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Does Self-control Outdo IQ in Predicting Academic Performance?

Alexander T Vazsonyi1, Magda Javakhishvili2, Marek Blatny3

  • 1University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA. vazsonyi@uky.edu.

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|November 20, 2021
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Self-control and intelligence both predict academic achievement in adolescents. However, intelligence was a stronger predictor than self-control for academic performance and developmental changes over two years.

Keywords:
Academic achievementIndividual differencesIntelligenceSchoolsSelf-discipline

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Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Educational Psychology
  • Cognitive Psychology

Background:

  • Duckworth and Seligman's research highlighted self-discipline's importance for academic success over intelligence.
  • Limited replication studies exist, particularly across diverse cultural contexts.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if self-control is a stronger predictor of academic achievement than intelligence in early adolescents.
  • To examine the longitudinal predictive power of self-control and intelligence on academic performance and its developmental changes over two years.

Main Methods:

  • Longitudinal study involving 589 6th and 7th graders (mean age 12.34 years).
  • Path analyses were used to assess the predictive relationships between self-control, intelligence, and academic performance measures.
  • Academic performance was assessed via teacher-reported competence and school-reported grades over two years.

Main Results:

  • Both self-control and intelligence longitudinally predicted academic competence and grades.
  • Intelligence was a significantly stronger predictor of academic performance than self-control.
  • Only intelligence predicted developmental changes in academic performance over the two-year period; self-control did not.

Conclusions:

  • While self-control is a factor, intelligence plays a more substantial role in predicting adolescent academic achievement and its development.
  • Findings underscore the critical and potentially more dominant influence of cognitive abilities over self-regulatory skills in academic trajectories.