Is There Evidence for Intelligence-by-Conscientiousness Interaction in the Prediction of Change in School Grades from Age 11 to 15 Years?

Abstract

Fluid intelligence and conscientiousness are the most important predictors of school grades. In addition to this main effect, researchers have suggested that the two traits might also interact with each other in the prediction of school success. A synergistic and a compensatory form of interaction have been suggested, but past evidence has been mixed so far. Most previous studies on this subject have been cross-sectional and many of them focused on older adolescents or adults in upper secondary school or university. We thus investigated the main and interaction effects of fluid intelligence and conscientiousness on school grades in math and German in a longitudinal sample of 1043 German students from age 11 to 15 years. Results from latent growth curve models with latent interaction terms showed a small compensatory interaction effect for baseline levels of math grades but not for their development. No interaction effect was found for German grades. These findings are discussed against the background that (synergistic) interaction effects between intelligence and conscientiousness might be more relevant in older students from higher secondary school or university context.