Direct causal effects of self-control and grit account for only 4.4% of school performance variance, with self-control the stronger causal predictor¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2023 · checked against its sources 2026-10-26 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? In the causal model with A confounding, total explained variance is 16.8%, of which 12.4% is genetic confounding and 4.4% is due to the causal effects; within the 4.4%, self-control (2.84%) outweighs grit (0.27%). → Kevenaar 2023 q3 i? The causal regression coefficients are b_SP,SC = 0.151 (s.e. 0.027) and b_SP,Grit = 0.047 (s.e. 0.033); the test of b_SP,Grit = 0 yields LRT = 29.18, df = 1, p < 0.001. → Kevenaar 2023

Evidence¶

Kevenaar 2023¶

Kevenaar, S. T., van Bergen, E., Oldehinkel, A. J., Boomsma, D. I. & Dolan, C. V. (2023). The relationship of school performance with self-control and grit is strongly genetic and weakly causal. npj Science of Learning, 8:53. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-023-00198-3

q3 · i? · associational · r2

Causal regression model with A confounding (Model 4), the article's model of choice, fitted to teacher ratings of Dutch 12-year-old twins. In it "self-control (2.84% of the 4.4%) is a stronger predictor than grit (0.27% of the 4.4%)" (Table 5).

"The total explained variance of school performance is 16.8%, with by far the largest part (12.4%) due to genetic confounding. The causal effects account for 4.4%"

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Personality Traits — predictor: learners who differ on it differ in outcomes

Related Claims¶

• Teacher-rated self-control and grit jointly explain 28.4% of the variance in school performance in standard phenotypic regression — related
• Twin correlations indicate genetic influences on self-control, grit, and school performance, with cross-trait cross-twin correlations higher in MZ than DZ twins — related