The role of chronotype, gender, test anxiety, and conscientiousness in academic achievement of high school students

Abstract

Previous findings have demonstrated that chronotype (morningness/intermediate/eveningness) is correlated with cognitive functions, that is, people show higher mental performance when they do a test at their preferred time of day. Empirical studies found a relationship between morningness and higher learning achievement at school and university. However, only a few of them controlled for other moderating and mediating variables. In this study, we included chronotype, gender, conscientiousness and test anxiety in a structural equation model (SEM) with grade point average (GPA) as academic achievement outcome. Participants were 158 high school students and results revealed that boys and girls differed in GPA and test anxiety significantly, with girls reporting better grades and higher test anxiety. Moreover, there was a positive correlation between conscientiousness and GPA (r = 0.17) and morningness (r = 0.29), respectively, and a negative correlation between conscientiousness and test anxiety (r = -0.22). The SEM demonstrated that gender was the strongest predictor of academic achievement. Lower test anxiety predicted higher GPA in girls but not in boys. Additionally, chronotype as moderator revealed a significant association between gender and GPA for evening types and intermediate types, while intermediate types showed a significant relationship between test anxiety and GPA. Our results suggest that gender is an essential predictor of academic achievement even stronger than low or absent test anxiety. Future studies are needed to explore how gender and chronotype act together in a longitudinal panel design and how chronotype is mediated by conscientiousness in the prediction of academic achievement.

Time to learn: How chronotype impacts education

“…The influence of chronotype on school performance has been extensively studied during the past 20 years. Although different chronotype questionnaires have been used, consistent findings about late (evening) types obtaining lower school achievements have been reported (Arbabi, Vollmer, Dörfler, & Randler, 2015;Borisenkov, Perminova, & Kosova, 2010;Díaz-Morales & Escribano, 2013;Giannotti, Cortesi, Sebastiani, & Ottaviano, 2002;Kolomeichuk, Randler, Shabalina, Fradkova, & Borisenkov, 2016;Preckel et al, 2013;Rahafar, Maghsudloo, Farhangnia, Vollmer, & Randler, 2016;Randler & Frech, 2006Roeser, Schlarb, & Kübler, 2013;Short, Gradisar, Lack, & Wright, 2013;van der Vinne et al, 2015;Vollmer, Pötsch, & Randler, 2013;Warner, Murray, & Meyer, 2008). However, the mechanism(s) behind this phenomenon are still unclear.…”

“…For instance, conscientiousness (being organized, self-disciplined, and goal-oriented) is a personality trait that is positively related to both morningness and high school achievements (Bratko et al, 2006;Randler, 2008;Tonetti, Fabbri, & Natale, 2009). Two recent studies that investigated both chronotype and conscientiousness in the context of school performance found that the chronotype effect on school grades was significant only when conscientiousness was analyzed as a mediating factor, suggesting that chronotype influences conscientiousness, which in turn impacts grades (Arbabi et al, 2015;Rahafar et al, 2016). Roeser et al (2013) explored the relationship between chronotype, learning/achieving motivation, sleepiness, and school performance.…”

Substance Use as a Strong Predictor of Poor Academic Achievement among University Students

“…Though evidence from developed countries reports that female students' academic performance is better as compared with males [32, 33], this is not the case in resource limited setting where female enrollment and academic performance is in lower rate. Communities' attitude for female education, higher gender based violence and disproportionate cultural, and socioeconomic and psychological burdens in female students might contribute to poor academic achievement of female students [34–36].…”

The relation between math self-concept, test and math anxiety, achievement motivation and math achievement in 12 to 14-year- old typically developing adolescents

“…Different studies report higher math self-concepts in boys than in girls (Atunes & Fontaine, 2007;Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2004). In several studies, girls generally report a higher level of test anxiety than boys (Chapell et al, 2005;Ergene, 2011;Kurt, Balci, & Kose, 2014;Rahafar, Maghsudloo, Farhangnia, Vollmer, & Randler, 2016); a higher level of test anxiety in girls, and not in boys, correlates with lower academic achievement (Chapell et al, 2005). The correlation between test anxiety and academic achievement is possibly stronger in girls than in boys.…”