Measuring conscientiousness and its impact on academic performance: Insights from self-reports and behavioral data

Despite a close conceptual association, meta-analyses revealed only a modest relationship between academic performance and conscientiousness, with the latter primarily measured by general self-reports. This study aimed to identify stable patterns of conscientiousness-related learning behaviors and explore their prediction of academic performance. In 221 psychology students, we repeatedly measured learning behaviors, such as preparedness, timeliness, time spent on feedback, and effort invested in solving tasks in online formative assessments across the term. These behaviors were stable across the term and intercorrelated. This allowed extracting a latent variable learning behavior-related (LBR) conscientiousness, which correlated with general self-reported conscientiousness (r = 0.37). In separate latent regression analyses, general self-reported (β = 0.14) and LBR conscientiousness (β = 0.36) significantly predicted final exam grades. When considered simultaneously, only LBR conscientiousness remained a significant predictor. Advantages and limitations of context-specific and behavior-related measures of conscientiousness in predicting academic performance are discussed regarding their potential to support students in their studies.