Poster #24 - The Development of Students' Academic Effort: The Unique and Combined Effects of Conscientiousness and Interest

• In Event: 15.062 - MTCC Poster Session One
  In Poster Session: 15.062-2 - Contemporary Issues in Motivation Research Models of Motivation: Theoretical and Applied Advances

Abstract

The present longitudinal study (four time points; N = 3,876 students) was designed, first, to investigate the development of academic effort in three school subjects (math, German, and English) in Grades 5 to 8. The second aim was to test the predictive power of two predictors of academic effort, namely, conscientiousness and interest. Results showed a decrease in academic effort over time across the three school subjects. Conscientiousness and interest significantly and positively predicted the change in academic effort such that when conscientiousness and interest were higher, the decrease in academic effort was smaller. In addition, conscientiousness and interest interacted in a compensatory manner such that interest was less important for academic effort in students who were high in conscientiousness.

Authors

• Sven Rieger, University of Tübingen

• Richard Gollner, Tuebingen University

• Marion Spengler

• Ulrich Trautwein, University of Tubingen

• Benjamin Nagengast, University of Tübingen

• Brent W. Roberts, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign