Childhood personality and academic performance

A sibling fixed‐effects study

Bibliographic Data

ID19280342
AuthorsAndrea Constantinou (Department of Psychology University of Oslo Oslo Norway), Tilmann Von Soest (0000-0002-5576-2059, Department of Psychology University of Oslo Oslo Norway), H D Zachrisson (0000-0002-9174-4392, Department of Special Needs Education University of Oslo Oslo Norway), Fartein Ask Torvik (0000-0003-3984-5978, Department of Psychology University of Oslo Oslo Norway), Rosa Cheesman (0000-0002-6543-0402, Department of Psychology University of Oslo Oslo Norway), Eivind Ystrom (0000-0003-4390-6171, Department of Psychology University of Oslo Oslo Norway)
Year2024
Volume92
Issue5
Pages1451-1463
Publication date2024-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Personality (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-3506 • E-ISSN: 1467-6494
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/jopy.12900
PMID38018625
OpenAlexW4389142140
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited66

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the associations between personality traits at age 8 and academic performance between ages 10 and 14, controlling for family confounds. BACKGROUND: Many studies have shown links between children's personality traits and their school performance. However, we lack evidence on whether these associations remain after genetic and environmental confounders are accounted for. METHOD: Sibling data from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) were used (n = 9701). First, we estimated the overall associations between Big Five personality traits and academic performance, including literacy, numeracy, and foreign language. Second, we added sibling fixed effects to remove unmeasured confounders shared by siblings as well as rating bias. RESULTS: Openness to Experience (between-person β = 0.22 [95% CI: 0.21-0.24]) and Conscientiousness (between-person β = 0.18 [95% CI 0.16-0.20]) were most strongly related to educational performance. Agreeableness (between-person β = 0.06 [95% CI -0.08-0.04]) and Extraversion (between-person β = 0.02 [95% CI 0.00-0.04]) showed small associations with educational performance. Neuroticism had a moderate negative association (between-person β = -0.14 [95% CI -0.15-0.11]). All associations between personality and performance were robust to confounding: the within-family estimates from sibling fixed-effects models overlapped with the between-person effects. Finally, childhood personality was equally predictive of educational performance across ages and genders. CONCLUSIONS: Although family background is influential for academic achievement, it does not confound associations with personality. Childhood personality traits reflect unbiased and consistent individual differences in educational potential

Academic achievement · Agreeableness · Big Five personality traits · Confounding · Conscientiousness · Developmental psychology · Extraversion and introversion · Neuroticism · Openness to experience · Personality · Sibling · Cognitive Abilities and Testing · Medicine · Personality Disorders and Psychopathology · Personality Traits and Psychology · Psychology · Social Psychology

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