predicting academic achievement of greek secondary school students from family background and...
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CONTEMPORARY EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 8, 181-188 (1983)
Predicting Academic Achievement of Greek Secondary School Students from Family Background and
California Psychological Inventory Scores
MYRTO REPAPI University of Athens School of Medicine
HARRISON G. GOUGH University of California, Berkeley
KEVIN LANNING University of California, Berkeley
AND
COSTAS STEFANIS University of Athens School of Medicine
Family background data and California Psychological Inventory (CPI) protocols were obtained from 1643 Greek students (825 males, 818 females), from 19 schools in upper, above average, below average, and lower socioeconomic districts of the City of Athens. Students were enrolled in Grades 8 and 9 (gymnasia) or 10 through 12 (likio). Background variables, individual CPI scales, and a combination of six CPI scales developed earlier to forecast high school academic achievement in the United States were related to the scholastic performance of the Greek students. For all 1643 students, the optimum linear combination of three family background variables correlated .29 with grades, whereas the previously defined CPI equation had a correlation of .38. Similar results were observed in subsamples defined by sex and school level. It was concluded that the CPI measures showed sufficient validity in this cross-cultural application to warrant further research at higher educational levels, and in special subgroups such as the intellectually gifted or mathematically precocious.
INTRODUCTION
The California Psychological Inventory (CPI) (Gough, 1957) seeks to assess folk concepts having pancultural relevance and utility. The vari- ables scaled are hypothesized as derivatives of everyday interpersonal living, behavioral dispositions that people use more or less routinely to predict and understand what is said and done by self and others. Three major theoretical facets of psychological functioning are embedded in this formulation: role, or interpersonal behavior; character, or the intraper- sonal internalization of precepts; and competence, or the adequacy with
Requests for reprints should be sent to Harrison G. Cough, Institute of Personality As- sessment and Research, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720.
181 0361-476X/83 $3.00 Copyright 0 1983 by Academic Press, Inc. All rinhts of renroduction in anv fnrm wrerverl
182 REPAPI ET AL.
which the phenomena of role and character are manifested in daily life. More detailed and systematic presentations of these theoretical consid- erations may be found in the interpretational syllabus for the CPI (Gough, 1968), and in the CPI Handbook (Megargee, 1972).
The 18 scales of the inventory are intended, either one at a time or in reasonable combinations, to furnish forecasts of performance in cultural milieus that are recurring, valued, and significant in the maintenance and transference of tradition and knowledge. For example, criteria such as differentials in rule-violating behavior, leadership, migration, and social stratification in regard to prestige and power all fall clearly within the purview of these intentions. Academic achievement is a specific example of the kind of criteria the CPI seeks to predict. Given the folk-theoretical conceptual underpinnings of the test, predictions in the academic realm should have cross-cultural applicability, and in fact scales and patterns of scales capable of furnishing valid forecasts in one culture or society should function in the same way in all others.
In the 1960s an analysis was published (Gough, 1964a) of the relation- ships between the scales of the CPI and academic performance in high school. Regression analyses in a sample of 1384 students (571 males, 813 females) from five schools in four states identified a combination of six CPI scales that maximized the prediction of cumulative high school grade point average (GPA). The computing form of the equation (using raw scores on the six scales) was: 20.12 + .32Re + .19So - .31Gi + .23Ac + .28Ai + .24Ie. The scale symbols, in order, stand for Responsibility, Socialization, Good Impression, Achievement via Conformance, Achievement via Independence, and Intellectual Efficiency. The constant of 20.12 was added so as to give means of about 50 for most high school samples.
This six-scale combination was cross-validated on a new sample of 1371 students (649 males, 722 females) from nine high schools in eight states. For all students, the mean predicted GPA was 49.52, standard deviation = 4.85. Correlations of the predicted with actual GPA were .53 for males, .55 for females, and .56 for the total sample. A cross-cultural validation was also carried out (Gough, 1964b), on a sample of 341 Italian liceo students tested with the Italian version of the CPI. Grades (or voti) based on national examinations at the end of the liceo period were available for all of the students. The mean of the scores computed from the equation was 47.50, SD = 3.49; the correlation of these scores with GPA was .39.
Two other cross-validations of the equation may be reported, both using the American version of the CPI. The first (Snider, 1966) was based on 94 Canadian high school students. By relating academic performance to aptitude, students were classified as achievers versus underachievers,
PREDICTING GPA IN GREECE 183
matched for IQ, age, school year, sex, and N. The tetrachoric correlation coefficient between the CPI scores and this dichotomy was .47 (p < .Ol). Linton (1967), also in Canada, made use of province-wide examinations of ninth-grade students to classify subjects as honors (N = 124), mediocres (N = 164), and failures (N = 89). Mean scores on the CPI equation duplicated this hierarchy, and each group was significantly different from the other two. Given these findings, and the need for further cross- cultural validation, an investigation of scholastic attainment among Greek children in Athens was initiated.
TEST AND SAMPLE
The first task was to prepare a Greek translation of the CPI. Most of the 480 items were translated literally, and verified by back translation. However, some items had to be changed because of particular content. In these instances, psychological as distinguished from lin- guistic equivalence was sought. An example is item 261, “We ought to let Europe get out of its own mess: it made its bed, let it lie in it.” In the Greek translation this became, “We ought to let the countries of the Middle East get out of their own mess; they made their bed; let them lie in it.”
In addition, five items asking about sexual activities or ideation had to be deleted on the insistence of the educational authorities. New items were written that attempted to preserve the same implications for normative behavior. An example is item 148, “I believe women should have as much sexual freedom as men.” In the Greek version this became “I believe women should have the same rights as men, to do as they please.”
The total sample of students tested in Athens in the academic year 1980- 1981 included 272 boys and 319 girls in Grades 8 and 9, part of the gymnasia educational level in Greece, and 553 boys and 499 girls in the likio educational level of Grades 10 through 12. There were 825 males and 818 females in the total sample of 1643 students.
In addition to taking the CPI, students were asked to report age, education, occupation and income of father, and mother’s age and education. The grade point averages (GPA) for the current school year were obtained from school files. Not all scores and data were available for each student. Some students failed to complete the full 480-item CPI; for them, scales were scored if all of the items on the scale had been answered. For scales such as Cm (Communality), with many items toward the end of the inventory, the number of students was therefore less than for scales with most items in the first half of the test. On the family background variables, almost 400 students failed to report father’s income. Some students did not know, but others were reluctant to respond because of the concerns of their parents about the release of tax-related information.
Selection of schools for the project was based on census information concerning educa- tional level of residents, percentage of literacy, percentage of scientists, of administrators, and of manual laborers. There were seven such indices employed. Summing the scores on each index permitted a ranking of the 49 administrative areas of the city of Athens. These 49 areas were then categorized into four socioeconomic strata on the basis of the ranks. Two schools were selected from the highest level, six from the next, four from the third level, and four from the lowest. In addition, testing was conducted in three technical schools that draw students from several regions of the city. The Ministry of Education gave permission to use two class hours in each school for the testing and gathering of information. Teachers were not present in the room during testing, and students were assured that their protocols would be used for research purposes only.
184 REPAPI ET AL.
FINDINGS
The relationships between family background variables and academic performance are reported in Table 1. For the total sample, ranging in size from 1253 to 1593 on these variables, the largest correlations with grades were found for father’s education, mother’s education, and father’s occu- pation, with coefficients of .26 and .26, and .19, respectively. Occupations were rated on a lo-point scale according to the prestige and affluence associated with each. Father’s income, reported by fewer students and probably less accurately reported as well, was significantly (p < .Ol) cor- related with GPA, but at a very modest level (r = .13). Mother’s age was also significantly correlated (r = - .08), but at such a low level as to be of little interest.
Father’s age was unrelated to GPA in all of the subgroups save that composed of females in Grades 10 to 12, where it yielded a coefficient of .12. Mother’s age also had only a single significant correlation with GPA in the six subsamples. It appears that ages of parents were inconsequen- tial in regard to the academic attainment of the students in this study.
Father’s and mother’s education, on the contrary, were significantly related to GPA within all subsamples as well as in the total sample. Father’s occupation was also significantly related to GPA in all seven computations. Father’s income was not related to GPA in the female subsamples of students in the gymnasio and likio, although it was posi- tively associated with GPA in the other four computations.
Because of the equivocal tindings for father’s income, and because of a
TABLE 1 CORRELATION OF SELECTED FAMILY BACKGROUND VARIABLES
WITH SCHOOL GRADES IN SAMPLES OF GREEK CHILDREN
Variables Grades
8-9
Father’s age .03 Father’s education .25** Father’s occupation .15** Father’s income .12 Mother’s age -.04 Mother’s education .23**
Females Males
(a) (b) (cl
Grades lo- 12
.12**
.26**
.21**
.09 -.02
.26**
All females
.06
.25**
.18**
.09* -.06
.25**
(4
Grades 8-9
.08
.34**
.22**
.16*
.Ol
.37**
(e)
Grades All Total lo- 12 males sample
-.06 .25** .28** .15**
-.08 .22**
-.04 .28** .20** .16**
-.08* .27**
.oo
.26**
.19**
.13** -.OS**
.26**
(g)
Note. N’s: (a) 232-311; (b) 399-475; (c) 632-786; (d) 207-260; (e) 413-524; (f) 621- 785; (g) 1253-1593.
*p ‘c .05. **p < .Ol.
PREDICTING GPA IN GREECE 185
probable invalidity in many of the students’ estimates, it seemed to us that the key indices from the family background were education of father and mother, and father’s occupation. A multiple correlation of these three variables with GPA could therefore furnish a baseline of predictive accu- racy, against which any other forecast could be evaluated. Multiple re- gressions were calculated for females alone, males alone, and all students, giving rise to coefficients of .27, .32, and .29, respectively.
CPI RESULTS
Table 2 gives the correlations in each of the seven groupings between GPA and the 18 individual scales of the CPI, plus the high school academic achievement equation developed in 1964. For all females, the mean score on the CPI equation was 46.57, standard deviation = 3.91. For all males, the corresponding values were 45.99 and 4.14. These figures may be compared with the cross-validated means of 50.50 and 48.43 for American females and males, and of 47.50 for Italian students.
The largest single-scale correlation with GPA in the total sample was that for Re (Responsibility), followed by So (Socialization) and AC (Achievement via Conformance). In the first American sample of 1384 students, Re also had the largest coefficient and AC the third largest; however, second place in the American study went to Ie (Intellectual Efficiency), whereas in the Greek sample Ie was in fourth position. A rank order correlation coefficient was computed between the Greek and American ordering of the 18 scales of the CPI, according to the mag- nitudes of their correlations with GPA; rho was +.85 (p < .Ol).
This similarity of relationships for the 18 individual scales of the CPI suggests that the six-scale combination of scales identified in the Ameri- can study should function validly in the Greek application. In all of the subsamples, the combination of scales always gave a larger coefficient than did any single scale, although the correlations for the equation ranged from a low of .31 for males in Grades 8 and 9 to a high of .44 for females in these same grades. The overall coefficients of .37 for females, .39 for males, and .38 for the total sample may also be compared with those of .27, .32, and .29 derived from the three family background vari- ables of father’s and mother’s education and father’s occupation.
For both the personological and demographic data sets, of course, the magnitudes of predictions were modest. For instance, squaring the CPI coefficient of .38 indicates that only 14% of the variance in academic performance has been accounted for. Consequently, one might ask what results would be obtained if predictions were based on both the CPI equation and the family background variables. Multiple correlations were therefore computed with grades for the combination of the forecasts from each source. For males alone, the coefficient was .49. Beta weights for
186 REPAPI ET AL.
TABLE 2 CORRELATIONS OF CALIFORNIA PSYCHOLOGICAL INVENTORY SCALES AND HIGH SCHOOL
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT EQUATION WITH SCHOOL GRADES
IN SAMPLES OF GREEK SCHOOL CHILDREN
Females Males
(a) (b) Cc) (4 (e) (0 (9)
Grades Grades All Grades Grades All Total CPI variables 8-9 IO-12 females 8-9 lo- 12 males sample
Dominance Capacity for status Sociability Social presence Self-acceptance Well-being Responsibility Socialization Self-control Tolerance Good impression Communality Achievement via
conformance Achievement via
independence Intellectual
efficiency Psychological-
mindedness Flexibility Femininity American equation
.25**
.22**
.24**
.14*
.27**
.23**
.37**
.34**
.06
.20**
.08
.23**
.22**
.23**
.31**
.12*
.oo
.I1
.44**
.34**
.21**
.18**
.05
.13**
.13**
.26**
.22**
.05
.17**
.04
.15**
.19**
.27**
.24**
.28** -.05 .07 .34**
.26**
.19**
.20**
.07*
.17**
.17**
.30**
.28**
.05
.17**
.06
.18**
.21**
.22**
.25**
.20** -.04
.08*
.37**
.24**
.21**
.18**
.08
.17**
.08
.25**
.lO
.02
.06 -.03
.08
.17**
.20**
.22**
.04 -.03
.15*
.31**
.23**
.14**
.19**
.03
.10*
.20**
.40**
.25**
.11*
.19**
.08
.11*
.27**
.23**
.23**
.15** -.04 -
.14**
.42**
.22**
.15**
.18**
.02
.10**
.16**
.36**
.23**
.10**
.15**
.05
.09**
.26**
.20**
.22**
.11** -.04 .15** .39**
.23**
.17**
.19**
.04
.13**
.15**
.34**
.25**
.07*
.15**
.05*
.14**
.24**
.22*x
.23**
.14** -.03
.14**
.38**
Note. N’s: (a) 263-307; (b) 431-477; (c) 723-817; (d) 193-248; (e) 447-513; (0 680- 813; (g) 1335-1575.
*p < .05. ** p < .Ol.
standard scores from the CPI equation and family background cluster were .37 and .29, respectively. For females alone, R was .41, with a standardized beta weight of .30 for the CPI and .23 for family background. For the total sample, the multiple correlation was .45, with beta weights of .33 and .25 for the CPI and family background cluster. However, even this coefficient of .45 accounts for only 20% of the variance in the crite- rion.
CONCLUDING COMMENTS
To interpret the findings of this study several limitations should be kept in mind. First, no information pertaining to intellectual ability was avail-
PREDICTING GPA IN GREECE 187
able. In regard to academic achievement one must always ask how much a forecast based on intellectual measures can be improved by the addition of noncognitive variables. In the American study (Gough, 1964a), an in- teractive analysis of this kind yielded a cross-validated correlation of .68 with GPA, as compared with .60 for intellectual ability alone, and .56 for the six-scale equation from the CPI. The increment in validity (from .60 to .68) arising from the addition of the CPI scores was quite modest.
Second, positive findings in samples of high school students do not guarantee positive findings at higher educational levels. In prior American research, quite different results have been obtained on the CPI in predic- tions of academic performance in college as distinguished from high school (Megargee, 1972). A specific factor appears to be the degree of structure in the classroom. Domino (1968, 1971) has shown how motiva- tions to achieve in classes having greater or lesser structure vary with scores on the AC and Ai scales. Students with relatively high AC and low Ai scores did better in more structured classes, whereas those with rela- tively low AC and high Ai scores earned better grades in less structured classes. In general, the form-generating, independent variant of the achievement motive as assessed by Ai is demanded at higher educational levels, whereas the form-maintaining, rule-respecting variant as assessed by AC is stressed in junior and senior high school settings.
The present study of achievement in the Greek gymnasio and likio should be followed by analyses of academic performance in college and university settings. Attention in future work with the Greek version of the CPI might also attend to differential attainment within significant sub- groups, such as the intellectually gifted (Hogan & Weiss, 1974), and among persons having particular talents such as unusual mathematical ability (Weiss, Haier, & Keating, 1974). The findings from this first appli- cation of the CPI in the study of academic criteria in Greece constitute only a small part of the information worth gathering.
REFERENCES
DOMINO, G. Differential prediction of academic achievement in conforming and indepen- dent settings. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1968, 59, 256-260.
DOMINO, G. Interactive effects of achievement orientation and teaching style on academic achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1971, 62, 427-431.
GOUGH, H. G. Manual for the California Psychological Inventory. Palo Alto, Calif.: Con- sulting Psychologists Press, 1957.
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GOUGH, H. G. A cross-cultural study of achievement motivation. Journal of Applied Psy- chology, 1964, 48, 191- 196. (b)
GOUGH, H. G. An interpreter’s syllabus for the California Psychological Inventory. In P. McReynolds (Ed.), Advances in psychological assessment, Vol. 1. Palo Alto, Calif.: Science and Behavior, 1968.
188 REPAPI ET AL.
HOGAN, R., & WEISS, D. S. Personality correlates of superior academic achievement. Juur- nal of Counseling Psychology, 1974, 21, 144- 149.
LINTON, T. E. The CPI as a predictor of academic success. Alberta Journal of Education, 1967, 13, 59-64.
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SNIDER, J. G. Academic achievement and underachievement in a Canadian high school as predicted from the California Psychological Inventory. Psychology in the Schools, 1966, 3, 370-372.
WEISS, I)., HAIER, R. J., & KEATING, D. P. Personality characteristics of mathematically precocious boys. In J. C. Stanley, D. P. Keating, & L. H. Fox (Eds.), Mathematical talent: Discovery, description, development. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1974.