Personality, Learning Strategies, and School Performance in Adolescents

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyze the relationships between personality factors, learning strategies and school performance in adolescents. The study was attended by 499 students enrolled in seven high schools in Constanța County, 240 boys (48%) and 259 girls (52%), aged between 14 and 18 years, M = 16.80, SD = .82. The instruments used were the Questionnaire for Learning Strategies and School Motivation Assessment, SMALSI (Stroud & Reynolds, 2006) and the CP5F Questionnaire (Albu, 2008) based on the Five-Factor Personality Inventory, FFPI (Hendriks, 1997). School performance was represented by the general grade obtained by the students in the previous year of study. The results showed that, among the personality factors, only agreableness and autonomy are positively associated with school performance. However, personality factors are positively associated with learning strategies, which mediate the relationship between them and school performance. Students' weaknesses (low academic motivation, test anxiety, attention difficulties) are negatively associated with academic performance and mediate its relationship with personality factors. The practical implications of the study address the need to provide students with appropriate learning opportunities and especially to teach them how to learn, in order to adopt the most appropriate strategies that will lead them to success.