The relationship between student characteristics and academic achievement is strongest at kindergarten level and declines through elementary and secondary school¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · quant-synthesis r3 · q3 · i3 large
Currency · newest study 2026 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i3 Effect sizes differ significantly by school grade level (Qb = 8.00; p = 0.04), with kindergarten showing the strongest relationship (r = 0.37) and secondary the weakest (r = 0.22). → Erdem Cahit 2026

Evidence¶

Erdem Cahit 2026¶

Erdem Cahit, Kaya Metin, Polat Mustafa, Eğmir Eray. (2026). Thinking and feeling matter: a second-order meta-analysis of student characteristics across developmental domains and their effect on academic outcomes. BMC Psychology, 14, 919. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-026-05035-x

q3 · i3 · quant-synthesis · r3

Moderator analysis across 71 effect sizes coded by grade level (kindergarten k = 4, elementary k = 38, secondary k = 23, mixed k = 6). The kindergarten relationship was "high-level" (r = 0.37), with medium-level associations at elementary (r = 0.27) and secondary (r = 0.22) levels.

"The distribution of effect sizes in terms of school grade levels differed significantly (Qb = 8.00; p = 0.04). At the kindergarten level, there was a high-level relationship between students’ characteristics and academic achievement (r = 0.37)."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

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• Student characteristics across cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains show a medium-level overall relationship with K-12 academic achievement (r = 0.26) — a broader claim this one bears on