@article{WestphalVockKretschmann2021, author = {Westphal, Andrea and Vock, Miriam and Kretschmann, Julia}, title = {Unravelling the relationship between teacher-assigned grades, student personality, and standardized test scores}, series = {Frontiers in psychology / Frontiers Research Foundation}, journal = {Frontiers in psychology / Frontiers Research Foundation}, number = {12}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2021.627440}, pages = {11}, year = {2021}, abstract = {The Big Five personality traits play a major role in student achievement. As such, there is consistent evidence that students that are more conscientious receive better teacher-assigned grades in secondary school. However, research often does not support the claim that students that are more conscientious similarly achieve higher scores in domain-specific standardized achievement tests. Based on the Invest-and-Accrue Model, we argue that conscientiousness explains to some extent why certain students receive better grades despite similar academic accomplishments (i.e., achieving similar scores in domain-specific standardized achievement tests). Therefore, the present study examines to what extent the relationship between student personality and teacher-assigned grades consists of direct as opposed to indirect associations (via subject-specific standardized test scores). We used a representative sample of 14,710 ninth-grade students to estimate these direct and indirect pathways in mathematics and German. Structural equation models showed that test scores explained between 8 and 11\% of the variance in teacher-assigned grades in mathematics and German. The Big Five personality traits in students additionally explained between 8 and 10\% of the variance in grades. Finally, the personality-grade relationship consisted of direct (0.02 | β| ≤ 0.27) and indirect associations via test scores (0.01 | β| ≤ 0.07). Conscientiousness explained discrepancies between teacher-assigned grades and students' scores in domain-specific standardized tests to a greater extent than any of the other Big Five personality traits. Our findings suggest that students that are more conscientious may invest more effort to accomplish classroom goals, but fall short of mastery.}, language = {en} } @article{LazaridesLauerann2019, author = {Lazarides, Rebecca and Lauerann, Fani}, title = {Gendered Paths Into STEM-Related and Language-Related Careers}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {10}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01243}, pages = {17}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Women are often underrepresented in math-intensive fields like the physical sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics. By comparison, boys relative to girls are less likely to strive for jobs in social and human-services domains. Relatively few studies have considered that intra-individual comparisons across domains may contribute to gendered occupational choices. This study examines whether girls' and boys' motivational beliefs in mathematics and language arts are predictive of their career plans in these fields. The study focusses on same domain and cross-domain effects and investigates bidirectional relations between motivational beliefs and career plans. Data for this study stem from 1,117 ninth and tenth graders (53.2\% girls) from secondary schools in Berlin, Germany. Findings show systematic gender differences in samedomain effects in mathematics: girls' comparatively lower mathematics self-concept and intrinsic value predicted a lower likelihood of striving for a math-related career. Crossdomain effects were not related to gender-specific career plans, with only one exception. Girls' lower levels of intrinsic value in mathematics corresponded to a higher likelihood of striving for a career in language-related fields, which subsequently predicted lower levels of intrinsic value in mathematics. This finding points to a need to address both genderspecific motivational beliefs and gender-specific career plans in school when aiming to enhance more gender equality in girls' and boys' occupational choices.}, language = {en} }