Institut for Statskundskab

TY - JOUR

T1 - A Stable Relationship Between Personality and Academic Performance from Childhood through Adolescence

T2 - An original study and replication in hundred-thousand-person samples

AU - Andersen, Simon Calmar

AU - Gensowski, Miriam

AU - Ludeke, Steven

AU - John, Oliver P.

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - Objective: Many studies have demonstrated that personality traits predict academic performance for students in high school and college. Much less evidence exists on whether the relationship between personality traits and academic performance changes from childhood to adolescence, and existing studies show very mixed findings. This study tests one hypothesis—that the importance of Agreeableness, Emotional Stability and Conscientiousness for academic performance changes fundamentally during school—against an alternative hypothesis suggesting that the changing relationships found in previous research are largely measurement artifacts. Method: We used a nationwide sample of 135,389 primary and lower-secondary students from grade 4 to grade 8. We replicated all results in a separate sample of another 127,375 students. Results: We found that academic performance was equally strongly related to our measure of Conscientiousness at all these grade levels, and the significance of Agreeableness and Emotional Stability predominantly reflected their connections with Conscientiousness. However, age also appeared to shape the relationship between Emotional Stability and performance. Conclusion: Amidst the replication crisis in psychology these findings demonstrate a very stable and predictable relationship between personality traits and academic performance, which may have important implications for the education of children already in primary school.

AB - Objective: Many studies have demonstrated that personality traits predict academic performance for students in high school and college. Much less evidence exists on whether the relationship between personality traits and academic performance changes from childhood to adolescence, and existing studies show very mixed findings. This study tests one hypothesis—that the importance of Agreeableness, Emotional Stability and Conscientiousness for academic performance changes fundamentally during school—against an alternative hypothesis suggesting that the changing relationships found in previous research are largely measurement artifacts. Method: We used a nationwide sample of 135,389 primary and lower-secondary students from grade 4 to grade 8. We replicated all results in a separate sample of another 127,375 students. Results: We found that academic performance was equally strongly related to our measure of Conscientiousness at all these grade levels, and the significance of Agreeableness and Emotional Stability predominantly reflected their connections with Conscientiousness. However, age also appeared to shape the relationship between Emotional Stability and performance. Conclusion: Amidst the replication crisis in psychology these findings demonstrate a very stable and predictable relationship between personality traits and academic performance, which may have important implications for the education of children already in primary school.

KW - Big Five

KW - education

KW - personality

KW - replicability

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85078238362&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/jopy.12538

DO - 10.1111/jopy.12538

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 31895473

VL - 88

SP - 925

EP - 939

JO - Journal of Personality

JF - Journal of Personality

SN - 0022-3506

IS - 5

ER -