Individual differences in social cognition as predictors of secondary school performance

Understanding social-cognitive factors that determine school performance could contribute to educational innovations. Social interaction, collaboration and the motivation to learn are important aspects of present-day education. Social-cognitive development can therefore be expected to impact school performance. This was evaluated in the present longitudinal study. The social-cognitive variables mindreading, social value orientation, empathizing and systemizing were measured for three consecutive years in 89 secondary school students (52% girls, Mage at T1 = 12.9 years). These measures were then related to their school grades for the courses Dutch (native language), English (foreign language) and mathematics in the following year. The results showed that mindreading was a significant predictor for Dutch and English grades. Empathizing was a significant predictor for English grades. Mindreading remained a significant predictor for Dutch grade when controlling for Dutch grade at the time of measurement. These findings underscore the notion that social-cognitive development is important for school performance.