Dispositional happiness and college student GPA: Unpacking a null relation

Morris A. Okun; Roy Levy; Paul Karoly; Linda Ruehlman

doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2009.03.010

Dispositional happiness and college student GPA: Unpacking a null relation

Morris A. Okun, Roy Levy, Paul Karoly, Linda Ruehlman

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

25 Scopus citations

Abstract

We examined the mechanisms that underlie the null relation between dispositional happiness and college grade point average (GPA) by testing the hypothesis that dispositional happiness has positive and negative indirect links to GPA that offset each other. The sample consisted of 317 first-year students. Using structural equation modeling, we found that dispositional happiness exerted a positive indirect effect on cumulative GPA via commitment to college (p < .01) and a negative indirect effect on cumulative GPA via satisfaction with peer (student) relationships (p < .05). As predicted, the sum of its indirect effects on cumulative GPA was not significant (p = .22).

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	711-715
Number of pages	5
Journal	Journal of Research in Personality
Volume	43
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2009.03.010
State	Published - Aug 2009

Keywords

Commitment to college goal striving
GPA
Happiness
Mediation
Null effects
Positive arousal
Social integration

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Social Psychology
Psychology(all)

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10.1016/j.jrp.2009.03.010

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title = "Dispositional happiness and college student GPA: Unpacking a null relation",

abstract = "We examined the mechanisms that underlie the null relation between dispositional happiness and college grade point average (GPA) by testing the hypothesis that dispositional happiness has positive and negative indirect links to GPA that offset each other. The sample consisted of 317 first-year students. Using structural equation modeling, we found that dispositional happiness exerted a positive indirect effect on cumulative GPA via commitment to college (p < .01) and a negative indirect effect on cumulative GPA via satisfaction with peer (student) relationships (p < .05). As predicted, the sum of its indirect effects on cumulative GPA was not significant (p = .22).",

keywords = "Commitment to college goal striving, GPA, Happiness, Mediation, Null effects, Positive arousal, Social integration",

author = "Okun, {Morris A.} and Roy Levy and Paul Karoly and Linda Ruehlman",

note = "Funding Information: The financial support provided by the Provost{\textquoteright}s Office at Arizona State University is gratefully acknowledged. Copyright: Copyright 2009 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.",

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KW - Mediation

KW - Null effects

KW - Positive arousal

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Dispositional happiness and college student GPA: Unpacking a null relation

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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