scholarly journals The influence of personality traits on university performance: Evidence from Italian freshmen students

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (11) ◽  
pp. e0258586
Author(s):  
Luca Corazzini ◽  
Silvia D’Arrigo ◽  
Emanuele Millemaci ◽  
Pietro Navarra
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
First Year ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
Freshmen Students ◽  
Parental Characteristics ◽  
Conditional Independence Assumption ◽  
Definite Pattern ◽  
University Performance ◽  
Undergraduate Programs ◽  
The Impact

Despite several attempts to provide a definite pattern regarding the effects of personality traits on performance in higher education, the debate over the nature of the relationship is far from being conclusive. The use of different subject pools and sample sizes, as well as the use of identification strategies that either do not adequately account for selection bias or are unable to establish causality between measures of academic performance and noncognitive skills, are possible sources of heterogeneity. This paper investigates the impact of the Big Five traits, as measured before the beginning of the academic year, on the grade point average achieved in the first year after the enrolment, taking advantage of a unique and large dataset from a cohort of Italian students in all undergraduate programs containing detailed information on student and parental characteristics. Relying on a robust strategy to credibly satisfy the conditional independence assumption, we find that higher levels of conscientiousness and openness to experience positively affect student score.

Impact of Merit-based Financial Aidon Student achievement

2014 ◽  
pp. 112-126
Author(s):  
O. Poldin ◽  
M. Yudkevich
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Financial Aid ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
First Year ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
Average Distribution ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Academic Year ◽  
Russian Universities

Some Russian universities provide tuition fee discount to their students conditioned on their academic achievement. The paper examines the impact of this type of financial aid on student performance. The amount of this discounts for the first academic year depends on the admission test results, and its extension for the second year depends on the student’s academic achievement in the first year. Using regression discontinuity design and quantile regression, we show that financial aid stimulates the performance of those fee-paying students, who are in the upper part of the grade-point-average distribution.

scholarly journals Binge Drinking, Cannabis Co-Consumption and Academic Achievement in First Year University Students in Spain: Academic Adjustment as a Mediator

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 542 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Fernanda Páramo ◽  
Fernando Cadaveira ◽  
Carolina Tinajero ◽  
María Soledad Rodríguez
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
University Students ◽  
Binge Drinking ◽  
Academic Adjustment ◽  
Mediation Effect ◽  
First Year ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
Cannabis Consumption ◽  
First Year University ◽  
The Impact

Little is known about how binge drinking or the combination of binge drinking and cannabis consumption affect academic achievement in students during the transition to university, or about the mechanisms that mediate this relationship. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between this pattern of alcohol/cannabis consumption and academic achievement, considering academic adjustment as a possible mediator. A total of 258 Spanish, first-year university students (145 females and 113 males), enrolled in undergraduate degree courses, were categorized into three groups on the basis of their patterns of alcohol/cannabis consumption: control, binge drinkers and co-consumers. The findings showed a significant effect of the combined binge drinking/cannabis consumption, but not of binge drinking alone, upon academic achievement and academic adjustment. Grade point average (GPA) and academic adjustment were lower in the co-consumers than in the other groups. Regarding the mediation effect, 34.33% of the impact of combined alcohol/cannabis use on GPA was mediated by academic adjustment. The combined consumption of alcohol and cannabis led to difficulties in adaptation to academic life, which in turn contributed to poorer performance at university. The implications of the findings are discussed.

The Impact of Dosage on a Mindfulness Intervention With First-Year College Students

2021 ◽  
pp. 152102512110416
Author(s):  
Elizabeth S. Bambacus ◽  
Abigail H. Conley
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Binary Logistic Regression ◽  
First Year Experience ◽  
Outcome Variable ◽  
First Year ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
Mindfulness Intervention ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
The Impact

While mindfulness intervention research is prevalent, it is limited in (1) relation to college students’ grade point average (GPA) and retention and (2) minimum dosage recommended for the intervention. This repeated-measures quasi-experimental nonequivalent control groups study investigated differences in mindfulness, stress, flourishing, GPA, and retention between students ( n = 248) in first-year experience seminars who received a brief mindfulness intervention and the comparison group ( n = 125) who did not receive the intervention. The intervention consisted of three- to five-minute mindfulness exercises at the beginning of class that met once a week. In contrast to results of previous studies, this study—when controlling for class sections and gender—showed no significant differences in any outcome variable between groups. These results provide important evidence that a mindfulness dosing limit might exist. A post hoc binary logistic regression supported previous findings that GPA predicts retention. Implications are discussed in regard to college administrators, faculty, and student affairs professionals.

Supporting Biomedical Students Struggling With Second-Choice-Syndrome to Thrive Rather Than Just Survive First Year

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 176-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donnalee B. Taylor ◽  
Glenn J. Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Grade Point Averages ◽  
Biomedical Science ◽  
Just In Time ◽  
First Year ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
Transfer Rates ◽  
James Cook ◽  
College And University ◽  
University Student Retention ◽  
The Impact

The James Cook University (JCU) Biomedical Science students struggle with their first year and “second-choice-syndrome” as evidenced by high inter-degree transfer rates and low primary degree completions despite the cohort having high subject or unit grade point averages. This project evaluated the impact of two extracurricular support initiatives (email newsletters and themed luncheons) to deliver just-in-time information and support on student engagement and success. Students and academics rated the initiatives highly with positive support themes of networking, collegiality, belonging and engagement; there was no direct improvement in subject grades or degree satisfaction metrics. However, there was an increase in degree, college, and university student retention. It is becoming increasingly important to recognize and separate the classic academic measures of grades as an indication of success and that more personal or social support is required for students to thrive regardless of cohort demographics or career path. A student’s initial experience on campus is important and influences students’ persistence in higher education and their believed capabilities.

scholarly journals The impact of gamification on students’ learning, engagement and behavior based on their personality traits

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Smiderle ◽  
Sandro José Rigo ◽  
Leonardo B. Marques ◽  
Jorge Arthur Peçanha de Miranda Coelho ◽  
Patricia A. Jaques
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environment ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Adverse Outcomes ◽  
First Year ◽  
Web Based ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Open Question ◽  
Game Elements ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe gamification of education can enhance levels of students’ engagement similar to what games can do, to improve their particular skills and optimize their learning. On the other hand, scientific studies have shown adverse outcomes based on the user’s preferences. The link among the user’s characteristics, executed actions, and the game elements is still an open question. Aiming to find some insights for this issue, we have investigated the effects of gamification on students’ learning, behavior, and engagement based on their personality traits in a web-based programming learning environment. We have conducted an experiment for four months with 40 undergraduate students of first-year courses on programming. Students were randomly assigned to one of the two versions of the programming learning environment: a gamified version composed of ranking, points, and badges and the original non-gamified version. We have found evidence that gamification affected users in distinct ways based on their personality traits. Our results indicate that the effect of gamification depends on the specific characteristics of users.First part title: Studying the impact of gamification on learning and engagement based on the personality traits of students

scholarly journals Breadth of knowledge vs. grades: What best predicts achievement in the first year of health sciences programmes?

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boaz Shulruf ◽  
Meisong Li ◽  
Judy McKimm ◽  
Melinda Smith
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Student Success ◽  
Grade Point Average ◽  
Grade Level ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Demographic Variables ◽  
First Year ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
The Impact ◽  
School Curricula

This study aimed to identify those features within secondary school curricula and assessment, particularly science subjects that best predict academic achievement in the first year of three different three-year undergraduate health professional programmes (nursing, pharmacy, and health sciences) at a large New Zealand university. In particular, this study compared the contribution of breadth of knowledge (number of credits acquired) versus grade level (grade point average) and explored the impact of demographic variables on achievement. The findings indicated that grades are the most important factor predicting student success in the first year of university. Although taking biology and physics at secondary school has some impact on university first year achievement, the effect is relatively minor.

scholarly journals Monitoring the Results of the Tutoring Program in its Face-to-Face and Virtual Modalities on the Academic Achievement of Students at a Mexican University

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 169
Author(s):  
Omar Cuevas Salazar ◽  
Ramona Imelda García López ◽  
Javier José Vales García ◽  
Isidro Roberto Cruz Medina
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Grade Point Averages ◽  
First Year ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Tutoring Program ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

The tutorship program is aimed at supporting students throughout their university career and its objective is to prevent future problems of adaptation in the educational ambience as well as intervening in matters of academic achievement. At the Instituto Tecnológico de Sonora (Technological Institute of Sonora) (ITSON), the individual tutorship program began in 2000. In 2002 group tutoring began in order to see to the entire first year student population and today group tutoring is offered in both the face-to-face and virtual modalities. The general objective of the present study is to determine the impact the programs of face-to-face and virtual tutoring at the ITSON has had on students’ academic achievement, during the four semesters after having participated in this program. Information on 2,995 students from the different areas of study offered at the university was collected from databases which existed at the Institute and analyzed using different statistical techniques. The tutoring program is shown to have had a favorable impact on the index of students’ failing classes, during the semester they were enrolled in tutoring, but not during the subsequent semesters, during which they did not participate in the tutorship program. The grade point averages obtained by students who had face-to-face tutoring were statistically different from those of the students who did not have tutoring. This was true for all of the semesters analyzed. The same thing happened with the students who had virtual tutoring except for during the second semester when the two were statistically equal.

The Need to Belong and the Relationship Between Loneliness and Health

2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 194-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Freda-Marie Hartung ◽  
Britta Renner
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Social Isolation ◽  
Social Situation ◽  
First Year ◽  
Health State ◽  
Need To Belong ◽  
First Year University ◽  
Perceived Social Isolation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Humans are social animals; consequently, a lack of social ties affects individuals’ health negatively. However, the desire to belong differs between individuals, raising the question of whether individual differences in the need to belong moderate the impact of perceived social isolation on health. In the present study, 77 first-year university students rated their loneliness and health every 6 weeks for 18 weeks. Individual differences in the need to belong were found to moderate the relationship between loneliness and current health state. Specifically, lonely students with a high need to belong reported more days of illness than those with a low need to belong. In contrast, the strength of the need to belong had no effect on students who did not feel lonely. Thus, people who have a strong need to belong appear to suffer from loneliness and become ill more often, whereas people with a weak need to belong appear to stand loneliness better and are comparatively healthy. The study implies that social isolation does not impact all individuals identically; instead, the fit between the social situation and an individual’s need appears to be crucial for an individual’s functioning.

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