Conscious Self-Regulation, Personality Features and Academic Success in Students With Different Dynamics of Psychological Well-Being

Measures

For our study, we have selected a set of measures, assessing regulatory, personality, and motivational features.

• The psychological well-being of students was assessed with «Well-Being Manifestation Measure Scale» (Masse, et al., 1998), which consists of six scales: «Control of Self and Events», «Sociability», «Happiness», «Social involvment», «Self-esteem», «Mental Balance» and the integral scale «Psychological well-being». Cronbach’s alpha – 0.57 to 0.78.

• The questionnaire «The style of self-regulation of educational activity, SSUD-M» (Morosanova & Bondarenko, 2017) was used to assess the development of conscious self-regulation. The questionnaire evaluates the regulatory and personal characteristics of students: planning, modeling, programming, results evaluation, flexibility, independence, reliability, responsibility, the general level of self-regulation. Cronbach’s alpha – 0.65 to 0.82.

• Motivation was assessed with «Attitude towards learning in middle and high school», the Russian adaptation of Spilberger's Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI). It includes six scales: cognitive activity, achievement motivation, anxiety, anger, motivation to avoid failure and general level of attitude towards learning. Cronbach’s alpha – 0.50 to 0.89.

• Personal characteristics were assessed using the «Big Five Questionnaire - Children version». Measured scales: «Neuroticism», «Extraversion», «Openness», «Agreeableness» and «Conscientiousness». Cronbach’s alpha – 0.86 – 0.91.

• The average score in the main subjects was used as indicator of academic performance.

Sample

This article analyzes the data of a two-wave longitudinal study: the first wave – 5^th graders, the second – same children a year later (6th grade). The sample included 98 (53 males and 45 females) 10 – 12 years old students (mean age = 11, SD = 0.28) of Russian secondary schools. Everyone participated on a voluntary basis with the written agreement of the parents.

Is there a dynamic of PWB in students during the transition from grade 5 to 6?

The results of PWB means comparison did not show significant differences between 5 and 6 grades (p = 0.86). The general level of PWB in grade 5 was 96,90, in grade 6 – 96,33. At the same time, the general level of self-regulation significantly decreased (p = .029) from 31.98 in the 5th grade to 30.40 in the 6th grade. But this decrease did not lead to a significant decline in academic performance (see Fig. 1 ). To analyze the reasons for the decline in the average level of conscious SR, we identified groups with a decrease, increase, and stability of PBW. We calculated the difference between the indicators of the General level of PWB obtained in grades 6 and 5 for each respondent. Then we estimated the standard deviation of this difference and divided our subjects into three groups based on calculated deviation: the extreme groups formed around the values below -0.5 σ and above 0.5 σ. The group with positive dynamics of PWB consisted of 28 respondents (61 % of boys), the group with stable PWB included 44 respondents (57 % of boys), the group with a decline in PWB consisted of 28 respondents (42 % of boys).

The analysis demonstrates that half of the sample retained their PWB level in 6th grade (“Stable PWB” group). Figure 1 shows that this group has a high level of academic performance. This group retains the same level of PWB despite the decline of academic performance in 6th grade. The group with increased PWB also shows the growth of academic performance.

See Full Size >

What happens to cognitive activity and attitude to learning in groups with different PWB trajectories?

To answer the question of what emotional and personality mechanisms underlie the changes in psychological well-being, academic performance, and self-regulation, we analyzed the change in these characteristics in three groups in 6th grade (Table 1 ).

The results show that, generally, students tend to have high levels of learning activity and achievement motivation and low levels of anxiety and anger. However, two groups (“Decreased PWB” and “Stable PWB”) showed a decline in the general level of attitude to learning, mainly due to a decrease in cognitive activity and achievement motivation. This is especially true for the “Decreased PWB” group (p<0.001). Also, there is a distinct growth of anxiety in the “Stable PWB” group.

The group "Increased PWB" demonstrates an increase in cognitive activity, a decrease in anxiety, and a generally positive attitude to learning.

How regulatory and personality features change in groups with different PWB trajectories?

The regulatory features analysis shows, that the “Stable PWB” group differs from the other two groups by the highest general level of SR and all of the indicators. The next is the “Increased PWB” group, and the “Decreased PWB” group has the lowest values (Table 2 ).

The “Decreased PWB” group demonstrated a significant decline in Planning, Programming, Independence, and General level of SR. Only Modeling showed significant growth, but whether it has a positive contribution to academic performance remains to be clarified. The “Stable PWB” group showed a significant decline in Planning, Programming, Responsibility, and General level of SR. In our view processes in these two groups are associated with a decrease in cognitive activity and interest in learning. Thus, students are less likely to set learning goals, show initiative, and willingness to take responsibility for their results.

The “Increased PWB” group does not show a significant decline in regulatory indicators, while the Reliability demonstrates significant growth. The Results evaluation in this group shows the lowest values in comparison with other groups. This result is consistent with an increase in cognitive activity since, for this group, external appraisals are less important than interest in learning and involvement in educational activities.

The comparison of personality factors' means in 6th grade demonstrated that the “Stable PWB” group shows the highest values of all indicators, except for Neuroticism (the lowest among the groups). The “Increased PWB” group shows average level of all factors, and the “Decreased PWB” group has low scores (Table 3 ).

However, we can point out the processes that may contribute to the identified decrease in self-regulation. The groups “Decreased PWB” and “Stable PWB” showed a significant increase in Neuroticism, most likely due to an increase in anxiety. Since well-being does not decrease in the “Stable PWB” group, we argue that a high level of SR helps these students cope with the difficulties, while students of the “Decreased PWB” group can't use this resource. A decrease in Conscientiousness also negatively contributes to academic performance in these groups.

The group “Increased PWB” demonstrates growth in all factors, which reflects the development of personality. Agreeableness is slightly higher than other indicators, which indicates a positive attitude of 6th graders to class activities and their peers.

Discussion

In the presented study we managed to identify three groups of students with different dynamics of PWB during the transition from grade 5 to grade 6. We identified consistent trajectories of changes in regulatory, personality, and emotional-motivational indicators. The results contribute to the understanding of the processes behind the changes in academic performance and well-being in groups.

The fact that almost half of sixth graders maintained the high PWB level is one of the most important results. Undoubtedly, this stability of psychological well-being is supported by a high level of conscious self-regulation. An increase of the general level of the SR only by 5 %, led to significant growth of PWB and academic performance in the group that had the lowest PWB level in the 5th grade.

Significant results are obtained for changes in the level of Neuroticism. The results show that Neuroticism supports high academic performance in 6th grade. There is a small amount of research showing a positive correlation between Neuroticism and academic performance in 12-13 – year –old students (Kuftyak & Tihonova, 2019). Moreover, it has also been shown that children with fewer problems in the mental sphere have a high level of neuroticism. And we, following the received data on the emotional state of our respondents, tend to agree with these conclusions.

А decrease in the personal characteristics of Conscientiousness and Openness to experience in the “Decreased PWB” and “Stable PWB” groups are somewhat concerning. As shown in our research, these traits usually act in a regulatory function (Morosanova & Konoz, 2003). Since Openness to experience has positive correlations with both cognitive activity and conscious self-regulation, especially with the goal planning process, such negative dynamics have already begun to affect academic performance. The results are highly consistent with data on the contribution of noncognitive characteristics in academic performance and psychological well-being (see Antaramian, 2017; Fomina et al., 2019; Yang et al., 2019).

A consistent decrease in the "positive triad" – academic performance, PWB, and self-regulation – found in the “Decreased PWB” group may be a criterion for the need for assistance to such students. The regulatory, motivational, emotional, and personality indicators identified in the study that determine this decline may help teachers and psychologists identify appropriate areas of work with students.