measured by a computerized version of the Raven's Progressive Matrices (SRAVENS). Analysis of variance indicated that gender, home language, quality of schooling, language of schooling and paternal education influenced performance on the SRAVEN. Stepwise multiple regression evidenced the importance of language, paternal education and high school language on SRAVENS responses. The assumption of non-verbal test scores as being independent of socio-demographic factors needs to be revisited as such independence cannot be maintained in light of such evidence.     

Cross-sectional and longitudinal comparisons of adolescent self-esteem.

The purpose of this study was to examine the self-esteem of adolescents over three years of high school. The study was designed to allow for cross-sectional and longitudinal comparisons of adolescent self-esteem, including the effects of gender and socioeconomic status. Two hundred seventy ninth graders completed the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory for each of three years. Grade level was found to be significantly related to self-esteem in the longitudinal but not the cross-sectional design. The mediational effects of gender and socioeconomic status were found to be minimal. Theoretical implications of these results are discussed, and implications for future research are indicated.     

9970名中学生心理素质的研究

对北京市随机抽取的９９７０名中学生进行自编的《中学生心理素质测验》的测试,结果表明：（１）总体而言,中学生的心理素质水平良好。（２）年级越低,心理素质水平越高,年级越高,心理素质水平越低。（３）初中生的心理素质水平好于高中生。（４）在男女性别差异上,年级越低,男女差异越大,年级越高,差异越小。其中,男生在智力和情绪因子上心理素质水平好于女生,女生在注意力和道德感因子上心理素质水平好于男生。在对初中与高中的男女性别考验中也得到了一致的结论。     

初中生风险决策表现的认知建模分析:自尊及性别的影响

选取山东省某初中308名学生,采用爱荷华博弈任务,使用“效用-固着”模型对决策包含的动机、认知、反应心理过程进行认知建模分析,探究自尊水平和性别对初中生风险决策表现的影响。结果发现,初中生的风险决策表现不佳,对损失不敏感。在控制年级的影响后,分层回归分析表明:(1)自尊水平和性别对决策的动机过程的影响存在交互作用,男生无论自尊高低对收益都较为关注,女生中高自尊者更加关注收益。(2)决策成绩不存在显著的性别差异,但男生更多选择有着较高损失值的不利选项,而女生更多选择损失频率较低的有利选项。(3)自尊的影响主要体现在动机和认知过程,高自尊水平者在动机过程中更多表现出对损失的规避,在认知过程中更多地考虑维持之前的决策选择。     

学校联结和学业能力对高中生自尊的影响:一个多层线性模型

为探究高中生自尊的影响因素,本研究以来自18所学校的4776名高中生为研究对象,以自尊的价值—能力理论为依据,采用问卷法探讨价值因素(学校联结)和能力因素(学业能力)对高中生自尊的影响,并基于生态系统学视角构建多层线性模型。结果表明:(1)班级层面学校联结对个体自尊具有显著正向预测作用;(2)个体学业能力在学校联结与自尊之间具有中介作用;(3)个体学业能力对个体自尊的正向预测作用受到班级学业能力的调节,在高学业能力的班级条件下,个体学业能力对自尊水平的预测作用更强。     

Self-Esteem and Body Satisfaction in Male and Female Elementary School, High School, and University Students

A total of 227 male and female elementary school, high school, and university students completed questionnaires concerning self-esteem, body satisfaction, and body build. Self-esteem was lower for female students than for male students overall, and for high school than for elementary school or university students. It was positively correlated with body satisfaction (cathexis, body image, weight satisfaction), but the regression analysis only predicted self-esteem by cathexis. The gender difference in self-esteem, and the relationship between self-esteem and cathexis, may develop as early as elementary school. Suggestions for future research are given.     

An in-depth look at scholastic success: Fluid intelligence,personality traits or emotional intelligence?

The aim of the present study was to take an in-depth look at the role of fluid intelligence, personality traits and emotional intelligence (both ability-based and self-reported) in predicting scholastic success, verifying the existence of incremental validity of emotional intelligence with respect to fluid intelligence and personality variables. One hundred twenty-four students attending the last two years of high school were administered: the Advanced Progressive Matrices, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised Short Form, the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test, the Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory: Short. The results demonstrate the influence exercised by fluid intelligence, personality and emotional intelligence on scholastic success, underlining, in particular, the role of emotional intelligence defined according to the ability-based model.     

青少年内隐与外显自尊的比较研究

运用两种程序分别测量了青少年的内隐自尊与外显自尊。内隐自尊由内隐联想测验测量,外显自尊由三项自尊量表测量。研究结果表明:在不同年龄阶段与不同性别的青少年中内隐自尊普遍存在;无论是内隐自尊还是外显自尊都不存在显著的性别差异;内隐自尊无显著的年龄差异;外显自尊存在显著的年龄差异,其中高中生比初中生和大学生有更低的外显自尊;内隐自尊与外显自尊之间无显著相关。     

General and specific self-esteem in late adolescent students: race x gender x SES effects

This study assessed the effects of gender, race, and social class on the general and area-specific self-esteem of high school students. One hundred and ninety-five high school students served as subjects in a 2 (gender: male, female) X 2 (race: black, white) X 3 (social class: low, middle and high) factorial design. The Rosenberg General Self-Esteem, the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept, and the Brookover Self-Concept of Ability and School Achievement scales were the measures of either general or specific self-esteem. Females, whites, and lower social class adolescents were consistently lower in their self-esteem scores than were males, blacks, and upper social class teenagers, respectively. White females were found to be lower in general and happiness self-esteem than all other gender by race subgroups. High SES white students were lower on the happiness and behavior self-esteem measures than black students and white middle-class students. Black males and white females were less confident in their school ability than were black females and white males.     

Self-esteem, academic self-concept, and aggression at school

The present study explores the relation between academic self-concept, self-esteem, and aggression at school. Longitudinal data from a racially diverse sample of middle-school students were analyzed to explore how academic self-concept influenced the likelihood of aggressing at school and whether high self-concept exerted a different pattern of influence when threatened. Data include self-reported academic self-concept, school-reported academic performance, and parent-reported school discipline. Results suggest that, in general, students with low self-concept in achievement domains are more likely to aggress at school than those with high self-concept. However, there is a small sample of youth who, when they receive contradictory information that threatens their reported self-concept, do aggress. Global self-esteem was not found to be predictive of aggression. These results are discussed in the context of recent debates on whether self-esteem is a predictor of aggression and the use of a more proximal vs. general self-measure in examining the self-esteem and aggression relation.     

Predicting school achievement from cognitive and non-cognitive variables in a Chinese sample of elementary school children

The present study had two aims: First, to investigate the joint and specific roles of working memory (WM) and intelligence as predictors of school achievement. And second, to replicate and extend earlier findings (Spinath, Spinath, Harlaar, & Plomin, 2006) on the incremental validity of non-cognitive over cognitive abilities in the prediction of school achievement. The present sample consisted of N = 179 Chinese primary school children in the fourth grade. All measures including working memory (WM), intelligence and motivational items were assessed in class. Teachers provided test scores for the domains of Chinese and Math. We found that WM was a good predictor of school achievement and comparable in predictive power to intelligence. Together, cognitive ability including both WM and intelligence explained 17.8% and 36.4% of the variance in children's Chinese and Math scores, respectively. The relative importance of WM and intelligence varied with school domains with greater predictive power of WM for Math while intelligence explained a greater proportion of the variance in Chinese although the magnitude of this difference was only moderate. Domain-specific motivational constructs contributed only marginally to the prediction of school achievement for both Chinese and Math.     

2004至2016年中国大学生身体自尊的变迁:一项横断历史研究

大学生身体自尊是如何随年代变化的呢？研究对2004年至2016年107篇使用身体自尊量表的研究进行了横断历史研究,涉及大学生30738名。结果显示：（1）我国大学生身体自我价值感、运动能力和身体素质与年代有着显著正相关关系;（2）男女大学生身体自尊水平都有了一定提升;（3）男生在身体自尊各个因子的得分高于女生0.2~0.3个标准差,显示出了大学生在身体自尊水平上的性别差异;（4）从大学生整个群体来看,经济因素、高等教育因素与大学生身体自尊具有显著相关,而从不同性别群体来看,经济因素与人口压力对于男大学生的身体自尊影响更为明显。     

Students With Learning Disabilities and Low-Achieving Students: Peer Acceptance,Loneliness, Self-Esteem,and Depression

The present study focuses on the following questions: (a) Are students with learning disabilities (LD) and low-achieving students (LA), when controlling for age and gender, less accepted by peers, do they feel more lonely, do they have lower self-esteem, and do they feel more depressed than NLD and NLA students? (b) Does low achievement per se or does selection into special education programs or special class placement of students with LD affect these students' psychological adjustment? Two analyses were conducted to elucidate these questions. Concerning the first question, the analysis was based on a sample of 1,434 4th-, 7th-, and 9th-grade students drawn from regular school classes. It revealed that students with LD compared with NLD and NLA students were less accepted by peers, had lower self-esteem, and felt more lonely. LA students compared with NLD and NLA students were less accepted by peers, had lower self-esteem, and were more depressed. Concerning the second question, the analysis was based on a subsample of 276 LD and LA students. It revealed that, when controlling for age and gender, and holding achievement in reading, writing, arithmetic, and intelligence constant, LD students compared with LA students were less depressed but were less accepted by peers and felt lonelier. Thus, besides the effects of low academic achievement, to be labeled “a student with LD” may have negative effects primarily on peer acceptance and directly and indirectly on feelings of loneliness, particularly in primary school.

     

初中生依恋与主观幸福感:自尊的中介作用

为了探讨初中生亲子依恋、同伴依恋对其主观幸福感的影响以及集体自尊和个体自尊在两者之间所起的中介作用,本研究采用问卷调查的方法对两所初中学校的857名初一至初三的学生进行了调查.主要结果如下:(1)总体而言,男生的父子依恋水平、集体自尊水平和生活满意度更高,女生的同伴依恋水平和消极情绪更高;(2)男女生表现出不同的年级发展特点,女生在亲子依恋、集体自尊和消极情绪,男生在集体自尊上表现出明显的初二现象;(3)亲子依恋、同伴依恋水平越高,初中生的集体自尊和个体自尊水平越高,其主观幸福感程度也越强;(4)母子依恋、同伴依恋、个体自尊和父子依恋依次显著正向预测初中生的生活满意度,并依次负向预测初中生的消极情绪;同伴依恋、个体自尊、母子依恋和集体自尊依次显著正向预测初中生的积极情绪;(5)亲子、同伴依恋不仅能直接影响初中生的主观幸福感,而且通过两种途径(依恋→集体自尊→主观幸福感;依恋→集体自尊→个体自尊→主观幸福感)间接对其产生影响.     

Longitudinal changes in college math students’ implicit theories of intelligence

This study examined changes over time in implicit theories of intelligence and their relationships to help-seeking and academic performance. College algebra students completed questionnaires during the second week of classes and 2 weeks before the end of the semester (ns = 159 and 145, respectively; 61 students completed questionnaires at both waves). The questionnaires assessed entity and incremental implicit theories of general and math intelligence (beginning and end of semester) and help-seeking (end of semester). Results indicated that students had more incremental views of general than math intelligence. Further, their views became less incremental over the course of the semester; however, this decrease was greater for math than for general intelligence. Participants who exhibited a stronger incremental theory of general intelligence at the beginning of the semester subsequently reported greater help-seeking during the semester. Finally, students who had more entitative views of math intelligence earned lower course grades.     

Processing speed, intelligence, creativity, and school performance: Testing of causal hypotheses using structural equation models

According to mental speed theory of intelligence, the speed of information processing constitutes an important basis for cognitive abilities. However, the question, how mental speed relates to real world criteria, like school, academic, or job performance, is still unanswered. The aim of the study is to test an indirect speed-factor model in comparison to rivaling models explaining the relationships between different mental abilities and performance. In this speed-factor model, basic cognitive processing is assumed to influence higher mental abilities (IQ and creativity). Intelligence and creativity themselves should be valid predictors of school performance. We computed bivariate correlations and structural equation models to test this hypothesis, using indicators of processing speed [Zahlen-Verbindungs-Test (ZVT) and Coding Test], psychometric intelligence [Kognitiver Fähigkeits-Test (KFT) and Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM)], creativity [Verbaler Kreativitäts-Test (VKT) and Verwendungs-Test (VWT)] and school performance (grades). In a sample of 271 students from German gymnasiums (Class Levels 9 to 11) the speed-factor model can reproduce at best the empirical relationships between processing speed, intelligence, creativity, and school performance: It assumes that processing speed influences higher mental abilities (intelligence and creativity), which, in the sequel, influence school performance. Therefore, processing speed seems to have no direct effect on school performance; the effect is indirect as it operates via mediation through higher cognitive abilities.     

Autonomy support and achievement goals as predictors of perceived school performance and life satisfaction in the transition between lower and upper secondary school

A self-determination theory perspective on motivation assumes that basic need support is a prerequisite for motivation, achievement, and well-being in several domains of life. In the present cross-sectional study, a representative sample of 2.594 Norwegian students in their final year of lower secondary education and their first year of upper secondary education responded to a survey measuring the students’ perceptions of their teachers’ autonomy support, the students’ personal achievement goals, perceived school performance, and life satisfaction. The purpose was to investigate the structural relation between these variables, as well as grade level and gender differences. The results showed that all achievement goals (mastery, performance approach and performance avoidance) were positively predicted by autonomy support. Perceived school performance and life satisfaction were predicted by autonomy support and achievement goals, but there were some grade and gender specific relations. Furthermore, students in their first year of upper secondary education had a higher mean level of all motivational variables. Finally, mastery goals were more important for girls than boys, whereas performance goals were more important for boys than girls. In conclusion, both academic achievement (perceived school performance) and life satisfaction may be considered as important indicators of adjustment to life, and they are related to the students’ perception of teachers’ autonomy support as well as the students’ own motivation for learning. However, the mean level of these variables is partly accounted for by grade level and gender.