ABSTRACT

A substantial body of research suggests that young people’s emotions – both positive and negative – are linked to a wide range of future outcomes. This paper contributes to this literature by investigating the link between young people’s positive and negative emotions and their performance in high-stakes examinations. Using Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data from England linked to the National Pupil Database (NPD), I investigate how 15-year-olds positive affect, negative affect and fear of failure is associated with the grades they achieve in high-stakes examinations. I find that low levels of positive affect – i.e. pupils rarely feeling happy, lively and cheerful – is associated with a 0.10–0.15 standard deviation reduction in young people’s examination grades. On the other hand, little evidence is found of a substantive link between negative affect or fear of failure and examination performance.

摘要

大量研究表明，年轻人的情绪——无论是积极的还是消极的——都与广泛的未来结果有关。本文通过调查年轻人的积极和消极情绪与他们在高风险考试中的表现之间的联系，为该文献做出了贡献。使用与国家学生数据库 (NPD) 相关联的英格兰国际学生评估计划 (PISA) 数据，我调查了 15 岁儿童的积极影响、消极影响和对失败的恐惧如何与他们在高风险中取得的成绩相关联考试。我发现，低水平的积极影响——即学生很少感到快乐、活泼和快乐——与年轻人考试成绩的标准差降低 0.10-0.15 相关。另一方面，