The power of positive emotions? The link between young people’s positive and negative affect and performance in high-stakes examinations

Figures & data

Table 1. Additional scales used from the PISA 2018 database.

	Example question
School and classroom environment
Teacher interest	The enthusiasm of the teacher inspired me.
School discipline	Students don’t listen to what the teacher says.
Teacher support	The teacher helps students with their learning.
Teaching approach 1 (direct instruction)	The teacher asks questions to check whether we have understood what was taught.
Teaching approach 2 (direct instruction)	The teacher tells me in which areas I can still improve.
Adaptivity of teaching	The teacher adapts the lesson to my class’s needs and knowledge.
Educational activities
Received home tutoring in various subjects	Do you currently attend additional instruction? Enrichment lessons in mathematics
Whether skipped or arrived late for school	I skipped a whole school day
Amount of time studied before/after school	On the most recent day you attended school, how long didyou study after leaving school?
Other attitudinal scales
Parental emotional support	My parents support me when I am facing difficulties at school.
Competition at school	It seems that students are competing with each other.
Cooperation at school	It seems that students are cooperating with each other.
Value of school	Trying hard at school will help me get a good job.
Competitiveness at school	It is important for me to perform better than other people on a task.
Work mastery	I find satisfaction in working as hard as I can.

Table 2. The distribution of the test/examination measures.

(a) GCSE total points score
Statistic							GCSE TPS
P10							19
P25							28
P50							39
Mean							39
P75							50
P90							60
Standard dev							15.26
Observations							5212
(b) GCSE English and mathematics grades
		Mathematics						English
Grade		%		Average PISA maths score				%		Average PISA reading scores
9		3.88%		628				2.74%		616
8		8.27%		586				5.97%		586
7		11.07%		563				9.47%		568
6		12.39%		531				17.55%		539
5		20.19%		506				22.20%		505
4		22.34%		467				17.84%		476
3		11.17%		436				17.88%		431
2		6.68%		398				4.62%		380
1		3.15%		359				1.06%		347
Ungraded		0.87%		365				0.68%		429
Observations		4,858						4,860
(c) Correlation matrix between cognitive measures
N = 4,560	KS2 Maths		KS2 English		GCSE Maths	GCSE English			GCSE total points		PISA Maths	PISA Read
KS2 Maths	1		-		-	-			-		-	-
KS2 English	0.68		1		-	-			-		-	-
GCSE Maths	0.76		0.60		1	-			-		-	-
GCSE English	0.53		0.59		0.68	1			-		-	-
GCSE total points	0.65		0.64		0.87	0.85			1		-	-
PISA Maths	0.60		0.58		0.68	0.54			0.68		1	-
PISA Read	0.53		0.63		0.62	0.58			0.67		0.78	1

Table 3. The demographic composition of the low/high positive affect, negative affect and fear of failure groups.

		Positive affect		Negative affect		Fear of failure
	n	Low	High	Low	High	Low	High
(a) Percentages
Gender
Male	2,331	19%	22%	31%	11%	29%	13%
Female	2,519	21%	18%	11%	28%	11%	27%
Socio-economic status
Disadvantaged pupils	1,158	24%	17%	19%	23%	21%	18%
Advantaged pupils	1,158	15%	23%	21%	18%	16%	22%
Key Stage 2 English scores
Low-achieving pupils	1,086	23%	21%	25%	17%	23%	17%
High-achieving pupils	951	21%	16%	17%	23%	17%	23%
Truancy
Not skipped classes	4,009	19%	20%	21%	19%	20%	20%
Skipped classes	649	29%	18%	20%	26%	20%	23%
(b) Cell counts underlying the percentages
Gender
Male	2,331	443	513	723	256	676	303
Female	2,519	529	453	277	705	277	680
Socio-economic status
Disadvantaged pupils	1,158	278	197	220	266	243	208
Advantaged pupils	1,158	174	266	243	208	185	255
Key Stage 2 English scores
Low-achieving pupils	1,086	250	228	272	185	250	185
High-achieving pupils	951	200	152	162	219	162	219
Truancy
Not skipped classes	4,009	762	802	842	762	802	802
Skipped classes	649	188	117	130	169	130	149

Figures refer to the percent of the demographic group who fall in the low/high categories of the three covariates of interest (positive affect, negative affect and fear of failure). Advantaged/disadvantaged pupils refers to top/bottom quartile of the ESCS scale. High/low-achieving pupils refers to the top/bottom quartile of Key Stage 2 English scores.

Table 4. The relationship between positive affect and GCSE total point scores.

(a) Models M1 to M4

M1

M2

M3

M4

Effect size

SE

Effect size

SE

Effect size

SE

Effect size

SE

Positive affect (Ref: Middle 60%)

High positive affect

−0.118*

0.051

−0.033

0.043

−0.055

0.031

0.006

0.025

Low positive affect

−0.169*

0.039

−0.139*

0.031

−0.179*

0.027

−0.164*

0.024

Observations

4,836

4,836

4,836

4,836

Controls

Demographics

Y

Y

Y

Y

Key Stage 2 scores

-

Y

Y

Y

School fixed-effects

-

-

Y

Y

PISA scores

Y

(b) Models M5 to M7

M5

M6

M7

Effect size

SE

Effect size

SE

Effect size

SE

Positive affect (Ref: Middle 60%)

High positive affect

0.000

0.024

−0.014

0.024

−0.026

0.023

Low positive affect

−0.155*

0.025

−0.144*

0.024

−0.127*

0.024

Observations

4,836

4,836

4,836

Controls

Demographics

Y

Y

Y

Key Stage 2 scores

Y

Y

Y

School fixed-effects

Y

Y

Y

PISA scores

Y

Y

Y

Teacher interest

Y

Y

Y

School discipline

Y

Y

Y

Teacher support

Y

Y

Y

Teaching approach

Y

Y

Y

Adaptivity of teaching

Y

Y

Y

Tutoring

-

Y

Y

Out-of-school study

-

Y

Y

Truancy

-

Y

Y

Parent emotional support

-

-

Y

Competition at school

-

-

Y

Cooperation at school

-

-

Y

Value of school

-

-

Y

Competitiveness at school

-

-

Y

Work mastery

-

-

Y

Figures refer to effect size differences relative to the middle (reference) group. * indicates statistically significant difference from the reference group at the five percent level.

Table 5. The relationship between negative affect and GCSE total point scores.

(a) Models M1 to M4

M1

M2

M3

M4

Effect size

SE

Effect size

SE

Effect size

SE

Effect size

SE

Negative affect (Ref: Middle 60%)

High negative affect

−0.039

0.038

−0.078*

0.033

−0.094*

0.020

−0.091*

0.017

Low negative affect

−0.104*

0.036

−0.043

0.032

−0.049*

0.023

−0.026

0.022

Observations

4,797

4,797

4,797

4,797

Controls

Demographics

Y

Y

Y

Y

Key Stage 2 scores

-

Y

Y

Y

School fixed-effects

-

-

Y

Y

PISA scores

Y

(b) Models M5 to M7

M5

M6

M7

Effect size

SE

Effect size

SE

Effect size

SE

Negative affect (Ref: Middle 60%)

High negative affect

−0.080*

0.016

−0.076*

0.016

−0.062*

0.017

Low negative affect

−0.029

0.021

−0.031

0.021

−0.040

0.021

Observations

4,797

4,797

4,797

Controls

Demographics

Y

Y

Y

Key Stage 2 scores

Y

Y

Y

School fixed-effects

Y

Y

Y

PISA scores

Y

Y

Y

Teacher interest

Y

Y

Y

School discipline

Y

Y

Y

Teacher support

Y

Y

Y

Teaching approach

Y

Y

Y

Adaptivity of teaching

Y

Y

Y

Tutoring

-

Y

Y

Out-of-school study

-

Y

Y

Truancy

-

Y

Y

Parent emotional support

-

-

Y

Competition at school

-

-

Y

Cooperation at school

-

-

Y

Value of school

-

-

Y

Competitiveness at school

-

-

Y

Work mastery

-

-

Y

Figures refer to effect size differences relative to the middle (reference) group. * indicates statistically significant difference from the reference group at the five percent level.

Table 6. The relationship between fear of failure and GCSE total point scores.

(a) Models M1 to M4

M1

M2

M3

M4

Effect size

SE

Effect size

SE

Effect size

SE

Effect size

SE

Fear of failure (Ref: Middle 60%)

High fear of failure

0.065

0.041

0.015

0.035

0.005

0.026

0.017

0.023

Low fear of failure

−0.063

0.041

−0.044

0.032

−0.069*

0.025

−0.015

0.022

Observations

4,821

4,821

4,821

4,821

Controls

Demographics

Y

Y

Y

Y

Key Stage 2 scores

-

Y

Y

Y

School fixed-effects

-

-

Y

Y

PISA scores

Y

(b) Models M5 to M7

M5

M6

M7

Effect size

SE

Effect size

SE

Effect size

SE

Fear of failure (Ref: Middle 60%)

High fear of failure

0.020

0.023

0.011

0.023

0.008

0.023

Low fear of failure

−0.017

0.022

−0.019

0.021

−0.019

0.021

Observations

4,821

4,821

4,821

Controls

Demographics

Y

Y

Y

Key Stage 2 scores

Y

Y

Y

School fixed-effects

Y

Y

Y

PISA scores

Y

Y

Y

Teacher interest

Y

Y

Y

School discipline

Y

Y

Y

Teacher support

Y

Y

Y

Teaching approach

Y

Y

Y

Adaptivity of teaching

Y

Y

Y

Tutoring

-

Y

Y

Out-of-school study

-

Y

Y

Truancy

-

Y

Y

Parent emotional support

-

-

Y

Competition at school

-

-

Y

Cooperation at school

-

-

Y

Value of school

-

-

Y

Competitiveness at school

-

-

Y

Work mastery

-

-

Y

Figures refer to effect size differences relative to the middle (reference) group. * indicates statistically significant difference from the reference group at the five percent level.