Affective processes and academic achievement

Abstract

Achievement, empathy, depressive affectivity, aggression, and self-concept measures were obtained for 8-9- and 10-11-year-olds. Depressive affectivity and aggression were assessed by teacher ratings and self-reports. Empathy was assessed by audiovisual tapes. Measures were readministered to the younger group 2 years later. Achievement scores were highly stable. Significant test-retest correlations were also found for the affective measures. Self-reports were negligibly related to achievement. For girls, strong relations were found between empathy at age 8-9 and achievement in reading and spelling at age 10-11. Teacher ratings of depressive affectivity were inversely related to achievement for boys and girls at age 8-9, but significant at age 10-11 for girls only. Initial ratings of depressive affectivity were predictive of girls' subsequent achievement. A similar pattern was found for teacher ratings of aggression.