Prediction of Grade Point Average from Estimated Study Behaviors
In an assessment of the relations between test anxiety, study behavior, and academic performance Allen, Lerner, and Hinrichsen (1972) found that self-reported study behaviors added significantly to personality measures and high school rank as predictors of grade point average (GPA). Ss in this investigation recorded study-relevant behaviors (e.g., number of uninterrupted minutes spent studying per week) for one semester, and it was noted that such data are susceptible to distortion for various reasons. Thus, a crossvalidation study using Ss' estimates of study-relevant behaviors was done which constituted a partial replication of the Allen, et al. (1972) work. This was done in order to determine whether Ss' estimates of these variables predict GPA as well as supposed records of the same events. During the eighth week of the semester 81 female and 63 male undergraduates enrolled in an introductory psychology course recorded their estimates of the following five variables: average amount of time spent studying per day, average number of interruptions during a study session, average number of days per week on which study occurred, average amount of time spent studying each time S sat down to study, and average length of each interruption. Ss also completed three measures of test anxiety: the Anxiety Differential (Husek & Alexander, 1963), Achievement Anxiety Test (Alpert & Haber, 1960), and the Test Anxiety Scale (Sarason, 1957). The Alpert scale is a composite one designed to measure the facilitating (AAT+) and debilitating (AAT-) effects of test anxiety. A stepwise multiple regression indicated the best predictor of GPA was Verbal SAT scores (R = 215). Variables which significantly increased R (McNemar, 1969, p. 321) were Effective Study Time Per Week (R = .65; F = 7.18, df = 2/135, p < .001) and AAT+ (R = .73; F = 2.61, df = 3/135, fi < .05). These results indicate that estimated self-reported study behaviors may be as useful predictors of GPA as supposedly ongoing records of same. The results further suggest the validity of using study-relevant variables and measures of test anxiety as predictors of academic performance.