Hope uniquely predicts objective academic achievement above intelligence, personality, and previous academic achievement

A 3-year longitudinal study explored whether the two-dimensional model of trait hope predicted degree scores after considering intelligence, personality, and previous academic achievement. A sample of 129 respondents (52 males, 77 females) completed measures of trait hope, general intelligence, the five factor model of personality, divergent thinking, as well as objective measures of their academic performance before university (‘A’ level grades) and final degree scores. The findings suggest that hope uniquely predicts objective academic achievement above intelligence, personality, and previous academic achievement. The findings are discussed within the context of how it may be fruitful for researchers to explore how hope is related to everyday academic practice.

[1]  S. Paunonen,et al.  Big Five personality predictors of post-secondary academic performance , 2007 .

[2]  A. Jensen,et al.  The g factor , 1996, Nature.

[3]  P. Heaven,et al.  The impact of hope, self-esteem, and attributional style on adolescents' school grades and emotional well-being: A longitudinal study , 2007 .

[4]  John D. Nisbet,et al.  Contrary imaginations: a psychological study of the english schoolboy , 1966 .

[5]  Alan S. Kaufman,et al.  Assessing adolescent and adult intelligence, 3rd ed. , 2006 .

[6]  With Good Luck : Belief in good luck and cognitive planning , 2005 .

[7]  A. Steller.  Who Gets Ahead? The Determinants of Economic Success in America. By Christopher Jencks, et. al. New York: Basic Books, 1979 , 1980 .

[8]  D. Silove,et al.  Evaluation of the Dispositional Hope Scale in injury survivors , 2009 .

[9]  Michael E. Hyland,et al.  Dissociating the facets of hope: Agency and pathways predict dropout from unguided self-help therapy in opposite directions , 2010 .

[10]  D. Cartwright,et al.  Purposefulness: a fourth superfactor? , 1993 .

[11]  John A. Johnson,et al.  The international personality item pool and the future of public-domain personality measures ☆ , 2006 .

[12]  John R. Anderson,et al.  The will and the ways: development and validation of an individual-differences measure of hope. , 1991, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[13]  Who Gets Ahead? The Determinants of Economic Success in America. , 1981 .

[14]  Adrian P. Van Mondfrans,et al.  THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ACADEMIC GRADES AND DIVERGENT THINKING SCORES DERIVED FROM FOUR DIFFERENT METHODS OF TESTING , 1971 .

[15]  K. Rand.  Hope and optimism: latent structures and influences on grade expectancy and academic performance. , 2009, Journal of personality.

[16]  C. R. Snyder,et al.  Role of hope in academic and sport achievement. , 1997, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[17]  J. Raven,et al.  Manual for Raven's progressive matrices and vocabulary scales , 1962 .

[18]  A. Kaufman,et al.  Assessing Adolescent and Adult Intelligence , 1990 .

[19]  C. R. Snyder,et al.  Hope and Academic Success in College. , 2002 .

[20]  J. Guilford,et al.  The nature of human intelligence. , 1968 .

[21]  J. Hunsley,et al.  The incremental validity of psychological testing and assessment: conceptual, methodological, and statistical issues. , 2003, Psychological assessment.

[22]  P. Heaven,et al.  Cognitive ability, personality, and academic performance in adolescence , 2008 .