Sophie Von Stumm
Biographic Data
| ID | 321921 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sophie Von Stumm |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sophie |
| FAMILY NAME | Von Stumm |
| SIGNATURE | VON STUMM S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of York |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0447-5471 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 27 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 26 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 27 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Are Wednesday's Children Full of Woe? Children's Differences in Personality Are Independent of Day of Birth
INTRODUCTION: Nursery rhymes, which are rich in literary devices, benefit children's language learning. Less is known about the influence that nursery rhymes' messages may have on children's development. We focused on "Monday's Child," a popular nursery rhyme that alleges children's day of the week of birth forecasts their differences in personality and physical traits. METHODS: Data came from E-Risk, a UK population representative, longitudinal …
Do school grades matter for growing up? Testing the predictive validity of school performance for outcomes in emerging adulthood
In putatively meritocratic societies, doing well in school is a pivotal precondition for accessing further and higher education, which, in turn, has a pervasive, long-term influence on adulthood development. Yet, doing well in school may also predict "real-life success" outside formal education settings and independent of the educational qualifications that a person attains. Such predictions are likely to become salient during emerging adulthood,…
Exploring Factors Related to the Development and Implementation of a Local Intervention Program for Syrian Refugee Children
Many interventions have been developed to improve educational and developmental outcomes in Syrian refugee children. Here, we focus on one such intervention, We Love Reading, a community-led, shared book-reading program that was developed in Jordan by a Jordanian-run NGO. We conducted a grounded theory analysis of 21 semi-structured interviews with individuals who developed We Love Reading and/or were involved in its implementation. Participants …
Genetic associations between non-cognitive skills and academic achievement over development
Non-cognitive skills, such as motivation and self-regulation, are partly heritable and predict academic achievement beyond cognitive skills. However, how the relationship between non-cognitive skills and academic achievement changes over development is unclear. The current study examined how cognitive and non-cognitive skills are associated with academic achievement from ages 7 to 16 years in a sample of over 10,000 children from England and Wale…
Explaining the influence of non‐shared environment ( NSE ) on symptoms of behaviour problems from preschool to adulthood: Mind the missing NSE gap
BACKGROUND: Individual differences in symptoms of behaviour problems in childhood and adolescence are not primarily due to nature or nurture - another substantial source of variance is non-shared environment (NSE). However, few specific environmental factors have been found to account for these NSE estimates. This creates a 'missing NSE' gap analogous to the 'missing heritability' gap, which refers to the shortfall in identifying DNA differences …
Personality, intelligence, and academic achievement: Charting their developmental interplay
OBJECTIVE: Although intelligence and personality traits have long been recognized as key predictors of students' academic achievement, little is known about their longitudinal and reciprocal associations. Here, we charted the developmental interplay of intelligence, personality (Big Five) and academic achievement in 3880 German secondary school students, who were assessed four times between the ages 11 and 14 years (i.e., in grades 5, 6, 7, and 8…
Does age moderate the influence of early life language experiences? A Naturalistic home observation study
We explored if children's age moderated associations between their early life language experiences and their linguistic and cognitive skills. For 107 British children, aged 24 to 48 months, and their families, we collected 3 day-long audio-recordings of their naturalistic home environments ( M = 15.06 h per day, SD = 1.87). Children's cognitive ability was assessed by parent-ratings and with a cognitive testing booklet that children completed at …
From Genome-Wide to Environment-Wide: Capturing the Environome
Genome-wide association (GWA) studies have shown that genetic influences on individual differences in affect, behavior, and cognition are driven by thousands of DNA variants, each with very small effect sizes. Here, we propose taking inspiration from GWA studies for understanding and modeling the influence of the environment on complex phenotypes. We argue that the availability of DNA microarrays in genetic research is comparable with the advent …
Using DNA to predict behaviour problems from preschool to adulthood
BACKGROUND: One goal of the DNA revolution is to predict problems in order to prevent them. We tested here if the prediction of behaviour problems from genome-wide polygenic scores (GPS) can be improved by creating composites across ages and across raters and by using a multi-GPS approach that includes GPS for adult psychiatric disorders as well as for childhood behaviour problems. METHOD: Our sample included 3,065 genotyped unrelated individuals…
Predicting Alcohol Use From Genome-Wide Polygenic Scores, Environmental Factors, and Their Interactions in Young Adulthood
OBJECTIVE: Alcohol use during emerging adulthood is associated with adverse life outcomes, but its risk factors are not well known. Here, we predicted alcohol use in 3153 young adults aged 22 years from a) genome-wide polygenic scores (GPS) based on genome-wide association studies for the target phenotypes number of drinks per week and Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test scores, b) 30 environmental factors, and c) their interactions (i.e., …
Predicting educational and social–emotional outcomes in emerging adulthood from intelligence, personality, and socioeconomic status
Emerging adulthood describes the developmental life stage between adolescence and adulthood, when young people gain important educational and social-emotional skills. Here, we tested to what extent intelligence and personality traits in adolescence, family socioeconomic status (SES), and their interplay predict educational (e.g., educational attainment, degree classification) and social-emotional outcomes (e.g., well-being, volunteering, substanc…
School quality ratings are weak predictors of students’ achievement and well‐being
BACKGROUND: In England, all state-funded schools are inspected by an independent government agency, the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted). Inspections aim to hold schools accountable and to promote the improvement of education, with the results made available to the public. Ofsted reports intend to index school quality, but their influence on students' individual outcomes has not been previously studied. T…
Transparency and Open Science at the Journal of Personality
Does private education make nicer people? The influence of school type on social-emotional development
In a longitudinal sample from Britain, we tested if attending private, fee-charging schools rather than non-selective state schools benefitted children's social-emotional development. State (N = 2,413) and private school children (N = 269) showed no differences in well-being across adolescence, but private school children reported fewer behaviour problems and greater peer victimisation over time than state schoolers. These results were independen…
Secondary data analysis of British population cohort studies: A practical guide for education researchers
BackgroundBritain is rich in longitudinal population cohort studies that posit valuable data resources for social science. However, education researchers currently underutilize these resources.AimsThe current paper (1) outlines the power and benefits of secondary data analyses for educational science and (2) provides a practical guide for education researchers on the characteristics, data, and accessibility of British population cohort studies.Me…
Preschool Verbal and Nonverbal Ability Mediate the Association Between Socioeconomic Status and School Performance
We compared the extent to which the long-term influence of family socioeconomic status (SES) on children's school performance from age 7 through 16 years was mediated by their preschool verbal and nonverbal ability. In 661 British children, who completed 17 researcher-administered ability tests at age 4.5 years, SES correlated more strongly with verbal than nonverbal ability (.39 vs. .26). Verbal ability mediated about half of the association bet…
Using DNA to predict educational trajectories in early adulthood
At the end of compulsory schooling, young adults decide on educational and occupational trajectories that impact their subsequent employability, health and even life expectancy. To understand the antecedents to these decisions, we follow a new approach that considers genetic contributions, which have largely been ignored before. Using genomewide polygenic scores (EA3) from the most recent genomewide association study of years of education in 1.1 …
A naturalistic home observational approach to children’s language, cognition, and behavior
Although early life experiences of language and parenting are critical for children's development, large home observation studies of both domains are scarce in the psychological literature, presumably because of their considerable costs to the participants and researchers. Here, we used digital audio-recorders to unobtrusively observe 107 children, aged 2.03 to 3.99 years (M = 2.77, SD = 0.55), and their families over 3 days (M = 15.06 hr per day…
Imagination links with schizotypal beliefs, not with creativity or learning
Imagination refers to creating mental representations of concepts, ideas, and sensations that are not contemporaneously perceived by the senses. Although it is key to human individuality, research on imagination is scarce. To address this gap, we developed here a new psychometric test to assess individual differences in imagination and explored the role of imagination for learning, creativity, and schizotypal beliefs. In a laboratory-based (N = 1…
The new genetics of intelligence
Sex Differences in Money Pathology in the General Population
Intelligence, gender, and assessment method affect the accuracy of self-estimated intelligence
Self-estimates of intelligence (SEI), which influence to what extent people engage in and how well they perform at a task, are subject to distortion. Here, the distortion effects of individual differences in intelligence (IQ), gender, and proximal (with reference to test performance) and distal (with reference to IQ score distributions) assessments of SEI were tested in a sample of 200 British adults. The results showed that (1) people with lower…
Investment and intellect: A review and meta-analysis
Cognitive or intellectual investment theories propose that the development of intelligence is partially influenced by personality traits, in particular by so-called investment traits that determine when, where, and how people invest their time and effort in their intellect. This investment, in turn, is thought to contribute to individual differences in cognitive growth and the accumulation of knowledge across the life span. We reviewed the psycho…
The Hungry Mind: Intellectual Curiosity Is the Third Pillar of Academic Performance
Over the past century, academic performance has become the gatekeeper to institutions of higher education, shaping career paths and individual life trajectories. Accordingly, much psychological research has focused on identifying predictors of academic performance, with intelligence and effort emerging as core determinants. In this article, we propose expanding on the traditional set of predictors by adding a third agency: intellectual curiosity.…
Childhood socioeconomic status and adult health: Comparing formative and reflective models in the Aberdeen Children of the 1950s Study (prospective cohort study)
BACKGROUND: Health at midlife is associated with early-life socioeconomic status (SES), intelligence and education; the latter often used as a marker of SES in adulthood. SES is typically modelled as a latent construct with reflective indicators (where the construct causes the variables) but may be better operationalised as a formative trait (where the variables cause the construct). In this report, the authors explain the difference between thes…
Decomposing self-estimates of intelligence: Structure and sex differences across 12 nations
This study examines the structure of self-estimates of intelligence (SEI) across 12 nations (Australia, Austria, Brazil, France, Iran, Israel, Malaysia, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, UK and US). Participants rated themselves on general and specific abilities from three popular models of intelligence: Gardner's multiple intelligences, Sternberg's triarchic theory of intelligence, and Goleman's emotional intelligence. The results showed that (a) lay…
A naturalistic home observational approach to children’s language, cognition, and behavior
Although early life experiences of language and parenting are critical for children's development, large home observation studies of both domains are scarce in the psychological literature, presumably because of their considerable costs to the participants and researchers. Here, we used digital audio-recorders to unobtrusively observe 107 children, aged 2.03 to 3.99 years (M = 2.77, SD = 0.55), and their families over 3 days (M = 15.06 hr per day…
Does private education make nicer people? The influence of school type on social-emotional development
In a longitudinal sample from Britain, we tested if attending private, fee-charging schools rather than non-selective state schools benefitted children's social-emotional development. State (N = 2,413) and private school children (N = 269) showed no differences in well-being across adolescence, but private school children reported fewer behaviour problems and greater peer victimisation over time than state schoolers. These results were independen…
Intelligence, gender, and assessment method affect the accuracy of self-estimated intelligence
Self-estimates of intelligence (SEI), which influence to what extent people engage in and how well they perform at a task, are subject to distortion. Here, the distortion effects of individual differences in intelligence (IQ), gender, and proximal (with reference to test performance) and distal (with reference to IQ score distributions) assessments of SEI were tested in a sample of 200 British adults. The results showed that (1) people with lower…
Predicting educational and social–emotional outcomes in emerging adulthood from intelligence, personality, and socioeconomic status
Emerging adulthood describes the developmental life stage between adolescence and adulthood, when young people gain important educational and social-emotional skills. Here, we tested to what extent intelligence and personality traits in adolescence, family socioeconomic status (SES), and their interplay predict educational (e.g., educational attainment, degree classification) and social-emotional outcomes (e.g., well-being, volunteering, substanc…
Using DNA to predict educational trajectories in early adulthood
At the end of compulsory schooling, young adults decide on educational and occupational trajectories that impact their subsequent employability, health and even life expectancy. To understand the antecedents to these decisions, we follow a new approach that considers genetic contributions, which have largely been ignored before. Using genomewide polygenic scores (EA3) from the most recent genomewide association study of years of education in 1.1 …
Imagination links with schizotypal beliefs, not with creativity or learning
Imagination refers to creating mental representations of concepts, ideas, and sensations that are not contemporaneously perceived by the senses. Although it is key to human individuality, research on imagination is scarce. To address this gap, we developed here a new psychometric test to assess individual differences in imagination and explored the role of imagination for learning, creativity, and schizotypal beliefs. In a laboratory-based (N = 1…
Childhood socioeconomic status and adult health: Comparing formative and reflective models in the Aberdeen Children of the 1950s Study (prospective cohort study)
BACKGROUND: Health at midlife is associated with early-life socioeconomic status (SES), intelligence and education; the latter often used as a marker of SES in adulthood. SES is typically modelled as a latent construct with reflective indicators (where the construct causes the variables) but may be better operationalised as a formative trait (where the variables cause the construct). In this report, the authors explain the difference between thes…
Do school grades matter for growing up? Testing the predictive validity of school performance for outcomes in emerging adulthood
In putatively meritocratic societies, doing well in school is a pivotal precondition for accessing further and higher education, which, in turn, has a pervasive, long-term influence on adulthood development. Yet, doing well in school may also predict "real-life success" outside formal education settings and independent of the educational qualifications that a person attains. Such predictions are likely to become salient during emerging adulthood,…
Secondary data analysis of British population cohort studies: A practical guide for education researchers
BackgroundBritain is rich in longitudinal population cohort studies that posit valuable data resources for social science. However, education researchers currently underutilize these resources.AimsThe current paper (1) outlines the power and benefits of secondary data analyses for educational science and (2) provides a practical guide for education researchers on the characteristics, data, and accessibility of British population cohort studies.Me…
Sex Differences in Money Pathology in the General Population
Decomposing self-estimates of intelligence: Structure and sex differences across 12 nations
This study examines the structure of self-estimates of intelligence (SEI) across 12 nations (Australia, Austria, Brazil, France, Iran, Israel, Malaysia, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, UK and US). Participants rated themselves on general and specific abilities from three popular models of intelligence: Gardner's multiple intelligences, Sternberg's triarchic theory of intelligence, and Goleman's emotional intelligence. The results showed that (a) lay…
Independent Effects of Personality and Sex on Self-Estimated Intelligence: Evidence from Austria
The effects of sex and personality traits on self-estimates of intelligence were examined in a sample of 302 Austrian adults (143 men, 159 women). Confirming previous research, men had higher self-estimates of logical and spatial abilities than did women, and these differences were partly explained in terms of women's higher Neuroticism scores. Neuroticism (negatively) and Openness (positively) accounted significantly for variances in self-estima…
The Hungry Mind: Intellectual Curiosity Is the Third Pillar of Academic Performance
Over the past century, academic performance has become the gatekeeper to institutions of higher education, shaping career paths and individual life trajectories. Accordingly, much psychological research has focused on identifying predictors of academic performance, with intelligence and effort emerging as core determinants. In this article, we propose expanding on the traditional set of predictors by adding a third agency: intellectual curiosity.…
Childhood socioeconomic status and adult health: Comparing formative and reflective models in the Aberdeen Children of the 1950s Study (prospective cohort study)
BACKGROUND: Health at midlife is associated with early-life socioeconomic status (SES), intelligence and education; the latter often used as a marker of SES in adulthood. SES is typically modelled as a latent construct with reflective indicators (where the construct causes the variables) but may be better operationalised as a formative trait (where the variables cause the construct). In this report, the authors explain the difference between thes…
Investment and intellect: A review and meta-analysis
Cognitive or intellectual investment theories propose that the development of intelligence is partially influenced by personality traits, in particular by so-called investment traits that determine when, where, and how people invest their time and effort in their intellect. This investment, in turn, is thought to contribute to individual differences in cognitive growth and the accumulation of knowledge across the life span. We reviewed the psycho…
Intelligence, gender, and assessment method affect the accuracy of self-estimated intelligence
Self-estimates of intelligence (SEI), which influence to what extent people engage in and how well they perform at a task, are subject to distortion. Here, the distortion effects of individual differences in intelligence (IQ), gender, and proximal (with reference to test performance) and distal (with reference to IQ score distributions) assessments of SEI were tested in a sample of 200 British adults. The results showed that (1) people with lower…
Sex Differences in Money Pathology in the General Population
The new genetics of intelligence
Using DNA to predict educational trajectories in early adulthood
At the end of compulsory schooling, young adults decide on educational and occupational trajectories that impact their subsequent employability, health and even life expectancy. To understand the antecedents to these decisions, we follow a new approach that considers genetic contributions, which have largely been ignored before. Using genomewide polygenic scores (EA3) from the most recent genomewide association study of years of education in 1.1 …
A naturalistic home observational approach to children’s language, cognition, and behavior
Although early life experiences of language and parenting are critical for children's development, large home observation studies of both domains are scarce in the psychological literature, presumably because of their considerable costs to the participants and researchers. Here, we used digital audio-recorders to unobtrusively observe 107 children, aged 2.03 to 3.99 years (M = 2.77, SD = 0.55), and their families over 3 days (M = 15.06 hr per day…
Imagination links with schizotypal beliefs, not with creativity or learning
Imagination refers to creating mental representations of concepts, ideas, and sensations that are not contemporaneously perceived by the senses. Although it is key to human individuality, research on imagination is scarce. To address this gap, we developed here a new psychometric test to assess individual differences in imagination and explored the role of imagination for learning, creativity, and schizotypal beliefs. In a laboratory-based (N = 1…
Preschool Verbal and Nonverbal Ability Mediate the Association Between Socioeconomic Status and School Performance
We compared the extent to which the long-term influence of family socioeconomic status (SES) on children's school performance from age 7 through 16 years was mediated by their preschool verbal and nonverbal ability. In 661 British children, who completed 17 researcher-administered ability tests at age 4.5 years, SES correlated more strongly with verbal than nonverbal ability (.39 vs. .26). Verbal ability mediated about half of the association bet…
School quality ratings are weak predictors of students’ achievement and well‐being
BACKGROUND: In England, all state-funded schools are inspected by an independent government agency, the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted). Inspections aim to hold schools accountable and to promote the improvement of education, with the results made available to the public. Ofsted reports intend to index school quality, but their influence on students' individual outcomes has not been previously studied. T…
Transparency and Open Science at the Journal of Personality
Does private education make nicer people? The influence of school type on social-emotional development
In a longitudinal sample from Britain, we tested if attending private, fee-charging schools rather than non-selective state schools benefitted children's social-emotional development. State (N = 2,413) and private school children (N = 269) showed no differences in well-being across adolescence, but private school children reported fewer behaviour problems and greater peer victimisation over time than state schoolers. These results were independen…
Secondary data analysis of British population cohort studies: A practical guide for education researchers
BackgroundBritain is rich in longitudinal population cohort studies that posit valuable data resources for social science. However, education researchers currently underutilize these resources.AimsThe current paper (1) outlines the power and benefits of secondary data analyses for educational science and (2) provides a practical guide for education researchers on the characteristics, data, and accessibility of British population cohort studies.Me…
From Genome-Wide to Environment-Wide: Capturing the Environome
Genome-wide association (GWA) studies have shown that genetic influences on individual differences in affect, behavior, and cognition are driven by thousands of DNA variants, each with very small effect sizes. Here, we propose taking inspiration from GWA studies for understanding and modeling the influence of the environment on complex phenotypes. We argue that the availability of DNA microarrays in genetic research is comparable with the advent …
Using DNA to predict behaviour problems from preschool to adulthood
BACKGROUND: One goal of the DNA revolution is to predict problems in order to prevent them. We tested here if the prediction of behaviour problems from genome-wide polygenic scores (GPS) can be improved by creating composites across ages and across raters and by using a multi-GPS approach that includes GPS for adult psychiatric disorders as well as for childhood behaviour problems. METHOD: Our sample included 3,065 genotyped unrelated individuals…
Predicting Alcohol Use From Genome-Wide Polygenic Scores, Environmental Factors, and Their Interactions in Young Adulthood
OBJECTIVE: Alcohol use during emerging adulthood is associated with adverse life outcomes, but its risk factors are not well known. Here, we predicted alcohol use in 3153 young adults aged 22 years from a) genome-wide polygenic scores (GPS) based on genome-wide association studies for the target phenotypes number of drinks per week and Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test scores, b) 30 environmental factors, and c) their interactions (i.e., …
Predicting educational and social–emotional outcomes in emerging adulthood from intelligence, personality, and socioeconomic status
Emerging adulthood describes the developmental life stage between adolescence and adulthood, when young people gain important educational and social-emotional skills. Here, we tested to what extent intelligence and personality traits in adolescence, family socioeconomic status (SES), and their interplay predict educational (e.g., educational attainment, degree classification) and social-emotional outcomes (e.g., well-being, volunteering, substanc…
Explaining the influence of non‐shared environment ( NSE ) on symptoms of behaviour problems from preschool to adulthood: Mind the missing NSE gap
BACKGROUND: Individual differences in symptoms of behaviour problems in childhood and adolescence are not primarily due to nature or nurture - another substantial source of variance is non-shared environment (NSE). However, few specific environmental factors have been found to account for these NSE estimates. This creates a 'missing NSE' gap analogous to the 'missing heritability' gap, which refers to the shortfall in identifying DNA differences …
Personality, intelligence, and academic achievement: Charting their developmental interplay
OBJECTIVE: Although intelligence and personality traits have long been recognized as key predictors of students' academic achievement, little is known about their longitudinal and reciprocal associations. Here, we charted the developmental interplay of intelligence, personality (Big Five) and academic achievement in 3880 German secondary school students, who were assessed four times between the ages 11 and 14 years (i.e., in grades 5, 6, 7, and 8…
Does age moderate the influence of early life language experiences? A Naturalistic home observation study
We explored if children's age moderated associations between their early life language experiences and their linguistic and cognitive skills. For 107 British children, aged 24 to 48 months, and their families, we collected 3 day-long audio-recordings of their naturalistic home environments ( M = 15.06 h per day, SD = 1.87). Children's cognitive ability was assessed by parent-ratings and with a cognitive testing booklet that children completed at …
Do school grades matter for growing up? Testing the predictive validity of school performance for outcomes in emerging adulthood
In putatively meritocratic societies, doing well in school is a pivotal precondition for accessing further and higher education, which, in turn, has a pervasive, long-term influence on adulthood development. Yet, doing well in school may also predict "real-life success" outside formal education settings and independent of the educational qualifications that a person attains. Such predictions are likely to become salient during emerging adulthood,…
Exploring Factors Related to the Development and Implementation of a Local Intervention Program for Syrian Refugee Children
Many interventions have been developed to improve educational and developmental outcomes in Syrian refugee children. Here, we focus on one such intervention, We Love Reading, a community-led, shared book-reading program that was developed in Jordan by a Jordanian-run NGO. We conducted a grounded theory analysis of 21 semi-structured interviews with individuals who developed We Love Reading and/or were involved in its implementation. Participants …
Psychology (26 works) · Developmental psychology (21 works) · Cognitive Abilities and Testing (13 works) · Social Psychology (11 works) · Demography (10 works) · Cognition (9 works) · Medicine (9 works) · Population (9 works) · Personality (7 works) · Socioeconomic status (7 works)