Associations of Early School Grades With Temperament in Two Cultures Show New Subtleties

It has long been recognized that temperament contributes to different abilities of people to succeed in school. The earlier studies identified a consistent association of higher school achievements with temperament traits related to sustained attention, intelligence and positive emotionality. This study used two cultural samples and the neuroscience-based temperament test (Structure of Temperament Questionnaire-Compact, STQ-77-C3), to examine the associations between temperament and 2nd and 3rd years school grades in more detail. The results showed that estimated grades in Canadian sample ( N = 180, M/F = 95/85) and documented grades in eight subjects in Russian sample ( N = 109, M/F = 51/58) supported the earlier findings of positive associations between the grades and temperament traits related to sustained attention and intelligence. However, our results showed a much more differentiated pattern of temperament-grades associations. Contrarily to expectations, the Satisfaction scale measuring emotional valence showed no significant (at p < 0.01) effects in both samples. The Neuroticism scale measuring dispositional behavioural alertness and avoidance of uncertainty negatively correlated with the grades in Mathematics and Science/Environment in both samples but not with other school subjects. Social Tempo had high correlations with documented grades across all subjects, whereas Social Endurance had a significant correlation only with Art in the sample that used documented grades. There was also a differential pattern of temperament-grades associations for Sensation Seeking versus Probabilistic Processing scales. Our results, therefore, highlight the benefits of using the STQ-77-C3 (text provided in this paper) for a subtle differentiation of children’s temperament profiles, to ensure a personalized approach in educational settings.