Academic achievement in first-year Portuguese college students: the role of academic preparation and learning strategies

This paper analyses the role of academic preparation and learning strategies in the prediction of first-year Portuguese college students' academic achievement, considering students' sex and academic field attended. A sample of 445 first-year college students (68.5% female) from the University of Minho (25.8% enrolled in economics, 35.3% in science/technology, and 38.9% in humanities degrees) participated in the study. Students answered a questionnaire on learning strategies in the classroom at the end of the first semester, which consisted of 44 items organized in five dimensions: comprehensive approach, surface approach, personal competency perceptions, intrinsic motivation, and organization of study activities. Academic achievement (grade point average at the end of first year) and academic preparation (students' higher education access mark) were obtained through the academic records of the university. Results showed that academic preparation was the strongest predictor of first-year academic achievement, and only marginal additional variance was explained by learning strategies as assessed by the self-reported questionnaire. There were sex and academic field differences, but these variables do not seem strong enough to affect the results, although the different percentages of variance captured by each model and the different weights associated to higher education access mark, stimulate the use of these and/or other personal and contextual variables when analysing the phenomenon.     

The personality assessment system: A radical hypothesis

Two stories are presented. The first story is about a clinical practitioner developing an assessment method beginning with a connection of test “signs” with behavior, and proceeding to a system that could mystify observers. The second story is about the application of scientific methods to explain how the system could work. Together the stories are an example of practice informing science, and science informing practice. The basic hypothesis used is that much of what we call personality is “caused” by differential aptitudes as modified by long-term learning. It is also assumed that people would prefer to use those aptitudes they feel are their better ones and avoid those in which they feel weaker.     

Author gender differences in psychology citation impact 1996–2018

Academic psychology in the USA is a gender success story in terms of overturning its early male dominance but there are still relatively few senior female psychology researchers. To assess whether there are gender differences in citation impact that might help to explain either of these trends, this study investigates psychology articles since 1996. Seven out of eight Scopus psychology categories had a majority of female first-authored journal articles by 2018. From regression analyses of first and last author gender and team size, female first authors associate with a slightly higher average citation impact, but extra authors have a 10 times stronger association with higher average citation impact. Last author gender has little association with citation impact. Female first authors are more likely to be in larger teams and if team size is attributed to the first author's work, then their apparent influence of female first authors on citation impact doubles. While gender differences in average citation impact are too small to account for gender-related trends in academic psychology, they warn that male-dominated citation-based ranking lists of psychologists do not reflect the state of psychology research today.     

A Prospective Longitudinal Study of High School Dropouts Examining Multiple Predictors Across Development

Prior studies report a variety of demographic, school, individual, and family characteristics that are related to high school drop out. This study utilizes data from a 19-year prospective longitudinal study of “at-risk” children to explore multiple predictors of high school dropouts across development. The proposed model of dropping out emphasizes the importance of the early home environment and the quality of early caregiving influencing subsequent development. The results of this study demonstrate the association of the early home environment, the quality of early caregiving, socioeconomic status, IQ, behavior problems, academic achievement, peer relations, and parent involvement with dropping out of high school at age 19. These results are consistent with the view of dropping out as a dynamic developmental process that begins before children enter elementary school. Psychosocial variables prior to school entry predicted dropping out with power equal to later IQ and school achievement test scores. In our efforts to better understand processes influencing dropping out prior to high school graduation, early developmental features warrant further emphasis.     

The mediating role of cognitive ability on the relationship between motor proficiency and early academic achievement in children

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between motor proficiency and academic achievement in 7 years-old children. A mediating model in which the relation between motor proficiency and academic achievement is mediated by cognitive ability was tested. Participants included 152 children from the longitudinal study Jeunes enfants et leurs milieux de vie (Young Children and their Environments). Motor proficiency was evaluated with the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency (BOT2), cognitive ability with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) and academic achievement with the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test II (WIAT II). Results showed that motor proficiency, cognitive ability and academic achievement were positively correlated with each other. A structural equation modeling analysis revealed that motor proficiency had a positive effect on academic achievement through an indirect path via cognitive ability. These results highlight the fundamental importance of motor skills in children's academic achievement in early school years.     

Academic Capitalism as a Key Challenge and the Emergence of the New Economy Scenario

What are the evolutionary scenarios of academic capitalism, able to deliver an ever more strategic knowledge, with a high added value within the global society? Under the current system of knowledge economy, characterized, at the beginning of this third millennium, by strong hyper-complexity, the challenge for the society evolution toward a sustainable world, full of varieties and opportunities, is the development of a form of capitalism able to guide and facilitate the reshaping of society through self-organizing systems (Lazslo 2011 Lazslo, E. 2011. “Prefazione”. In Teoria sistemica e complessità morfogenetica del capitalismo, Edited by: Pitasi, A. Rome: Aracne.  [Google Scholar]) the academic capitalism as a form of functional capitalism, the difference that makes the knowledge considered at a systemic level.     

Text anxiety on cognitive ability test can result in differential predictive validity of academic performance

This paper investigates whether test anxiety leads to differential predictive validity in academic performance. Our results show that the predictive validity of a cognitive ability test, using final exam performance as a criterion, decreased a small amount as Worry (the cognitive aspect of anxiety) increased but was unaffected by Emotionality (the physiological aspect of anxiety). These results suggest that cognitive ability tests may be more useful as predictors of performance for low anxiety test-takers. These findings are discussed in the context of the interference and deficit perspectives of test anxiety.     

Parental influences on self-regulation and achievement in children with adolescent mothers

The predictors of academic achievement and self-regulation in 95 high-risk children studied from birth were investigated during the second grade. Parenting, early maternal adjustment, child adjustment and temperament were hypothesized to predict the emergence of self-regulation. Although parenting, maternal adjustment, and child adjustment were related to achievement and classroom adjustment, they were not related to children's self-regulation, which was the strongest predictor of teacher ratings of academic performance, standardized achievement in math and reading, and classroom adjustment.     

Differential influence of basic psychological needs on burnout and academic achievement in three southeast European countries

Several studies show the importance of basic psychological needs (BPN) for decreasing burnout and increasing grade point average (GPA), but, to our knowledge, no prior study has explored the potential contextual differences in Southeastern European countries. Moreover, even less is known about how this relationship may differ during stressful (exam) and less stressful (beginning of the semester) periods. Measures of the Maslach Burnout Inventory—Student Survey and BPN Satisfaction and Frustration Scale were translated and adapted. The study included a cross-sectional sample of students from Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia during beginning of the semester and exam period. Across all countries and both contexts, students with high autonomy need satisfaction showed the strongest decrease in burnout, followed by those with high competence need satisfaction. Students with high academic achievement showed an increase due to competence need satisfaction. Competence and autonomy need satisfaction were higher beginning of a semester, while burnout was higher during the exam period. BPN play an important role in educational settings—satisfaction of the need for autonomy and competence protects students from burnout, and the need for competence predicts greater academic achievement regardless of culture or time of the semester.     

Effects of different facets of paternal and maternal control behaviour on early adolescents' perceived academic competence

The purpose of this study was to examine how different aspects of paternal and maternal control behaviours influence the perceived academic competence of early adolescents indirectly via their engagement with school. The analyses are based on a longitudinal study with two waves that were separated by 12 months. The participants were 228 early adolescents (50.4% girls) with an average age of 11.62 years (SD = .41) at the outset. Structural equation modeling analyses using bootstrapping procedures revealed that parental supervision was indirectly related to the perceived academic competence of adolescents via their engagement with schools, whereas parental authoritarian control was only linked to engagement with school. The discussion focuses on the multifaceted nature of parental control and the importance of both parents for the academic success of adolescents.