Self-Control Outdoes Fluid Reasoning in Explaining Vocational and Academic Performance—But Does It?

Trait self-control, the ability to interrupt undesired behavioral tendencies and to refrain from acting on them, is one of the most important socio-emotional skills. There had been some evidence that it outperforms intelligence in predicting students’ achievement measured as both school grades and s...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Schmidt, Fabian T. C., Lindner, Christoph, Etzel, Julian M., Retelsdorf, Jan
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7248263/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32508697
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00757
_version_ 1783538332102295552
author Schmidt, Fabian T. C.
Lindner, Christoph
Etzel, Julian M.
Retelsdorf, Jan
author_facet Schmidt, Fabian T. C.
Lindner, Christoph
Etzel, Julian M.
Retelsdorf, Jan
author_sort Schmidt, Fabian T. C.
collection PubMed
description Trait self-control, the ability to interrupt undesired behavioral tendencies and to refrain from acting on them, is one of the most important socio-emotional skills. There had been some evidence that it outperforms intelligence in predicting students’ achievement measured as both school grades and standardized achievement tests. However, recent research has shown that the relationships between trait self-control and measures of achievement are more equivocal, emphasizing the importance of the respective outcome of the test to the individual. On the one hand, high-stakes school achievement measures such as GPA repeatedly showed strong relationships with trait self-control. On the other hand, findings on the relationships between trait self-control and performance in mostly low-stakes standardized achievement tests were more heterogeneous. The substantial positive relationship between intelligence and both achievement measures is uncontested. However, the incremental value of trait self-control beyond intelligence when investigating their relationships with achievement remains uncertain. To investigate the relationships of self-control with school achievement and two standardized achievement tests (school mathematics and physics) beyond fluid reasoning, we drew on a large heterogeneous sample of adults in vocational training (N = 3,146). Results show differential patterns of results for fluid reasoning and trait self-control and the achievement measures. Trait self-control and fluid reasoning showed similar relationships with school achievement, whereas only fluid reasoning was significantly associated with standardized achievement test scores. For both achievement measures, no significant interaction effects between trait self-control and fluid reasoning were found. The results highlight the utility of trait self-control for performance in high-stakes school assessment beyond fluid reasoning, but set limits to the overall value of trait self-control for achievement in standardized assessments—at least in low-stakes testing situations.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7248263
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2020
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-72482632020-06-05 Self-Control Outdoes Fluid Reasoning in Explaining Vocational and Academic Performance—But Does It? Schmidt, Fabian T. C. Lindner, Christoph Etzel, Julian M. Retelsdorf, Jan Front Psychol Psychology Trait self-control, the ability to interrupt undesired behavioral tendencies and to refrain from acting on them, is one of the most important socio-emotional skills. There had been some evidence that it outperforms intelligence in predicting students’ achievement measured as both school grades and standardized achievement tests. However, recent research has shown that the relationships between trait self-control and measures of achievement are more equivocal, emphasizing the importance of the respective outcome of the test to the individual. On the one hand, high-stakes school achievement measures such as GPA repeatedly showed strong relationships with trait self-control. On the other hand, findings on the relationships between trait self-control and performance in mostly low-stakes standardized achievement tests were more heterogeneous. The substantial positive relationship between intelligence and both achievement measures is uncontested. However, the incremental value of trait self-control beyond intelligence when investigating their relationships with achievement remains uncertain. To investigate the relationships of self-control with school achievement and two standardized achievement tests (school mathematics and physics) beyond fluid reasoning, we drew on a large heterogeneous sample of adults in vocational training (N = 3,146). Results show differential patterns of results for fluid reasoning and trait self-control and the achievement measures. Trait self-control and fluid reasoning showed similar relationships with school achievement, whereas only fluid reasoning was significantly associated with standardized achievement test scores. For both achievement measures, no significant interaction effects between trait self-control and fluid reasoning were found. The results highlight the utility of trait self-control for performance in high-stakes school assessment beyond fluid reasoning, but set limits to the overall value of trait self-control for achievement in standardized assessments—at least in low-stakes testing situations. Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-05-19 /pmc/articles/PMC7248263/ /pubmed/32508697 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00757 Text en Copyright © 2020 Schmidt, Lindner, Etzel and Retelsdorf. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Schmidt, Fabian T. C.
Lindner, Christoph
Etzel, Julian M.
Retelsdorf, Jan
Self-Control Outdoes Fluid Reasoning in Explaining Vocational and Academic Performance—But Does It?
title Self-Control Outdoes Fluid Reasoning in Explaining Vocational and Academic Performance—But Does It?
title_full Self-Control Outdoes Fluid Reasoning in Explaining Vocational and Academic Performance—But Does It?
title_fullStr Self-Control Outdoes Fluid Reasoning in Explaining Vocational and Academic Performance—But Does It?
title_full_unstemmed Self-Control Outdoes Fluid Reasoning in Explaining Vocational and Academic Performance—But Does It?
title_short Self-Control Outdoes Fluid Reasoning in Explaining Vocational and Academic Performance—But Does It?
title_sort self-control outdoes fluid reasoning in explaining vocational and academic performance—but does it?
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7248263/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32508697
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00757
work_keys_str_mv AT schmidtfabiantc selfcontroloutdoesfluidreasoninginexplainingvocationalandacademicperformancebutdoesit
AT lindnerchristoph selfcontroloutdoesfluidreasoninginexplainingvocationalandacademicperformancebutdoesit
AT etzeljulianm selfcontroloutdoesfluidreasoninginexplainingvocationalandacademicperformancebutdoesit
AT retelsdorfjan selfcontroloutdoesfluidreasoninginexplainingvocationalandacademicperformancebutdoesit