Exploring individual differences as determining factors in student academic achievement in higher education

The study investigated the association and relative influence of cognitive/motivational and demographic factors on final degree grade point average (GPA) in a single undergraduate cohort. Although academic self-efficacy, approaches to learning, prior achievement and age all produced significant correlations with GPA, regression analysis identified prior achievement (R-change(2)=.288), age (R-change(2)=.201) and academic self-efficacy (R-change(2)=.062) as the only significant predictors of GPA. Significant increases in academic self-efficacy (d=.46), deep (d=.43) and strategic (d=.37) approaches to learning, and self-confidence (d=.33), and a significant decrease in internal academic locus of control (d=.50), were also reported when comparing first and final year scores. Conclusions suggested that prior academic achievement, age and academic self-efficacy provide a partial explanation for academic achievement in higher education, that any measure of prior achievement must be relevant, that self-efficacy appears to be the most relevant perceived control construct in a learning context, and that further work focusing on age in the context of academic achievement in higher education is both necessary and warranted.