Linda Wirthwein

Adolescents’ academic achievement and life satisfaction: the role of parents’ education

Drawing on the background of positive psychology, there has only recently been a focus on adolescents’ life satisfaction (LS) in the context of education. Studies examining the relationship between adolescents’ academic achievement and LS have shown conflicting results and the reasons are not fully understood. The present study investigated the role of parents’ education as a potential moderator of the relationship between adolescents’ academic achievement and LS. A sample of German high school students (N = 411) reported parents’ educational attainment, as an indicator of family socio-economic status, and students’ academic achievement was operationalized by grade point average in five subjects. Results indicated that only mothers’ education functioned as a moderator of the relationship between academic achievement and students’ LS. The association between academic achievement and LS was only found in the group of students whose mothers had achieved the same or a higher education (at least high school diploma) as their own children. Fathers’ educational attainment, however, was not a significant moderator of the respective relationship. Directions for future research and the differential influences of fathers’ and mothers’ education are discussed with regard to potential underlying processes.

Zielorientierungen: Zur Relevanz der Schulfächer

Zusammenfassung. Zielorientierungen gelten als wichtige Determinanten schulischen Lernens. Wie auch bei anderen motivationalen Konstrukten stellt sich die Frage, inwieweit Zielorientierungen eher schulfachubergreifend oder schulfachspezifisch sind. Schulerinnen und Schuler der 7.-10. Klassenstufe (N = 1210) bearbeiteten einen Fragebogen zur Erfassung von vier Zielorientierungen, jeweils auf sechs Schulfacher bezogen (Mathematik, Physik, Chemie, Deutsch, Englisch, Geschichte). Konfirmatorische Faktorenanalysen konnten die vier postulierten Zielorientierungen Lernziele, Annaherungs-Leistungsziele, Vermeidungs-Leistungsziele und Arbeitsvermeidung in jedem der sechs Schulfacher bestatigen. Zudem liesen sich die sechs Facher innerhalb jeder der vier Zielorientierungen trennen. Anschliesende Modellvergleiche dokumentierten die Bedeutung einer simultanen Beachtung beider Gliederungsaspekte. Differentielle Beziehungen der schulfachspezifischen Zielorientierungen zu Fachzensuren und fachspezifischen Selbstkonzepte...

Overexcitabilities in gifted and non-gifted adults: does sex matter?

Studies have shown sex differences regarding ‘overexcitabilities’: women score higher than men in emotional and sensual overexcitability whereas men tend to excel in intellectual as well as in psychomotor overexcitability. Some studies even found no sex differences at all. Many studies comprised gifted/talented subjects. Taking into account the few studies that simultaneously examined the factors ‘giftedness’ and ‘sex’ in relation to overexcitability and that yielded conflicting results, our study attempts to clear these heterogeneous findings by investigating a German sample. Our study comprised intellectually gifted (n = 96) and averagely intelligent (n = 91) adults who filled out the ‘Overexcitability Questionnaire-Two’. We found no statistically significant interaction of ‘giftedness × sex’. Women (regardless of their intellectual status) scored statistically significantly higher than gifted and non-gifted men on emotional as well as sensual overexcitability. With regard to the factor ‘giftedness’, gifted individuals displayed a statistically significantly higher intellectual overexcitability.

Subjective Well-Being, Test Anxiety, Academic Achievement: Testing for Reciprocal Effects

In the context of adolescents’ subjective well-being (SWB), research has recently focused on a number of different school variables. The direction of the relationships between adolescents’ SWB, academic achievement, and test anxiety is, however, still open although reciprocal causation has been hypothesized. The present study set out to investigate to what extent SWB, academic achievement, and test anxiety influence each other over time. A sample of N = 290 11th grade students (n = 138 female; age: M = 16.54 years, SD = 0.57) completed measures of SWB and test anxiety in the time span of 1 year. Grade point average (GPA) indicated students’ academic achievement. We analyzed the reciprocal relations using cross-lagged structural equation modeling. The model fit was satisfactory for all computed models. Results indicated that the worry component of test anxiety negatively and GPA positively predicted changes in the cognitive component of SWB (life satisfaction). Worry also negatively predicted changes in the affective component of SWB. Moreover, worry negatively predicted changes in students’ GPA. Directions for future research and the differential predictive influences of academic achievement and test anxiety on adolescents’ SWB are discussed with regard to potential underlying processes.

Hochbegabt und einfallslos

Die Ergebnisse der wenigen vorliegenden Studien zur Kreativitat intellektuell hochbegabter Kinder und Jugendlicher sind widerspruchlich. Im Rahmen des «Marburger Hochbegabtenprojekts» wurde die zeichnerische Kreativitat («Bild erganzen») hochbegabter ( = 135, n = 144) und durchschnittlich begabter ( = 102, n = 128) Kinder der vierten Klassenstufe verglichen. Funf Jahre spater wurden aus diesen Stichproben «stabil hochbegabte» ( = 136, n = 103) und «stabil durchschnittlich begabte» ( = 102, n = 104) Jugendliche ausgewahlt, deren analog erfasste Kreativitat wiederum querschnittlich verglichen wurde. Die Beurteilerubereinstimmung war zu beiden Zeitpunkten gut (pro Kategorie: gewichtetes κ ≥ .83). Im (Gesamt-)Kreativitatswert erreichten Hochbegabte in der vierten (d = 0.40) und in der neunten Klasse (d = 0.46) hohere Werte als durchschnittlich Begabte. Uber das Funf-Jahres-Intervall war die zeichnerische Kreativitat masig stabil (r = .33). In langsschnittlichen mittelwertbasierten Auswertungen zeigten sich ke...

Are gifted adolescents more satisfied with their lives than their non-gifted peers?

Studies investigating the life satisfaction of intellectually gifted and non-gifted students are scarce and often suffer from methodological shortcomings. We examined the life satisfaction of gifted and non-gifted adolescents using a rather unselected sample of N = 655 German high-school students (n = 75 gifted), adequate comparison groups of non-gifted students, and a clear definition of giftedness (general intelligence g > 2 SD above the mean). There was no difference in life satisfaction between gifted and non-gifted adolescents (d < |0.1|). Girls reported somewhat lower life satisfaction scores than boys (d = 0.24). However, this result was not specific to giftedness but was instead found across the entire sample. Thus, gifted girls were not found to be especially unsatisfied with their lives. Our findings support previous research showing that giftedness is not a risk factor for impaired psycho-social well-being of boys or girls.