Psychological Predictors of College Students Performance

The purpose of this study was to find how much ability and psychological factors determined academic performance of college students. On a sample of 269 first year undergraduate students, emotional intelligence (Emotional Quotient Inventory; Bar­ On, 1997) and study motivation (Motivational Strategies for Learning Questionnaire; Pintrich, Smith, Garcia, & McKeachie, 1991) as psychological factors explained variance in GPA by 15% incrementally next to Higher Secondary School Marks, an ability factor, for the students of Humanities (n = 130). Such an increase was around 5% only for the students of Sciences (n = 139). The overall emotional intelligence score and learning motivation score was similar between Science and Humanities students, however, within the Humanities Group only the scores significantly varied among high, medium, and low GPA scoring students. The effect of personality traits namely Extraversion, Openness to Change, and Conscientiousness (NEO Five Factor Inventory; Costa & McCrae, 1992) was least related to academic performance as another psychological factor. Since psychological factors were not as much relevant to the prediction of GPA in the Science Group as in the Humanities that underscored the salience of academic discipline in influencing the students' performance as a contextual factor. Learning motivation varied with GPA more than performance­ motivation, meaningfully enough. These findings have implications for educational program by highlighting that psychological factors influence academic achievement next to ability factors differently in specific disciplines.