Optimism and College Grades: Predicting GPA From Explanatory Style

Attachment Security Balances Perspectives: Effects of Security Priming on Highly Optimistic and Pessimistic Explanatory Styles

“…For example, an online survey study showed that optimistic explanatory style had no significant relationship with doctoral program retention ( Richards, 2012 ). Another study found that optimistic explanatory style had a weak predictive value for GPA among undergraduates ( Maleva et al, 2014 ). Second, an optimistic explanatory style may have a negative impact in certain contexts.…”

Toward a resilience model of student well-being: A self-determination approach to thriving and burnout among college students

“…Similarly, Ruthig, Haynes, Perry, and Chipperfield (2007) found optimism to correlated with both cumulative grade point average (r = .32, p < .001) and perceived success, a construct reflecting satisfaction with learning performance (r = .28, p < .001) among their sample of 640 Canadian first-year undergraduates. A fourth study conceptualizing dispositional optimism as a lack of pessimism found lower levels of pessimism to be associated with higher grade point averages (r = -.15, p = .044) in their sample of 235 undergraduate students (Maleva, Westcott, McKellop, McLaughlin, Widman, & College, 2014). Finally, a fifth study used a series of analyses of variance to examine the effects of achievement explanatory style on important student outcomes.…”