Personal adjustment and academic predictability among college freshmen.

The objective of this study was to investigate whether the prediction of academic achievement is influenced by personal emotional adjustment as found by Hoyt and Norman in 1954. Samples consisted of 1,465 arts college freshmen from which were selected three "adjustment" groups (normal, one-peak, and maladjusted) according to arbitary cut-off points on the clinical scale of the MMPI. Correlations between grade point average (GPA) and predictor variables were determined. For the arts college, no significant differences were found between the adjustment groups for the correlation of GPA with either of the predictors high school rank or the Minnesota Scholastic Aptitude Test. 11 predictor variables were used for the engineering freshmen, only one of which yielded statistically significant differences between the adjustment groups. In contrast to the findings of Hoyt and Norman, it was concluded that the predicton of academic achievement is not influenced by personal adjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Improving the prediction of academic achievement by use of the MMPI.

ACE and MMPI clerical scale scores were correlated with grade-point average for a sample of 267 freshman women. The correlation between ACE and GPA (after correction for attenuation in the GPA) was .48; the highest multiple correlation, corrected for shrinkage, was .64. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Acculturative stress, depression, and anxiety in migrant farmwork college students of Mexican heritage.

Migrant status (migrant, nonmigrant) and sex (female, male) differences were examined in a sample of 168 college students of Mexican heritage on measures of college stress, acculturative stress, depression, anxiety, and academic achievement. Migrant farmwork students reported higher levels of acculturative stress than nonmigrants, and men reported higher levels of acculturative stress than women. When language preference was held constant, there were no differences in depression and anxiety. However, migrant students reported higher levels of depression and anxiety than nonmigrants when language preference was not held constant. The overall sample reported high levels of depression: 55% versus the expected 20% of the general population shown in other research. Depression and anxiety were highly correlated, and women reported a higher grade point average than male students. Implications include the importance of integrating cultural factors in stress research with this population and accounting for acculturative stress, depression, and anxiety in clinical treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hope of success and fear of failure as aspects of need for achievement.

3 classes of Swarthmore freshmen were given a level-of-aspiration questionnaire designed to give an independent measure of the hope of success (HS) and fear of failure (FF) continuum. The relations between this measure and total n Achievement and various n Achievement subscores were investigated. The findings were: "(a) Students at the extremes of the continuum have lower n Achievement scores than students in the middle of the continuum. (b) In terms of positive subscores (goal imagery) on the n Achievement measure, the extremes have higher scores than subjects in the middle of the HS-FF continuum. (c) In terms of negative subscores (deprivation imagery) the middle group tends to score more highly in the extremes." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Longitudinal links between older sibling features and younger siblings' academic adjustment during early adolescence.

This study investigated prospective relations between older siblings' support and academic engagement and younger siblings' academic adjustment from 7th to post-8th grade. The study was unique in that it incorporated a sample of both African American and European American adolescents. Also investigated was the extent to which the gender constellation (same sex vs. mixed sex) of sibling dyads moderated prospective associations. Findings revealed that, in mixed-sex dyads only, younger siblings' perceptions of support received from the older sibling and their positive image of the older sibling predicted declines in the younger siblings' academic self-perceptions and performance over time, even after controlling for younger siblings' background characteristics and support from parents. Older siblings' reported support to younger siblings also predicted declines in younger siblings' academic adjustment, whereas the older siblings' own level of academic engagement predicted an increase in younger siblings' academic adjustment over time. Overall, findings did not differ substantially for African and European American adolescents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personal adjustment and prediction of academic achievement.

The hypothesis tested was that "better" adjusted students would be more predictable than maladjusted students. Predictability was determined by correlation coefficients between aptitude test (CEEB-M and CEEB-V) scores and both 1st-quarter and 1st-yr grades. The sample consisted of 188 freshmen male business students who were classified into positive-, average-, and negative- adjustment groups on the basis of the means of the 10 Guilford-Zimmerman Temperament Survey (GZTS) trait raw scores. Comparisons of the adjustment groups on correlations between the mathematics and verbal scores and grade averages indicated that the adjustment groups did not differ in terms of academic predictability. Analysis of differences between the groups on both high school achievement and college achievement revealed, however, that the positive-adjustment group earned significantly higher grades than the negative group. These results indicated that although the adjustment groups did not appear to be significantly different in terms of academic predictability, a definite relationship did exist between the groups on levels of achievement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's social behaviors as predictors of academic achievement: A longitudinal analysis.

This study was an investigation of the relationships among 139 third- and fourth-grade elementary students' social skills, problem behaviors, academic competence, and academic achievement. The primary research question addressed the relationship between social behaviors and academic achievement. All data were collected and examined at 2 time points in the school year, which allowed for a replication of the relationships among the variables and an investigation of the predictive relationships over time. The results from this study indicated that (1) social skills are positively predictive of concurrent academic achievement and (2) problem behaviors are negatively predictive of concurrent academic achievement. Only social skills were a significant predictor of future academic functioning. The linkage between problem behaviors and future academic performance may vary as a function of ethnic or cultural membership status. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Autonomous, controlled, and amotivated types of academic motivation: A person-oriented analysis.

The authors investigated students' profiles regarding autonomous, controlled, and amotivated regulation and tested whether profile groups differed on some academic adjustment outcomes. Studies 1 and 2 performed on high school students revealed 3 profiles: (a) students with high levels of both controlled motivation and amotivation but low levels of autonomous motivation, (b) students with high levels of both controlled and autonomous motivation but low levels of amotivation, and (c) students with moderate levels of both autonomous and controlled motivations but low levels of amotivation. These first 2 studies revealed that students in the high autonomous/high controlled group reported the highest degree of academic adjustment. Study 3 performed on college students revealed 3 profiles: (a) students with high levels of autonomous motivations but low levels of both controlled motivation and amotivation, (b) students with high levels of both autonomous and controlled motivation but low levels of amotivation, and (c) students with low to moderate levels of the various motivational components. Study 3 indicated that students in the autonomous group were more persistent than students in the other groups. Results are discussed in light of self-determination theory (E. L. Deci & R. M. Ryan, 1985). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Academic control and action control in the achievement of college students: A longitudinal field study.

A contradiction to the typical pattern of academic success occurs when bright, enthusiastic high school students fail after entering university. Two measures, perceived academic control and action control (i.e., preoccupation with failure) were administered to 524 college students at the beginning of a 2-semester course. Achievement-related cognitions, emotions, motivation, and final grades were measured at the end of the course. High-academic-control students exerted more effort, reported less boredom and anxiety, were more motivated, used self-monitoring strategies more often, felt more in control of their course assignments and of life in general, believed they performed better, and obtained higher final grades. Failure-preoccupied students received higher final grades, which corroborated their self-reported performance. Of note, high-control, high-failure-preoccupied students outperformed the other 3 groups by 1 to 2 letter grades. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-efficacy and academic success among ethnically diverse first-generation community college students.

A longitudinal analysis of self-efficacy for education and sociodemographic characteristics was conducted among an ethnically diverse sample of first-generation college students (FGS) attending an urban community college. Baseline rates of self-efficacy for education and first-generation immigrant status significantly predicted increased cumulative grade point average at 1-year follow-up. These findings suggest that self-efficacy for education is an important cognitive resource among ethnically diverse FGS attending community colleges, whose immigrant generation status might have an impact on their educational success. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship of experimentally aroused achievement motivation to academic achievement anxiety.

180 Ss, balanced for sex, were administered the Achievement Anxiety Test (AAT) under experimental conditions producing either minimal or high arousal of achievement motivation. Regression of scholastic aptitude and AAT scores on grade-point average (GPA) showed both AAT scales accounting for the same variance in GPA. Analyses of variance of AAT scores showed no sex differences, but highly significant main effects for experimental condition and level of scholastic aptitude. It was concluded that test anxiety is a unidimensional construct, and that the AAT is a measure of anxiety aroused by stress cues present during test taking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The prediction of academic achievement with the California Psychological Inventory.

An attempt to use the California Psychological Inventory to predict the academic grades of students in 3 military courses: Neuropsychiatric, Clinical Psychology, and Social Work Procedures. The data indicated that a combination of the Achievement via Independence scale of the California Psychological Inventory and the General Technical score from the Army Classification Battery, makes an effective instrument for screening students for admittance to these courses. The predicted criterion scores, obtaned from 2 multiple prediction equations, were correlated with the academic grades achieved by students in 2 samples (N = 98; N = 64). The obtained r's were .610 and .600 (p     

Anxiety in academic achievement situations.

Scales of general anxiety (Taylor, Welsh, and Freeman) and of anxiety specific to academic situations (Mandler-Sarason, Achievement Anxiety Test) were administered to college freshmen. Academic achievement included verbal aptitude, the Scholastic Aptitude Test, overall grade-point average, and performance in psychology courses. The 2 tests of specific anxiety were seen to be measuring something different than the more general tests and were differentially related to academic performance. "Facilitating" vs. "debilitating" anxiety was distinguished. Results are related to the general body of knowledge in area. (18 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

To achieve or not to achieve: A self-regulation perspective on adolescents' academic decision making.

In 2 studies, the authors investigated the utility of the self-regulation model of decision making for explaining and predicting adolescents' academic decision making. Participants were mostly 9th and 11th graders. The 1st study consisted of all boys, and a 2nd similar study consisted of boys and girls. Measures included a newly developed assessment of decision-making skill (the Decision-Making-Competency Inventory), select scales of the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory-High School Version, an assessment of the importance of academic goals, and teacher ratings of achievement behavior. Adolescents' valuing of academic goals and their decision-making competency were typically the best predictors of their achievement behavior. Older adolescent boys did not affirm achievement striving compared with younger adolescent boys and older adolescent girls. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prediction of college achievement from the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule using intellectual ability as a moderator.

Following the procedures of Goodstein and Heilbrun (see 37:3), scores for 102 males on the EPPS, the Minnesota Scholastic Aptitude Test (MSAT), and 2 grade-point indices were analyzed for the entire sample and for low, middle, and high ability groups using partial correlation with MSAT scores held constant. The results show little agreement with those reported by Goodstein and Heilbrun. The sample was also randomly divided into cross-validation groups and a similar analysis performed. These results were not stable. The possible moderating effects of intellectual ability are noted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Peer victimization and academic achievement in a multiethnic sample: The role of perceived academic self-efficacy.

This study examines the link between perceived peer victimization and academic adjustment in an ethnically diverse sample of 1,895 Grade 6 students nested within 108 school classes. It was hypothesized that students' academic self-efficacy mediates the (negative) link between victimization experiences and academic achievement outcomes. Multilevel analyses were used to test this hypothesis and to explore whether there are differences between ethnic minority and majority group children. Results indicated that peer victimization was negatively associated with both relative class-based, and absolute test-based measures of academic achievement. These associations were similar across different school classes. As expected, the link between victimization and achievement was mediated by perceived academic self-efficacy, suggesting that victimized students did less well academically because they considered themselves to be less competent. The lower perceived self-efficacy of victimized children could be partly attributed to lower global self-esteem and depressed affect. Results were largely similar for ethnic minority and majority group children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivational Orientations in the Classroom: Age Differences and Academic Correlates.

Age differences in intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and the relationships of each to academic outcomes were examined in an ethnically diverse sample of 797 3rd-grade through 8th-grade children. Using independent measures, the authors found intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to be only moderately correlated, suggesting that they may be largely orthogonal dimensions of motivation in school. Consistent with previous research, intrinsic motivation showed a significant linear decrease from 3rd grade through 8th grade and proved positively correlated with children's grades and standardized test scores at all grade levels. Extrinsic motivation showed few differences across grade levels and proved negatively correlated with academic outcomes. Surprisingly few differences based on children's sex or ethnicity were found. Causes and consequences of the disturbingly low levels of motivation for older, relative to younger, children are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neither colorblind nor oppositional: Perceived minority status and trajectories of academic adjustment among Latinos in elite higher education.

As more Latinos experience upward social mobility, it is increasingly necessary to challenge oppositional cultural assumptions to explain how perceived minority status barriers may influence their academic achievement. The present study builds on previous work that identified 3 distinct minority status orientations among Latino college students entering elite colleges—which the authors call assimilation, accommodation, and resistance. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Freshmen, the authors examined how these orientations influence Latino students’ academic and social adjustment from their freshman to junior years of college. Latino students who most strongly questioned the openness of the opportunity structure to ethnic minorities—resisters—reported similar grades and time spent studying as their counterparts who perceived less ethnic and racial inequities. In addition, resisters did not disengage from their social environment but rather became increasingly involved in campus activities outside the classroom during their college career. Implications for understanding ethnic minority individuals’ interpretations of social stratification in well-resourced, high-achieving contexts are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Achievement themes and directionality of autokinetic movement.

"In three samples of college students, it was found that subjects with a low score on achievement orientation (from a brief TAT) indicated more often initial autokinetic movement to the right than subjects with high need for achievement. A tentative explanation was offered concerning the manner in which differences in achievement motivation might be translated into differences in the autokinetic measure." From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4HJ64F. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What college students really think about ethnic student organizations.

In this study, the authors examined European, Hispanic, and African American college students' attitudes toward ethnic student organizations (ESOs). Based on data from Study 1 (N = 750), it was found that students across ethnic groups expressed uncertainty about whether ESOs were beneficial/necessary, fair/acceptable, and about their interest in joining an ESO. As a group, Hispanic and African American students did not believe that ESOs contributed to racial or ethnic separatism on campus, whereas European Americans expressed uncertainty about that possibility. In Study 2, a separate sample of students (N = 631) was randomly assigned to read the mission statement of a White, Hispanic, or African American ESO. Consistent with asymmetry theory, students in general judged the White American ESO as significantly less beneficial/necessary, less fair/acceptable, and as contributing more to racial/ethnic separatism than the Hispanic and African American ESOs. European, Hispanic, and African American students viewed their own ESO most favorably, although European American students were more consistent in their appraisals of ESOs irrespective of the ethnic focus of the ESO. Implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)