University of Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany.
Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
J Pers. 2024 Aug;92(4):1067-1085. doi: 10.1111/jopy.12871. Epub 2023 Aug 11.
This study aims to explore the reciprocal associations between personality traits (conscientiousness and openness to experience) and academic achievement in adolescents, using the Personality Achievement Saturation Hypothesis (PASH).
Personality traits, especially conscientiousness, and openness, have been identified as strong predictors of academic achievement. The PASH provides a framework for understanding these relationships but has mainly been studied from a unidirectional perspective. This study extends the PASH to examine reciprocal associations and how they vary with different achievement indicators.
Using large-scale panel data (N = 6482) of secondary school students in Germany, we applied cross-lagged panel models and latent change score models to examine the differential reciprocal associations between personality traits (conscientiousness/openness) and academic achievement (school grades/achievement test scores) in language and math over two years from grades 7 to 9.
In line with the PASH, initial levels of conscientiousness were more strongly associated with school grades than with achievement test scores over two years. Simultaneously, prior school grades were more strongly associated with conscientiousness over two years. However, initial levels of openness did not show differential associations with either school grades or achievement test scores over two years. Similarly, prior school grades and achievement test scores were also not differentially associated with openness over two years.
Our findings introduce an innovative lens through which we observe how the PASH can be leveraged to explain the differential reciprocal associations between conscientiousness and academic achievement. Further research is needed to examine if PASH could be similarly extended to disentangle the associations between openness and academic achievement.
本研究旨在利用人格成就饱和假说（PASH）探讨青少年人格特质（尽责性和开放性）与学业成就之间的相互关系。
人格特质，尤其是尽责性和开放性，已被确定为学业成就的强有力预测因素。PASH 提供了一个理解这些关系的框架，但主要从单向角度进行了研究。本研究扩展了 PASH，以检验相互关系以及它们如何因不同的成就指标而变化。
我们使用德国中学学生的大规模面板数据（N=6482），应用交叉滞后面板模型和潜在变化分数模型，考察了人格特质（尽责性/开放性）和语言与数学两门学科的学业成就（学校成绩/成就测试分数）在 7 至 9 年级两年间的差异互惠关系。
与 PASH 一致，尽责性的初始水平与两年内的学校成绩比与成就测试分数的相关性更强。同时，先前的学校成绩与两年内的尽责性相关性更强。然而，开放性的初始水平在两年内与学校成绩或成就测试分数均无差异相关。同样，先前的学校成绩和成就测试分数在两年内也与开放性无差异相关。
我们的发现引入了一个创新的视角，通过该视角可以观察到如何利用 PASH 来解释尽责性和学业成就之间的差异互惠关系。需要进一步研究以检验 PASH 是否可以同样扩展到解开开放性和学业成就之间的关联。
