Motivational and personality variables distinguish academic underachievers from high achievers, low achievers, and overachievers
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12842832 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Alexander Dings (0000-0003-1948-2938, Saarland University, corresponding author), Frank M Spinath (0000-0002-8897-0452, Saarland University) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 1461-1485 |
| Publication date | 2021-09-04 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social Psychology of Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1573-1928 • E-ISSN: 1381-2890 |
| Publisher | Springer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s11218-021-09659-2 |
| OpenAlex | W3197519135 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 59 |
Previous studies have associated several variables concerning motivation and other domains with underachievement, i. e. a student's academic achievement falling short of what their cognitive abilities, as the best predictor of academic performance, would indicate. The present study extends these findings using a more rigorous approach in defining underachievers and suitable control groups. Using discriminant analysis, underachievers identified in a German twin family study were compared not only to achievers with comparable IQ scores, but also with students of lower aptitude, but comparably low grades, as well as overachieving students. Results confirm previous findings that compared to successful students, underachievers report lower levels of motivation and parental support; beyond this comparison, underachievers also differed from other low achievers, mostly in terms of their personality. In total, 40% of the variance between the groups were explained. Additionally, the data shed doubt on the common assumption that underachievers are an unusually heterogenous group of students
Academic achievement · Aptitude · Developmental psychology · German · Pedagogy · Personality · Sociology of Education · Variance (accounting · Education, Achievement, and Giftedness · Grit, Self-Efficacy, and Motivation · Motivation and Self-Concept in Sports · Psychology · Social Psychology
The relationship between parental autonomy support and adolescents’ academic achievement in mathematics—the mediating role of the need for cognition and mathematics metacognition
Patterns of motivational beliefs among high-, medium-, and low-achieving English learners in China
Determinants of academic achievement from the middle to secondary school education
Hong Kong students’ motivational beliefs and emotions in collaborative learning in ESL classrooms
Academic achievement of undergraduate health students
What No Child Left Behind leaves behind
Big Five personality predictors of post-secondary academic performance
Intelligence and school grades
Adjustment of twin data for the effects of age and sex
The Underachievement of Gifted Students
Four ways five factors are basic
A Test of Missing Completely at Random for Multivariate Data with Missing Values
Do you know what I'm thinking? A comparison of teacher and parent perspectives of underachieving gifted students' attitudes
Holding on” or “coming to terms” with educational underachievement
Variables associated with achievement in higher education
Peer pressure
Bildungsungleichheiten und blockierte Lernpotenziale
Underachievement
Genetic and environmental influences on academic achievement trajectories during adolescence
True grit and genetics
Externalizing behavior problems and academic underachievement in childhood and adolescence
| Citations per year | 2.5 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2024 - 2025 (2) |
| Highly cited | No |