Wen Cheng

Graduation Semester and Year

2008

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Psychology

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

William Ickes

Abstract

The present study was an on-line correlational survey study of 377 UT-Arlington undergraduates. It examined what personality variables predicted university-level academic performance over and above conscientiousness, after also controlling for gender and previous academic ability (that is, high school rank and SAT scores). I found that conscientiousness predicted university GPA after controlling for gender and previous academic ability (high school rank and SAT score). However, some of predictive validity of conscientiousness proved to be attributable to more specific predictors such as academic locus of control and self-expectancy (H1). Moreover, conscientiousness and self-motivation compensated for each other in predicting university GPA (H2), and self-expectancy interacted with self-insight to predict GPA, whereas family-expectancy did not (H3). Finally, the results of factor-level regressions revealed extraversion was marginally negatively correlated with GPA, whereas socioeconomic status (SES) and self-assertion were both positively correlated with GPA. Overall, the data indicate that both personality characteristics and social-context variables can be used to predict university students' academic performance, with a multiple R2 in the present sample of .245.

Disciplines

Psychology | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

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