[go: up one dir, main page]

IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp8269.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Effect of Personality Traits on Subject Choice and Performance in High School: Evidence from an English Cohort

Author

Listed:
  • Mendolia, Silvia

    (University of Torino)

  • Walker, Ian

    (Lancaster University)

Abstract
This paper investigates the relationship between personality traits in adolescence and performance in high school using a large and recent cohort study. In particular, we investigate the impact of locus of control, self-esteem and work ethics at age 15, on test scores at age 16, and on subject choices and subsequent performance at age 17-18. In particular, individuals with external locus of control or with low levels of self-esteem seem less likely to have good performance in test scores at age 16 and to pursue further studies at 17-18, especially in mathematics or sciences. We use matching methods to control for a rich set of adolescent and family characteristics and we find that personality traits do affect study choices and performance in test scores - particularly in mathematics and science. The results are stronger for adolescents from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds. We establish the robustness of our results using the methodology proposed by Altonji et al. (2005) that consists in making hypotheses as to the correlation between the unobservables that determine test scores and subjects' choices and, the unobservables that influence personality.

Suggested Citation

  • Mendolia, Silvia & Walker, Ian, 2014. "The Effect of Personality Traits on Subject Choice and Performance in High School: Evidence from an English Cohort," IZA Discussion Papers 8269, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8269
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp8269.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), 2011. "Handbook of the Economics of Education," Handbook of the Economics of Education, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 4, number 4, June.
    2. Barón, Juan D. & Cobb-Clark, Deborah A., 2010. "Are Young People's Educational Outcomes Linked to their Sense of Control?," IZA Discussion Papers 4907, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Schurer, Stefanie, 2014. "Bouncing Back from Health Shocks: Locus of Control, Labor Supply, and Mortality," IZA Discussion Papers 8203, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Joseph G. Altonji & Todd E. Elder & Christopher R. Taber, 2005. "Selection on Observed and Unobserved Variables: Assessing the Effectiveness of Catholic Schools," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(1), pages 151-184, February.
    5. Marco Caliendo & Deborah A. Cobb-Clark & Arne Uhlendorff, 2015. "Locus of Control and Job Search Strategies," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 97(1), pages 88-103, March.
    6. Kalena E. Cortes & Joshua S. Goodman & Takako Nomi, 2015. "Intensive Math Instruction and Educational Attainment: Long-Run Impacts of Double-Dose Algebra," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 50(1), pages 108-158.
    7. Katja Coneus & Johannes Gernandt & Marianne Saam, 2011. "Noncognitive Skills, School Achievements and Educational Dropout," Schmollers Jahrbuch : Journal of Applied Social Science Studies / Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 131(4), pages 547-568.
    8. Mary Silles, 2010. "Personality, education and earnings," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(2), pages 131-151.
    9. Lex Borghans & Angela Lee Duckworth & James J. Heckman & Bas ter Weel, 2008. "The Economics and Psychology of Personality Traits," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(4).
    10. Margo Coleman & Thomas DeLeire, 2003. "An Economic Model of Locus of Control and the Human Capital Investment Decision," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 38(3).
    11. Carneiro, Pedro & Heckman, James J., 2003. "Human Capital Policy," IZA Discussion Papers 821, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Schurer, Stefanie, 2012. "The stability of big-five personality traits," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 11-15.
    13. James J. Heckman & Jora Stixrud & Sergio Urzua, 2006. "The Effects of Cognitive and Noncognitive Abilities on Labor Market Outcomes and Social Behavior," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 24(3), pages 411-482, July.
    14. Peter Gottschalk, 2005. "Can work alter welfare recipients' beliefs?," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(3), pages 485-498.
    15. Dehejia, Rajeev, 2005. "Practical propensity score matching: a reply to Smith and Todd," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 125(1-2), pages 355-364.
    16. James J. Heckman & Dimitriy V. Masterov, 2007. "The Productivity Argument for Investing in Young Children," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 29(3), pages 446-493.
    17. Juanna Schrøter Joensen & Helena Skyt Nielsen, 2009. "Is there a Causal Effect of High School Math on Labor Market Outcomes?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 44(1).
    18. Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Kassenboehmer, Sonja C. & Schurer, Stefanie, 2014. "Healthy habits: The connection between diet, exercise, and locus of control," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 1-28.
    19. Almlund, Mathilde & Duckworth, Angela Lee & Heckman, James & Kautz, Tim, 2011. "Personality Psychology and Economics," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 1-181, Elsevier.
    20. Deborah A. Cobb‐Clark & Stefanie Schurer, 2013. "Two Economists' Musings on the Stability of Locus of Control," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 0, pages 358-400, August.
    21. Dolton, P. J. & Vignoles, A., 2002. "Is a broader curriculum better?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(5), pages 415-429, October.
    22. Piatek, Rémi & Pinger, Pia R., 2010. "Maintaining (locus of) control? Assessing the impact of locus of control on education decisions and wages," ZEW Discussion Papers 10-093, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    23. Shelly Lundberg, 2013. "The College Type: Personality and Educational Inequality," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 31(3), pages 421-441.
    24. Pedro Carneiro & Claire Crawford & Alissa Goodman, 2007. "The Impact of Early Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Skills on Later Outcomes," CEE Discussion Papers 0092, Centre for the Economics of Education, LSE.
    25. Heckman, James J. & Moon, Seong Hyeok & Pinto, Rodrigo & Savelyev, Peter A. & Yavitz, Adam, 2010. "The rate of return to the HighScope Perry Preschool Program," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(1-2), pages 114-128, February.
    26. Ruhm, Christopher J., 2008. "Maternal employment and adolescent development," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(5), pages 958-983, October.
    27. Lawrence M. Berger & Jennifer Hill & Jane Waldfogel, 2005. "Maternity leave, early maternal employment and child health and development in the US," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 115(501), pages 29-47, February.
    28. Johnston, David W. & Schurer, Stefanie & Shields, Michael A., 2013. "Exploring the intergenerational persistence of mental health: Evidence from three generations," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 1077-1089.
    29. Rajeev H. Dehejia & Sadek Wahba, 2002. "Propensity Score-Matching Methods For Nonexperimental Causal Studies," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(1), pages 151-161, February.
    30. Heckman, James J., 2011. "Integrating Personality Psychology into Economics," IZA Discussion Papers 5950, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    31. Chatterji, Pinka & Alegria, Margarita & Takeuchi, David, 2011. "Psychiatric disorders and labor market outcomes: Evidence from the National Comorbidity Survey-Replication," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 858-868.
    32. Merve Cebi, 2007. "Locus of Control and Human Capital Investment Revisited," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 42(4).
    33. Alissa Goodman & Barbara Sianesi, 2005. "Early education and children's outcomes: low long do the impacts last?," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 26(4), pages 513-548, December.
    34. Delaney, Liam & Harmon, Colm & Ryan, Martin, 2013. "The role of noncognitive traits in undergraduate study behaviours," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 181-195.
    35. Yona Rubinstein & James J. Heckman, 2001. "The Importance of Noncognitive Skills: Lessons from the GED Testing Program," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(2), pages 145-149, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Personality traits and school performance
      by nawmsayn in ZeeConomics on 2014-08-18 00:30:31

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dickerson, Andy & Ratcliffe, Anita & Rohenkohl, Bertha & Van de Sijpe, Nicolas, 2024. "Anticipated labour market discrimination and educational achievement," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 375-393.
    2. Ao, Xiang & Chen, Xuan & Zhao, Zhong, 2022. "Is care by grandparents or parents better for children's non-cognitive skills? Evidence on locus of control from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    3. Mesplé-Somps, Sandrine & Nilsson, Björn, 2023. "Role models, aspirations and desire to migrate," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 819-839.
    4. Katharina Jaik & Stefan C. Wolter, 2016. "Lost in Transition: The Influence of Locus of Control on Delaying Educational Decisions," Economics of Education Working Paper Series 0118, University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW).
    5. Jhong Yun (Joy) Kim & Eunbee Kim, 2021. "Effect of Positive Parenting Styles as Perceived by Middle School Students on Academic Achievement and the Mediation Effect of Self-Esteem and Academic Engagement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-13, November.
    6. Szabó-Morvai, Ágnes & Kiss, Hubert János, 2022. "Különböznek-e a roma és nem roma diákok nem kognitív képességeikben? [Do Roma and non-Roma students differ in their non-cognitive abilities?]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(11), pages 1433-1456.
    7. Szabó-Morvai, Ágnes & Kiss, Hubert János & Károlyi, Róbert, 2023. "Kontrollhely Magyarországon - egy reprezentatív felmérés eredményei [Locus of Control in Hungary: The results of a representative survey]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(7), pages 847-871.
    8. Deborah Cobb-Clark, 2015. "Locus of control and the labor market," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-19, December.
    9. Caliendo, Marco & Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Hennecke, Juliane & Uhlendorff, Arne, 2019. "Locus of control and internal migration," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    10. Prakash, Kushneel & Kumar, Sanjesh, 2021. "“Smoking your child’s job away”: Parental smoking during one’s childhood and the probability of being employed in adulthood," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 86-98.
    11. Giuseppe Migali & Eugenio Zucchelli, 2014. "The relationship between forgone health care and high school dropout," Working Papers 71679142, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    12. Szabó-Morvai Ágnes & Hubert János Kiss, 2020. "Locus of control and Human Capital Investment Decisions: The Role of Effort, Parental Preferences and Financial Constraints," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 2055, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    13. Silvia Mendolia & Alfredo R Paloyo & Ian Walker, 2018. "Heterogeneous effects of high school peers on educational outcomes," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 70(3), pages 613-634.
    14. Mendolia, Silvia & Paloyo, Alfredo R. & Walker, Ian, 2018. "The effect of religiosity on adolescent risky behaviors," Ruhr Economic Papers 755, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    15. Heywood, John S. & Jirjahn, Uwe & Struewing, Cornelia, 2017. "Locus of control and performance appraisal," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 205-225.
    16. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Munyanyi, Musharavati Ephraim & Prakash, Kushneel & Smyth, Russell, 2020. "Locus of control and the gender gap in mental health," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 740-758.
    17. Contini, Dalit & Tommaso, Maria Laura Di & Mendolia, Silvia, 2017. "The gender gap in mathematics achievement: Evidence from Italian data," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 32-42.
    18. Haile, Getinet & Bryson, Alex & White, Michael, 2015. "Spillover effects of unionisation on non-members' wellbeing," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 108-122.
    19. Caliendo, Marco & Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Hennecke, Juliane & Uhlendorff, Arne, 2019. "Locus of control and internal migration," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    20. Leckie, G. & Maragkou, K., 2024. "Tracing the Origins of Gender Bias in Teacher Grades," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2457, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Silvia Mendolia & Ian Walker, 2014. "The effect of personality traits on subject choice and performance in high school," Working Papers 64907361, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    2. Silvia Mendolia & Ian Walker, 2015. "Youth unemployment and personality traits," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-26, December.
    3. Silvia Mendolia & Ian Walker, 2015. "Youth unemployment and the effect of personality traits," Working Papers 84097960, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    4. Mendolia, Silvia & Walker, Ian, 2014. "Do NEETs Need Grit?," IZA Discussion Papers 8740, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Peter, Frauke, 2016. "The effect of involuntary maternal job loss on children's behaviour and non-cognitive skills," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 43-63.
    6. Silvia Mendolia & Ian Walker, 2014. "The Effect Of Noncognitive Traits On Health Behaviours In Adolescence," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(9), pages 1146-1158, September.
    7. Deborah Cobb-Clark, 2015. "Locus of control and the labor market," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-19, December.
    8. Lee, Sun Youn & Ohtake, Fumio, 2018. "Is being agreeable a key to success or failure in the labor market?," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 8-27.
    9. Edwards, Rebecca & Gibson, Rachael & Harmon, Colm & Schurer, Stefanie, 2022. "First-in-their-family students at university: Can non-cognitive skills compensate for social origin?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    10. Rémi Piatek & Pia Pinger, 2016. "Maintaining (Locus of) Control? Data Combination for the Identification and Inference of Factor Structure Models," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(4), pages 734-755, June.
    11. Migali, Giuseppe & Zucchelli, Eugenio, 2017. "Personality traits, forgone health care and high school dropout: Evidence from US adolescents," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 98-119.
    12. Peter Frauke H. & Spiess C. Katharina, 2016. "Family Instability and Locus of Control in Adolescence," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 16(3), pages 1439-1471, September.
    13. Thiel, Hendrik & Thomsen, Stephan L., 2013. "Noncognitive skills in economics: Models, measurement, and empirical evidence," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 189-214.
    14. Salamanca, Nicolás & de Grip, Andries & Fouarge, Didier & Montizaan, Raymond, 2020. "Locus of control and investment in risky assets," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 548-568.
    15. Dohmen, Thomas, 2014. "Behavioral labor economics: Advances and future directions," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 71-85.
    16. Deborah A. Cobb‐Clark & Stefanie Schurer, 2013. "Two Economists' Musings on the Stability of Locus of Control," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 0, pages 358-400, August.
    17. Antoine Marsaudon, 2022. "Do Hospital Stays Modify Locus of Control?," De Economist, Springer, vol. 170(2), pages 257-277, May.
    18. Heywood, John S. & Jirjahn, Uwe & Struewing, Cornelia, 2017. "Locus of control and performance appraisal," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 205-225.
    19. Giuseppe Migali & Eugenio Zucchelli, 2014. "The relationship between forgone health care and high school dropout," Working Papers 71679142, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    20. Antoine Marsaudon, 2019. "Do Health Shocks Modify Personality Traits? Evidence from Locus Of Control," PSE Working Papers halshs-01976868, HAL.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    self-esteem; locus of control; education; personality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8269. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.