Noncognitive factors related to academic performance

Abstract

There are few holistic models looking at the interrelations between noncognitive variables and their effects on academic outcomes. The objectives of this study were to examine a holistic model that seeks to predict academic performance based on the relationships between noncognitive variables and academic performance, and to examine its stability in different educational grades.

Data from two samples of Mexican students (19,826 students seeking admission to high school; 85,040 seeking admission to college) were analyzed to examine relationships between academic behaviors, perseverance, assertiveness, cooperation, internal locus of control, external locus of control and test scores and high school and college admission test scores. A series of structural equation models were conducted to examine scale dimensionality, relationships between variables, and measurement invariance. 

The models showed good fit to the data and the effects were stable across the two samples. Cooperation and perseverance had direct effects on academic behaviors and indirect effects on test scores. Internal locus of control was a strong predictor of cooperation, perseverance, and assertiveness, and showed a positive indirect effect on test scores, but a negative effect on academic behaviors. External locus of control and assertiveness were weak predictors of test scores.

The importance of examining the effects of noncognitive variables in a holistic framework is highlighted, as it allows identifying variables with weak effects as well as unexpected results.

Key words: noncognitive variables, academic performance, cooperation, perseverance, assertiveness, academic behaviors.