Self-Control And Academic Performance In Engineering

Abstract

Self-control has been related to positive student outcomes including academic performance of college students. Because of the critical nature of the first semester academic performance for engineering students in terms of retention and persistence in pursuing an engineering degree, this study investigated the relationship between freshmen engineering students’ scores on the Brief Self-Control Scale and first semester GPA. To identify the unique explanatory contribution of self-control beyond incoming academic performance differences, the effect of ACT Composite scores was statistically removed from the sample of three cohorts of freshmen engineering students (n=1295 total). The results showed the measure of self-control explained on average 4.2% of the residual variability in first semester GPA, after accounting for the variability explained by ACT scores. Based on results of this study, self-control predicted between 27%-42% as much of the variance in first semester GPA as did ACT scores, a much-used high stakes measure frequently used for decisions such as program admittance or mathematics course placement. Thus self-control is a nontrivial predictor of academic performance. Based on post hoc analysis, relevant self-control behaviors might manifest themselves in time and study management since there was a significant correlation between self-control scores and scores on the MSLQ time and study management measure. These results have implications for both how much of an impact positive self-control may have on freshmen engineering academic performance, while also offering potential avenues to support students in bolstering aspects of this personality trait through a focus on strengthening time and study management skills.

Engineering students' noncognitive and affective factors: Group differences from cluster analysis

“…Self-control has been linked to better academic performance as measured by grades (Feldmann & Martinez-Pons, 1995) and better psychological adjustment and interpersonal skills (Tangney et al, 2004) as well as better regulation of eating and alcohol consumption (Baumeister, 1994;Heatherton, 1993;Heatherton & Baumeister, 1991). Recent work has shown that self-control is predictive of first-year engineering students' GPA, explaining an additional 5% variance above that of ACT scores (Honken et al, 2016).…”

Intrinsic and extrinsic future goals: Their differential effects on students’ self‐control and distal learning outcomes

“…Self‐report questionnaires are used to measure students’ future goals, self‐control and affect to school, which may be subject to response biases (Mega, Ronconi, & De Beni, ). In future studies, behavioral measures may be employed as well, such as the ability to stay on task and avoid digital distractions (Honken, Ralston, & Tretter, ). Last but not least, given the importance of self‐control for long‐term school success, it would be meaningful for future research to investigate and collect evidence on the interventions that are effective in promoting students’ self‐control in academic settings.…”

Revisión Sistemática de la Habilidad de Autocontrol del Estudiante y su Rendimiento Académico en la Vida Universitaria

“…El autocontrol fue un predictor significativo del logro académico subjetivo (r=.33, p<.001). Más recientemente, Honken, et al, (2016) desarrollaron una investigación con el objetivo de investigar la relación entre las calificaciones de los estudiantes de primer año de Ingeniería con el autocontrol, con la finalidad de identificar la contribución de esta variable en el desarrollo académico de los jóvenes. Participaron estudiantes de tres cohortes (2012, 2013 y 2014) de primer año de Ingeniería (n= 1295).…”

“…En la mayoria de los estudios analizados se encontraron altos niveles de correlación cuando el rendimiento académico se obtuvo por medio del reporte de las autoridades (calificaciones finales o promedios) o medidas objetivas (escalas de medición del desempeño académico) (Stadler et. al., 2016a;Zetler, 2011;Victoroff y Boyatzis, 2013;Kennett y Reed, 2009;Honken, et al, 2016). Cuando el autocontrol fue correlacionado con el rendimiento académico autodeclarado (calificación reportada por el estudiante) se encontraron resultados heterogéneos, en un caso presentó alta correlación (Alotaibi, 2016) y en otros casos se presentaron bajas correlaciones (King y Gaerlan, 2014;Knouse et al, 2014;Baars et al, 2015).…”