Background

A review of 13 years of research into antecedents of university students' grade point average scores (GPA) generated: (i) a comprehensive, conceptual map of known correlates of tertiary GPA, (ii) assessment of the magnitude of average, weighted correlations with GPA and (iii) tests of multivariate models of GPA correlates within and across research domains. A systematic search of psycINFO and web of knowledge databases between 1997 and 2010 identified 7167 English language articles yielding 242 datasets reporting 50 conceptuallydistinct correlates of GPA including 3 demographic factors and 5 traditional measures of cognitive capacity or prior academic performance. In addition, 42 non-intellective constructs were identified from 5 conceptually-overlapping but distinct research domains: (1) personality traits, (2) motivational factors, (3) self-regulatory learning strategies, (4) students' approaches to learning, and (5) psychosocial contextual influences. 1105 independent correlations were retrieved and data were analyzed using hypothesis-driven, random effects meta analyses. Significant average, weighted correlations were found for 41 of 50 measures.Univariate analyses revealed that demographic, and psychosocial contextual factors generated, at best, small correlations with GPA. Medium-sized correlations were observed for high school GPA, SAT, ACT, and 'A' level scores. Four non-intellective constructs also showed medium-sized correlations with GPA, namely, need for cognition, academic selfefficacy, grade goal, and effort regulation. A large correlation was observed for performance self-efficacy which was the strongest correlate (of 50 measures) followed by high school GPA, ACT, and grade goal. Implications for future research, student assessment and intervention design are discussed.Key terms: student, grade point average, self-efficacy, goal, meta analysis. NON INTELLECTIVE CORRELATES OF ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE 2The psychology of individual differences originated in attempts to predict scholastic performance. Binet and Simon's (1916) work showed that children's individual cognitive capacities explained variability in educational performance and, in doing so, laid the foundations for extensive research into intelligence and intelligence testing (Neisser et al., 1996). Theoretical debate focused on the psychological nature of intelligence and applied research explored how differences in intelligence(s) can be most usefully assessed (e.g., Capenter, Just & Shell, 1990; Gardner, 1983;Spearman, 1927). Subsequent research has identified a variety of individual differences that predict scholastic performance and prompted construction of a wide range of assessment instruments. This diverse literature has not clarified how, and to what extent, separate measures of academic potential are related.Greater conceptual and methodological integration would help focus future research questions and facilitate optimal assessment of students' academic potential. In order to achieve this we reviewed 13 years of research...

Objective: Without standardized definitions of the techniques included in behavior change interventions it is difficult to faithfully replicate effective interventions and challenging to identify techniques contributing to effectiveness across interventions. This research aimed to develop and test a theory-linked taxonomy of generally-applicable behavior change techniques (BCTs).Design: Twenty six BCTs were defined. Two psychologists used a five-page coding manual to independently judge the presence or absence of each technique in published intervention descriptions and in intervention manuals.Results: Three systematic reviews yielded 195 published descriptions. Across 78 reliability tests (i.e., 26 techniques applied to 3 reviews), the average Kappa per technique was 0.79 with 93% of judgments being agreements. Interventions were found to vary widely in the range and type of techniques employed, even when targeting the same behavior among similar participants. The average agreement for intervention manuals was 85% and a comparison of BCTs identified in 13 manuals and 13 published articles describing the same interventions generated a technique correspondence rate of 74% with most mismatches (73%) arising from identification of a technique in the manual but not in the article. For example, a reviewer might observe that some interventions employ goal setting alone while others combine goal setting with self-monitoring and feedback (as might be suggested by control theory; Carver & Scheier, 1982). If the latter group were found to be consistently more effective than the former this would indicate that the combination of these three techniques (rather then goal setting alone) was critical to effectiveness. Unfortunately, categorization of intervention content is problematic because a standardized vocabulary which defines intervention components has not been developed. Consequently, different reviewers use different approaches to categorizing intervention content (cf. Albarracín, Gillete, Earl, Glasman & Durantini, 2005;. This may mean that particular techniques or content characteristics which distinguish between interventions remain unidentified. If such "unseen" content differences are associated with effectiveness then researchers will remain unaware of how intervention content determines effectiveness, thereby impeding the design of optimally effective interventions. ConclusionsMeta-analysis has demonstrated that inclusion of particular intervention techniques is associated with to effectiveness. For example, Albarracín et al. (2005) showed that 10 distinct techniques (e.g., provision of factual information, attitudinal arguments and normative arguments) could be reliably identified in published descriptions of interventions designed to promote condom use. These reviewers identified which techniques were associated with effectiveness and how technique effectiveness was moderated by the recipients. For example, provision of normative arguments was found to be associated with effectiveness for audiences u...

ObjectiveMeta-analyses of behavior change (BC) interventions typically find large heterogeneity in effectiveness and small effects. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of active BC interventions designed to promote physical activity and healthy eating and investigate whether theoretically-specified BC techniques improve outcome. DesignInterventions, evaluated in experimental or quasi-experimental studies, using behavioral and/or cognitive techniques to increase physical activity and healthy eating in adults were systematically reviewed. Intervention content was reliably classified into 26 BC techniques and the effects of individual techniques, and of a theoretically-derived combination of self-regulation techniques, were assessed using meta-regression. Main Outcome MeasuresValid outcomes of physical activity and healthy eating. ResultsThe 122 evaluations (N = 44,747) produced an overall pooled effect size of 0.31 (95% CI 0.26 to 0.36) (I 2 = 69%). The technique, "self-monitoring", explained the greatest amount of among-study heterogeneity (13%). Interventions that combined self-monitoring with at least one other technique derived from control theory were significantly more effective than the other interventions (0.42 versus 0.26). ConclusionClassifying interventions according to component techniques and theoretically-derived technique combinations and conducting meta-regression enabled identification of effective components of interventions designed to increase physical activity and healthy eating.