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In this study, 572 secondary school students aged 15–18 years old stage were selected to study the effect of their cognitive ability and self-discipline and planning on academic achievement. Cognitive ability was classified into memory ability, representational ability, information processing ability, logical reasoning ability, and thinking conversion ability, and analyzed the effects of these five ability values on academic achievement. The mediating effect of self-discipline ability between cognitive ability and academic achievement was analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM), and the moderating role of planning in the mediating effect was analyzed using planning as a moderating variable. The results showed that cognitive ability can have a significant positive effect on academic achievement, while self-discipline plays a partially mediating role between cognitive ability and academic achievement, and the moderating effect of Planning is significant in the second half of the mediating effect, i.e., the effect of self-discipline on academic achievement changes as the level of planning increases, and the mediating effect is stronger in the condition of higher planning, and the mediating model with moderating effect holds.
Keywords: cognitive ability, self-discipline, planning, academic achievement, structural equation modeling
According to Zhao (2017), academic achievement refers to the actual performance of students’ mastery of academic knowledge and skills as demonstrated through examinations after systematic knowledge and skills learning. In the Chinese educational student evaluation system, universities usually classify students by academic achievement. Liu (2019) argued that academic achievement, especially in China’s college entrance exams, determines students’ future development, so studying the factors that enhance academic achievement will help each student’s learning and development. Under the educational selection system that is being implemented in China, academic achievement is the measure of students’ academic achievement and the most important reference factor for admission to colleges and universities.
Both cognitive ability and self-discipline have been key factors affecting students’ academic achievement (Liang et al., 2020). Self-discipline has become one of the key factors governing students’ academic achievement, especially since schools adopted online instruction following the outbreak of COVID-19 (Schulz, 2021). However, it is not clear the way in which cognitive ability and self-discipline work together to influence students’ overall academic achievement. Also, planning, an important factor influencing academic achievement (Cao and Cao, 2004), has rarely been examined alongside cognitive ability and self-discipline for its impact on academic achievement.
In this study, the cognitive ability, self-discipline, planning, and academic achievement of high school students were studied, and a structural equation with a moderating mediating effect was constructed with self-discipline as the mediating variable and planning as the moderating variable to analyze the mediating effect of self-discipline between cognitive ability and academic achievement, and the moderating effect of planning under the mediating effect.
Cognitive ability refers to the human brain’s ability to store memory, process and extraction of information, includes attention, memory and logical reasoning, and thinking transformation. It is a key factor that research can consistently predict Academic Achievement (Stadler et al., 2016). Past research has centered on the direct effect of personal decent cognitive abilities of students on Academic Achievement (Kuncel et al., 2004; Miriam et al., 2011). Rohde and Thompson (2007) concluded that cognitive ability can directly affect academic achievement with a correlation of 0.38. Ian et al. (2006), in a study of over 70,000 British students A 5-year follow-up study found a correlation between cognitive ability and academic achievement of 0.81. Grass step-by-step analysis through multivariate analysis obtained that logical reasoning skills can significantly affect students’ performance in science and chemistry (Grass et al., 2017). Liu et al. (2021) measured the cognitive abilities of spatial imagination, computation, and information processing in 499 Chinese children and teamed up to analyze the association between students’ academic achievement in mathematics and Chinese for two consecutive school years and found significant correlations between visual-spatial imagination, computation, and information processing abilities and academic achievement. Most such previous studies have examined the single effect of cognitive ability on academic achievement at the individual student level (Kuncel et al., 2004; Miriam et al., 2011). In addition, the above findings support the knowledge process theory (Deary et al., 2006; Xu and Li, 2015), which concludes that when students’ cognitive abilities are high, they are able to encode key information more quickly and accurately in memory, thus enabling the brain to output more and more effective information, resulting in better academic achievement on exams (Liu and Wang, 2000; Zhang and Zhang, 2011). Conversely, at lower levels of cognitive ability, some knowledge is missed in the knowledge process, which further reduces effective information output and leads to lower academic achievement (Miriam et al., 2011). These findings also support the results of previous analyses indicating that cognitive ability usually contributes significantly to academic achievement.
Although there is a significant relationship between cognitive abilities and Academic Achievement, existing research is difficult to model the effect of cognitive abilities on Academic Achievement. In fact, in terms of student learning, cognitive abilities are very important in students’ learning activities, and it is not only about different cognitive abilities, but also relates to the ways in which these different abilities function together (David, 2005). There are many controversies about the pattern of influence of cognitive ability on Academic Achievement in different studies (Formazin et al., 2011). Zhang (2008) found that logical reasoning ability (LRA) had a correlation coefficient of about 0.3 with Chinese and mathematics scores, while thinking transformation ability (TCA) had no significant correlation with scores in these two subjects. However, Xu and Li (2015) found a significant correlation between thinking transformation ability and performance in these two subjects. These results suggest that the complex role of cognitive ability is difficult to reveal comprehensively and systematically when only the effect of a single cognitive factor on Academic Achievement is examined.
Through the research of many scholars, we can find that the effect of students’ cognitive ability on academic achievement is significant, but the complex mechanisms of their influence remain very ambiguous. The importance of cognitive abilities in students’ learning activities is only reflected in the researcher’s predetermined scope of investigation, which contains one or more cognitive abilities specific to the researcher, while outside the scope of investigation, these cognitive abilities still operate in an unpredictable manner (David, 2005), thus, scholars still do not reach a consensus on why cognitive abilities affect academic achievement due to the inconsistent scope of investigation of students’ cognitive abilities (Formazin et al., 2011).
In addition, Past research has tended to examine the impact of a single cognitive ability, while research under the combined influence of multiple cognitive abilities is lacking. Therefore, in this study, according to classification of cognitive abilities by Wo and Lin (2000) and Liang et al. (2020), these researchers conducted numerous studies and explored five categories of cognitive abilities, namely, information processing, logical reasoning, working memory, thought transformation, and representation, getting scientific and valid conclusions and summarizing the test methods for different cognitive abilities. Specifically, they developed a software system to measure these five cognitive abilities, which has measured more than 2 million students in mainland China, and obtained normative data applicable to measure the cognitive ability of students in mainland China at this stage. This cognitive ability assessment system has been fully tested for its reliability and validity, and can assess students’ cognitive ability very accurately. In addition, the Chinese invention patent of this cognitive ability assessment system has been obtained by Wo (2010). Therefore, this study explored the specific effects of different cognitive abilities on academic achievement and proposed the following hypotheses.
Hypothesis 1: Cognitive ability can positively predict students’ academic achievement.
Many studies are generally agreed by researchers that cognitively competent students have better Academic Achievement (Kuncel et al., 2004; Miriam et al., 2011; Stadler et al., 2016). However, there are several other researchers’ studies that suggest that cognitive ability is only one of many determinants of high academic achievement of students (Shao, 1983). Several studies find that self-discipline is also a factor that influences how well students achieve academically, and self-discipline is the ability of students to manage their self-perceptions, emotions, and behaviors consciously according to learning requirements or their own goal expectations without external supervision or restrictions (Xie, 2009). Dai (2013) examined the correlation between self-regulation, emotional stability, and academic achievement and found a significant positive relationship between self-discipline and academic achievement. Duckworth and Seligman (2010) used American eighth-grade students as studied the effect of self-regulation on academic achievement and found that self-regulation had a positive effect on student achievement. Zhao (2017) found that self-discipline significantly predicted academic achievement in upper elementary school students. Wang (2003) designed his own self-discipline questionnaire and surveyed 885 middle to high school students in Shanghai and showed that self-discipline was a significant positive predictor of academic achievement. Many previous studies have shown a significant positive correlation between students’ self-discipline and academic achievement. However, the mechanism by which self-discipline affects academic achievement remains unclear.
Cognitive ability and self-discipline are both independent and interrelated elements of individual students’ psychology (Li and Zhang, 2015), since cognitive ability and self-discipline are indicators of different dimensions of students in the learning process, many scholars have different opinions about their relevance (James et al., 2006). Most studies have concluded that the correlation between self-discipline and cognitive ability is small, and therefore, cognitive ability and self-discipline are often used as independent variables affecting students’ academic achievement (Roemer et al., 2022); however, some scholars have argued that cognitive ability and self-discipline influence each other (Borghans et al., 2008), and Ruffing, in conducting an analysis of factors influencing academic achievement, found that both cognitive ability and self-discipline can significantly and positively influence academic achievement, and that cognitive ability and self-discipline have a correlation (Ruffing et al., 2015).
In recent years, the correlation relationship between cognitive ability and self-discipline has received more attention, and some researchers have used long-term follow-up survey data to confirm the influence relationship between cognitive ability and self-discipline both theoretically and empirically, and found that cognitive ability can significantly influence self-discipline (Heckman et al., 2018). Self-discipline enables students to focus more on tasks and achieve better academic achievement (Nesayan et al., 2018). Therefore, the following hypotheses were formulated in this study.
Hypothesis 2: Self-discipline mediates the relationship between cognitive ability and academic achievement.
Planning is the psychological and behavioral characteristics of an individual’s use of time and has a multidimensional and multilevel psychological structure (Zhang et al., 2001). Planning can directly affect students’ motivation, effort, thought processes and mental processes. Wang (2007) found that planning has a significant effect on the academic achievement of secondary school students. Good planning can better achieve the balance between wanting to learn and personality (Mirzaei et al., 2012), control and arrange their study and life rationally, and improve academic achievement (Li et al., 2016). Cao and Cao (2004) found that the ability to manage and organize time effectively greatly influenced the academic achievement of high school students through a study of their planning. Further research on the relationship between planning and students’ academic achievement found that planning had some predictive power on academic achievement, but it was only modeled from a single-factor perspective, without further research on multi-factor modeling (Zhang et al., 2001).
After considering cognitive abilities and personality traits, it was found that planning does not directly affect academic achievement, but rather acts as a moderator between academic achievement. Claessens et al. (2010) argued that although planning is related to academic achievement, the extent and form of its effect is not in a direct manner. Meanwhile, Claessens found, after a study, that planning, although it can generate a sense of control over time, only moderates academic achievement, because planning was related to factors such as cognitive variables and personality differences, the study found that there was no significant positive relationship between planning and academic achievement (Claessens et al., 2007). In addition, Macan (1994) proposed a time management process model based on an emphasis on task execution mechanisms (time planning, scheduling) and learning goals, and argued that planning as a latent variable moderates learning attitudes within learners.
In terms of self-discipline theory, planning regulates the implementation of individual goals and tasks, and effort management, including perseverance in performing tasks and self-motivation, ensures that goals are accomplished. Malte et al. (2009) also suggest that students regulate their own efforts through planning to achieve better performance. Studies have found that planning is a personality disposition that reflects or regulates cognitive activity (Dickson, 1981) and is a regulation of cognition. Cognitive activities can directly enable cognitive subjects to make progress in cognitive activities; whereas planning can only indirectly make progress in cognitive activities through the regulation of cognitive activities (Wang, 1999). Meanwhile, cognitive theory suggests that cognitive processes determine the production of emotions and behaviors, and changes in emotions and behaviors can also affect cognitive changes (Li, 1999). Based on the above findings, it is hypothesized that planning moderates the effect of cognitive ability on academic achievement when it affects academic achievement.
In addition, laxity in planning is the most obvious external manifestation of academic procrastination (Wu et al., 2014), which is often caused by individuals’ inability to control their own behavior and their inability to plan their time rationally, thus leading to lower learning efficiency and affecting academic achievement. Self-discipline is a stable and reliable personality trait, but self-discipline is a manifestation of students’ internal self-discipline, which cannot be mapped to the external study plan, and the lack of a scientific and reasonable study plan can also lead to academic procrastination and reduce study efficiency. For example, Fang and Wang (2003) found that there was no significant difference in self-discipline between students with good academic achievement and students with poor academic achievement, but there were significant or highly significant differences in five dimensions of time management: conceptual, planning, strategic, integrated, and immediate. Based on the above studies, it is hypothesized that planning moderates the effect of self-discipline on academic achievement when it affects academic achievement. It is hypothesized that planning moderates the effect of self-discipline on academic achievement.
Therefore, this study hypothesizes that self-discipline mediates between cognitive ability and academic achievement, and that planning moderates the mediating effect of self-discipline between cognitive ability and academic achievement, and proposes the following research hypothesis.
Hypothesis 3: planning can positively moderate the effect of cognitive ability on self-discipline.
Hypothesis 4: Planning can positively regulate the effect of self-discipline on academic achievement.
Hypothesis 5: planning can moderate the mediating role of self-discipline ability between cognitive ability and academic achievement.
The main research relationships of the structural equation model are shown in Figure 1 .