Relationship Between General Cognitive Abilities and School Achievement: The Mediation Role of Learning Behavior

Abstract

General cognitive abilities are still considered as the most important predictor of school achievement and success. Whether the high correlation (r=0.50) can be explained by other variables has not yet been studied. Learning behavior can be discussed as one factor that influences the relationship between general cognitive abilities and school achievement. This study examined the relationship between intelligence, school achievement and learning behavior. Mediator analyses were conducted to check whether learning behavior would mediate the relationship between general cognitive abilities and school grades in mathematics and German. Statistical analyses confirmed that the relationship between general cognitive abilities and school achievement was fully mediated by learning behavior for German, whereas intelligence seemed to be the only predictor for achievement in mathematics. These results could be confirmed by non-parametric bootstrapping procedures. RESULTS indicate that special training of learning behavior may have a positive impact on school success, even for children and adolescents with low IQ.