Children's personalities may influence how they perform in maths

Washington DC: The characteristics related to openness, such as intellectual curiosity and confidence, made children more adept to take on math and reading than characteristics describing conscientiousness, such as diligence and perseverance.

According to a recent study, children's personalities may influence how they perform in math and reading. Our findings provide additional knowledge on the complex set of skills that interact and give rise to differences in academic achievement between children, as well as the complexity of genetic architecture of academic achievement, which is made of many parts beyond intellect," said the study's lead author, Margherita Malanchini.

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In prior studies, differences in academic skills have been linked to differences in self-regulation, or how well children can control their behaviours and internal states against a backdrop of conflicting or distracting situations, drives and impulses.

However, self-regulation is a very broad construct, incorporating both intellectual abilities, such as executive functioning, and personality traits, such as conscientiousness, researchers said. The study was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

As a result of the study, the researchers found a strong link between executive functioning -- the ability to plan, organize and complete tasks -- and proficiency in reading and math. This link was largely explained by genetic factors.

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The study also showed that children who are higher in executive functioning demonstrated increases in levels of openness, intellectual curiosity and confidence. These links were attributed to shared genetic factors and environmental factors.

According to the researchers, the results suggest that some of the genetic factors that predispose children to do well in school are also the same genetic factors that predispose children to be more open to new challenges, creative, intellectually curious and confident in their own academic ability.  (ANI)

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