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Strategies For Success in Education Time Management Is More Important For Part-Time Than Full-Time Community College Students

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Strategies For Success in Education Time Management Is More Important For Part-Time Than Full-Time Community College Students

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Amir
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Learning and Individual Differences 22 (2012) 618–623

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Learning and Individual Differences


journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/lindif

Strategies for success in education: Time management is more important for


part-time than full-time community college students☆
Carolyn MacCann a,⁎, Gerard J. Fogarty b, Richard D. Roberts c
a
The University of Sydney, Australia
b
University of Southern Queensland, Australia
c
Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ, United States

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper examines relationships between the Big Five personality factors, time management, and grade-point-
Received 28 June 2010 average in 556 community colleges students. A path model controlling for vocabulary, gender, and demographic
Received in revised form 3 August 2011 covariates demonstrated that time management mediates the relationship between conscientiousness and stu-
Accepted 23 September 2011
dents' academic achievement at community college. Separate modeling for part-time (n = 147) and full-time
students (n = 409) showed that this mediation was moderated by enrollment status. Thus, time management
Keywords:
Time management
was a significant mediator for part-time students but not for full-time students. The greater importance of
Academic achievement time management for part- versus full-time students suggests that noncognitive constructs such as time man-
Personality, Conscientiousness agement may be more critical for non-traditional students. These findings gather fresh currency as ever increas-
Part-time students ing numbers of students are enrolling part-time in post-secondary education across the globe.
Crown Copyright © 2011 Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction conscientiousness and from time management generalizes to the com-


munity college sector; (b) time management mediates the conscien-
Comprehensive meta-analyses have established that academic suc- tiousness–achievement relationship; and (c) the positive benefits of
cess is best predicted by cognitive ability and the personality trait of con- time management are stronger for part- versus full-time students.
scientiousness (O'Connor & Paunonen, 2007; Poropat, 2009; Trapmann,
Hell, Hirn, & Schuler, 2007).1 However, this research has rarely focused 1.1. Personality and academic achievement
on community college students (Townsend, Donaldson, & Wilson,
2004). In addition, little research has focused on part-time students, The previously cited meta-analyses demonstrate that conscien-
or the ways in which the trajectory for success may differ for part- tiousness predicts students' university grades at a similar level to cog-
versus full-time students (Williams & Kane, 2010). We aimed to ad- nitive ability. Poropat (2009) found a meta-analytic correlation of .23
dress these poorly understood areas of research by considering how and O'Connor and Paunonen (2007) suggest a value of .22. When the
noncognitive constructs predict academic success within a community focus is mainly on European samples, the value is estimated to be
college sample, and whether such pathways differed for part- versus slightly higher (ρ = .27; Trapmann et al., 2007). Poropat (2009) also
full-time students. In addition to the Big Five personality factors, we reported that the relationship between cognitive ability and college
also considered the role of time management. Our broad goals were to grades was .23, suggesting that conscientiousness is at least as impor-
determine whether: (a) The prediction of academic achievement from tant as cognitive ability in predicting students' achievement. Of note,
conscientiousness is also a ubiquitous predictor of workplace perfor-
mance, training proficiency, and health outcomes (e.g., Barrick &
☆ The project represents an ongoing collaboration between staff at the Center for Ac- Mount, 1991; Barrick, Mount, & Judge, 2001; Bogg & Roberts, 2004).
ademic and Workplace Readiness and Success at the Educational Testing Service (ETS), Given the wide range of outcomes for which conscientiousness is
Princeton, New Jersey, USA, the School of Psychology at the University of Sydney,
important, it is hypothesized that conscientiousness will also predict
Sydney, Australia, and the School of Psychology, University of Southern Queensland,
Queensland, Australia. We would like to acknowledge the helpful suggestions of the success in community college; a sector of the educational community
editors and a number of reviewers at ETS. All statements expressed in this article are that is ignored in the meta-analyses described above.
the authors' and do not reflect the official opinions or policies of any of the authors'
host affiliations.
1.2. Time management and academic achievement
⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: + 61 2 9351 4236; fax: + 61 2 9036 5223.
E-mail address: [email protected] (C. MacCann).
1
Note that these three meta-analyses are not independent observations, as they ref- The advantages associated with effective time management in ed-
erence many of the same data sets. ucation are reportedly numerous and form the crux of many advisory

1041-6080/$ – see front matter. Crown Copyright © 2011 Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2011.09.015
C. MacCann et al. / Learning and Individual Differences 22 (2012) 618–623 619

pieces and counseling services given both to incumbent and at-risk control for cognitive ability in the mediation model, as cognitive abil-
students (e.g., Rowh, 2004). Moreover, poor time management prac- ity is clearly a major predictor of academic achievement.
tices – such as not allocating time properly for work assignments,
cramming for exams, and failing to meet deadlines set by academic 1.4. Differences between part-time and full-time students
staff – are frequently cited as a major source of stress and poor aca-
demic performance (e.g., Gall, 1988; Longman & Atkinson, 2004; Over the last 30 years there has been a global increase in the pro-
Macan, Shahani, Dipboye, & Phillips, 1990). In addition, empirical ev- portion of students studying part-time (Kember, 1999; O'Toole,
idence suggests that effective time management is associated with Stratton, & Wetzel, 2003; Williams & Kane, 2010). In fact, 38% of stu-
greater academic achievement (e.g., Britton & Tesser, 1991; Macan dents enrolled at degree-granting institutions in the US were enrolled
et al., 1990; McKenzie & Gow, 2004; Trueman & Hartley, 1996). In part-time in 2007 (Chen & Carroll, 2007). Community colleges have
the present study, we use R. D. Roberts, Schulze, and Minsky's an even greater intake of part-time students than standard four-
(2006) measure of time management, which assesses several broad year colleges (McCormick, Geis, & Vergun, 1995). Despite these
time management competencies. These competencies include setting changing patterns of enrolment, most basic research still focuses on
goals, meeting deadlines, using time management aids such as list- full-time students, and very few studies address whether the predic-
making, coping with change, making plans, and effectively organizing tors of achievement may be different for part-time students
one's time. R. D. Roberts et al. provide evidence for the instruments' (Williams & Kane, 2010). One exception is Fish and Wilson (2009)
structural validity and reliability. who found that different cognitive ability variables were predictive
of MBA grades for part- versus full-time students. Although no studies
have directly compared the importance of noncognitive factors for
1.3. Time management and conscientiousness part- versus full-time students, McKenzie and Gow (2004) found
that learning strategies were nearly twice as predictive of grades for
It is clear from past research that both time management and con- mature-age college students compared to traditional-age college stu-
scientiousness predict students' achievement at school (e.g., Britton & dents. This result suggests that noncognitive constructs such as time
Tesser, 1991; Macan et al., 1990; O'Connor & Paunonen, 2007; management may be more important for some sub-groups than
Poropat, 2009; Trapmann et al., 2007; Trueman & Hartley, 1996). others. Moreover, it suggests that noncognitive constructs may be
What is less clear is the particular ways in which conscientiousness more important for part-time students, who are frequently older
and time management combine to predict academic success. than full-time students.
Previous research with middle and high school students demon- As well as age, part-time students differ from full-time students in
strates that time management shares a strong empirical relationship several other key ways. Demographically, part-time students are
with conscientiousness, with reported correlations of .57 (Liu, more likely to be female and to be employed full-time (Chen &
Rijmen, MacCann, & Roberts, 2009) and .65 (MacCann & Roberts, Carroll, 2007; O'Toole et al., 2003). Thus, part time students are more
2010), respectively. Students who are highly conscientious tend to likely than full-time students to have competing demands from work
use more time management strategies, particularly those related to and children that may displace study time. Moreover, part-time stu-
meeting deadlines, organization, and planning. However, we would dents who attrite frequently cite lack of time as their primary barrier
argue that time management is distinct from conscientiousness for to success (Kember, 1999). Given the greater time demands on part-
both conceptual and empirical reasons. Conceptually, time manage- time students, it is feasible that time management may be particularly
ment is a set of habits or learnable behaviors that may be acquired important for this identifiable sub-group, both as a predictor of
through increased knowledge, training, or deliberate practice. By con- achievement and as a mediator of the conscientiousness-achievement
trast, conscientiousness is a broad personality domain thought to be relationship.
at least partly genetic, and is arguably less susceptible to environmen-
tal influences (e.g., Costa & McCrae, 2006; Luciano, Wainwright,
Wright, & Martin, 2006). That is, conscientiousness is a broad and 1.5. Summary of hypotheses
over-arching trait, while time management is a set of acquired habits.
Second, although time management and conscientiousness are There are four hypotheses. First, both time management and con-
strongly empirically linked, factor analytic evidence suggests that scientiousness will be significantly correlated with students' GPA.
these are psychometrically distinct constructs (Kelly & Johnson, Second, the relationship between time management and GPA will
2005). be significantly greater for part-time than full-time students. Third,
Crede and Kuncel (2008) suggest that the relationship between time management will mediate the relationship between conscien-
personality and academic performance is mediated by study attitudes tiousness and achievement. Fourth, this mediation will be more pro-
and habits such as time management practices. Under this conceptu- nounced for part-time students than full-time students (i.e., a
alization, the link between conscientiousness and achievement is due moderated mediation).
to the behavioral expression of conscientiousness in the form of
habits and behaviors that benefit learning. That is, one reason consci- 2. Method
entiousness relates to achievement is that conscientious students use
more and better time management strategies, which helps them to 2.1. Participants
succeed academically. Time management appears as a behavioral ex-
pression of high conscientiousness. A total of 556 community college students (323 female) partici-
The second aim of the current study is to statistically model this pated in the study. The mean age of the respondents was
proposed mediation. Previous research has not yet explored whether 25.02 years (SD = 9.40; median = 20). In terms of ethnicity/race,
time management mediates the effects of conscientiousness on stu- 47% reported being White, 17% African-American, 20% Hispanic, 6%
dents' grades. Although McKenzie and Gow (2004) found that learn- Asian, while 9% indicated “other.” In order to obtain something of a
ing strategies, including a time management component, mediated representative sample of community colleges, these students were
the conscientiousness/achievement relationship, they did not isolate drawn from 20 institutions from all four regions of the USA. The sam-
time management as a specific mediator and used only a very brief ple size per institution ranged from 10 to 58. Of those permissible
measure of time management. In the current study, we use a compre- cases, 42% came from large/midsize cities, 24% from the outskirts of
hensive, multi-faceted measure of time management. In addition, we a large/midsize city/town, and 34% from small towns/rural areas.
620 C. MacCann et al. / Learning and Individual Differences 22 (2012) 618–623

About 74% of the sample reported going to community college each institution's committee for human ethics. The participants were
full-time (12+ credit hours). There were no significant differences tested in groups of approximately 10–20 people. The number of
in the ethnic composition of full-time versus part-time students participants tested at the same time was only restricted by the local
(χ 2 = 3.377, df = 4, ns). Whites comprised 46% of full-time students facilities. The whole testing procedure lasted approximately 2 h
and 50% of part time students. There was also no significant difference (including the administration of other measures not reported here),
in the gender composition of full-time versus part-time students: with suitable rest pauses after 1 h of work. Participants completed
Males comprised 43% of full-time students and 40% of part-time the test in various random orders. All measures were given via com-
students (χ 2 = 0.413, df = 1, ns). However, as expected, full-time puter through a web-based interface. Participants were free to leave
students were significantly younger (Mean age = 23.8 years, at any time (participants who did not complete all measures in the
SD = 8.3) than part-time students (Mean age = 28.5 years, study were excluded from analyses list-wise).
SD = 11.3; F = 28.896, p b .001).
3. Results
2.2. Measures
3.1. Reliability, descriptive statistics, and group differences
2.2.1. Vocabulary
Because of its importance in the academic domain, a measure of Table 1 reports the reliability and descriptive statistics for all mea-
crystallized intelligence was included to control for the effects of cog- sures in the study. Table 1 also reports group differences for all vari-
nitive ability. A test of vocabulary was chosen for this purpose. In this ables by enrollment status (part- versus full-time), sex, and age. Age
test, which serves as a marker for verbal ability, participants were re- was significantly correlated with time management, agreeableness,
quired to choose, from among five alternatives, the word (or words) and conscientiousness, such that older students tended to score
closest in meaning to a given stimulus item (Ekstrom, French, & higher on all three variables. All measures had acceptable internal
Harman, 1979). Example: “jovial” means: “1—refreshing; 2—scare; 3— consistency. Part-time students had significantly higher vocabulary
thickset; 4—wise; or 5—jolly”. scores but there were no differences in GPA. Mean scores for part-
and full-time students did not differ significantly for any personality
2.2.2. Big-five IPIP short-form trait, or for time management. There were no significant sex differ-
This 50-item scale (10 items per subscale) is based on items and ences for grade-point-average (GPA), but females showed higher vo-
theory from the International Personality Item Pool (Goldberg et al., cabulary scores. Sex differences in personality agreed with previous
2006) and provides assessment of the five global personality do- findings: Women were more agreeable, more conscientious, but less
mains: (a) Openness (O; e.g., “I have a rich vocabulary”); (b) Consci- open to experience and less emotionally stable (Costa, Terracciano,
entiousness (C; e.g., “I am always prepared”); (c) Extraversion (E; & McCrae, 2001; Schmitt, Realo, Voracek, & Allik, 2008). Women
e.g., “I am the life of the party”); (d) Agreeableness (A; e.g., “I am in- also scored significantly higher than men on time management.
terested in people”); and (e) Emotional Stability (ES; e.g., “I get
stressed out easily”, reverse-keyed). The response format was a five 3.2. Correlations between variables
point Likert-type rating scale, ranging from “Very Inaccurate of Me”
to “Very Accurate of Me.” Table 2 reports the correlations among GPA, vocabulary, personal-
ity, and time management for all students, and separately for part-
2.2.3. Time management versus full-time students. For all groups, vocabulary, Conscientious-
This 36-item scale assesses time management behaviors and atti- ness, and time management predicted GPA. Both time management
tudes (Roberts et al., 2006). Test-takers endorse statements on a 4- and conscientiousness were not significantly related to vocabulary.
point frequency scale: (1) “Rarely or Never,” (2) “Sometimes,” (3) Of the Big Five personality traits, conscientiousness showed the stron-
“Often,” and (4) “Usually or Always.” An example item is: “I leave gest relationship with GPA, in agreement with previous literature for
things to the last minute” (reverse-keyed). school and university students. The magnitude of this relationship
was similar for full- versus part-time students (r = .18 versus
2.3. Procedure r = .17). Openness and Agreeableness also showed significant and
non-trivial relationships with GPA. The magnitude of the time
Test protocols were approved both by the Educational Testing management-GPA relationship was higher for part-time students
Service (ETS) human ethics review committee and (where requisite) (r = .29) than full-time students (r = .17), but this difference was

Table 1
Reliability, descriptive statistics, and score differences by enrolment (full-time versus part-time), sex, and age.

Measure α Descriptive statistics Group differences

All (N = 556) Full-time (n = 409) Part-time (n = 147) Enroll d a Sex da Age r

M SD M SD M SD

GPA (0 to 4) 3.16 0.53 3.17 0.52 3.15 0.57 0.03 − 0.13 .08
Vocabulary .82 0.55 0.16 0.53 0.16 0.59 0.16 − 0.34⁎⁎ − 0.20⁎ .25⁎⁎
Extraversion .86 33.48 7.90 33.58 7.68 33.20 8.50 0.05 0.13 −.08
Agreeableness .76 40.08 5.81 39.80 5.85 40.87 5.64 − 0.18 − 0.49⁎⁎ .12⁎⁎
Conscientiousness .80 36.37 6.54 36.34 6.40 36.45 6.94 − 0.02 − 0.25⁎⁎ .14⁎⁎
Emotional stability .85 31.55 7.93 31.42 7.98 31.91 7.79 − 0.06 0.46⁎⁎ .07
Openness .76 36.95 5.98 36.88 5.79 37.12 6.51 − 0.04 0.13 .00
Time management .85 99.00 12.90 98.49 12.68 100.44 13.44 − 0.15 − 0.48⁎⁎ .20⁎⁎

Note. Effect size for sex differences and part-time versus full-time differences was calculated using Hedge's g, with positive values indicating higher mean scores for males and for
full-time students.
a
Significance of group differences were calculated with t-tests.
⁎ p b .05.
⁎⁎ p b .01.
C. MacCann et al. / Learning and Individual Differences 22 (2012) 618–623 621

Table 2
Correlations between GPA, Vocabulary, Personality, and Time Management for all students, for full-time students (lower left of matrix) and for part-time students (upper right of
matrix).

GPA Voc E A C ES O TM

All
GPA
Vocabulary (Voc) .30⁎⁎
Extraversion (E) −.06 .01
Agreeableness (A) .13⁎⁎ .24⁎⁎ .25⁎⁎
Conscientiousness (C) .18⁎⁎ .01 .04 .25⁎⁎
Emotional stability (ES) .09⁎ .08 .16⁎⁎ .12⁎⁎ .22⁎⁎
Openness (O) .13⁎⁎ .28⁎⁎ .24⁎⁎ .41⁎⁎ .17⁎⁎ .13⁎⁎
Time management .20⁎⁎ .05 .03 .24⁎⁎ .76⁎⁎ .23⁎⁎ .11⁎⁎

Full vs part-time students

GPA .37⁎⁎ −.10 .08 .17⁎ .06 .12 .29⁎⁎


Vocabulary (Voc) .28⁎⁎ −.02 .26⁎⁎ −.06 −.12 .28⁎⁎ −.02
Extraversion (E) −.04 .02 .17⁎ .02 .21⁎ .22⁎⁎ −.07
Agreeableness (A) .15⁎⁎ .22⁎⁎ .28⁎⁎ .27⁎⁎ .04 .37⁎⁎ .17⁎
Conscientiousness (C) .18⁎⁎ .04 .05 .25⁎⁎ .29⁎⁎ .09 .75⁎⁎
Emotional stability (ES) .10⁎ .15⁎⁎ .14⁎⁎ .15⁎⁎ .19⁎⁎ .10 .27⁎⁎
Openness (O) .14⁎⁎ .28⁎⁎ .24⁎⁎ .43⁎⁎ .21⁎⁎ .14⁎⁎ .05
Time management .17⁎⁎ .07 .07 .26⁎⁎ .77⁎⁎ .21⁎⁎ .13⁎⁎
⁎ p b .05.
⁎⁎ p b .01.

not significant using Fisher's z-transformation (z = 1.31, p = .095, 3.4. Moderated mediation: Does the mediation model differ for part- vs.
1-tailed). full-time students?

We tested the mediation model separately for part- and full-time


3.3. Mediation of conscientiousness-GPA relationship by time students. Standardized path coefficients are shown in Fig. 3. For full-
management time students, the standardized indirect effect was .03 and was not
significant (90% bias-corrected C.I.: −.06 to .12). For part-time stu-
To test whether time management mediates the relationship be- dents, the standardized indirect effect was .25 and was significant
tween conscientiousness and GPA, a just-identified path model was (90% bias-corrected C.I.: .12 to .40). That is, time management medi-
conducted in AMOS (v17), as shown in Fig. 1. Vocabulary, sex, and ates the conscientiousness-GPA relationship for part-time students
age were included as covariates in the model, as vocabulary related but not for full-time students. The mediation effect is conditional for
to age, sex related to both time management and conscientiousness, enrollment as a part-time student. The path from time management
and age also related to both conscientiousness and time management. to GPA was considerably larger for part- students than full- students
Boot-strapping with 2000 samples was used to calculate the signifi- (.35 compared to .04). Specifying this pathway to be invariant across
cance of the indirect effects of conscientiousness on GPA. Standard- groups resulted in significantly reduced model fit (Δχ 2 = 5.304,
ized path coefficients for the mediation-related paths are shown in Δdf = 1, p = .021). Thus, although the zero-order correlation between
Fig. 2. time management and GPA was not significantly different for part-
Results demonstrated that time management mediated the rela- time versus full-time students, the relationship between time man-
tionship between conscientiousness and GPA. Before accounting for agement and GPA was significantly different after accounting for
time management, the standardized effect of conscientiousness on other relevant variables.
GPA (after controlling for covariates) was .18 (p b .01). When time
management was included in the model, the standardized direct 4. Discussion
effect was .08 (ns). The standardized indirect effect was .10 (90%
bias-corrected C.I.: .019 to .174). 4.1. Summary

Results demonstrate that noncognitive constructs such as person-


Conscientiousness GPA ality and time management are important for educational achieve-
ment. Although time management is clearly not independent from
the broad domains of personality, there is a theoretically plausible

Time Management
Sex

Age

Vocabulary
Fig. 2. Standardized path coefficients illustrating the mediation of the conscientiousness–
Fig. 1. Path model illustrating a mediation of conscientiousness by time management, GPA relationship by time management (vocabulary, age and gender are included in the
with sex, age, and vocabulary as covariates. model as covariates but not shown in the diagram).
622 C. MacCann et al. / Learning and Individual Differences 22 (2012) 618–623

academic achievement, particularly among students who are poor


time managers.
In addition, the interaction effects show that time management
may be a more important predictor of success for part-time than
full-time students. After modeling the influences of conscientious-
ness, vocabulary, and demographic factors on GPA, time management
had a significantly stronger relationship to GPA for part-time students
than full-time students. McKenzie and Gow (2004) argued that supe-
rior time management skills combined with higher levels of intrinsic
motivation gave the mature-age university students in their sample
Fig. 3. Standardized path coefficients illustrating a moderated mediation model where an edge in the competition for higher grades. We suggest that time
time management mediates the conscientiousness–GPA relationship for part-time
management may become increasingly important for part-time and
students (PT) but not full-time students (FT) (vocabulary, age and gender are included
in the model as covariates but not shown in the diagram). mature-age students, who must balance their study time with work
and other commitments. Furthermore, time management may be in-
creasingly important in a changing educational environment. With
model for the personality/time management interactions: Students most OECD countries based on knowledge economies, continued ed-
high on trait conscientiousness use more and better strategies for ucation will be a reality for most of the millennial generation, such
time management and therefore achieve better grades. However, that part-time study and up-skilling will be increasingly common.
this mediation effect holds for part-, but not full-time students. The In addition, the increasing use of e-learning and virtual teaching to
role of time management in educational success seems particularly supplement or replace face-to-face lecture and seminar teaching for-
important for part-time students, who have greater temporal mats means that students' time is not automatically scheduled into
demands. regular face-to-face blocks each week. For example, in an environ-
ment where students are free to listen to 12 h of podcast lectures
4.2. Conscientiousness, time management, and academic achievement per week at any point in the semester they choose, students then re-
quire the time management skills to schedule these 12 h per week.
The ubiquitous relationship between conscientiousness and stu- Thus, the shift to flexible study patterns and increasing use of lecture
dents' academic achievement was replicated in this large sample of recording transfers much of the burden of time management from the
community college students, suggesting that the importance of con- administrative system onto the individual student. Students who are
scientiousness is not limited to schools and universities but extends unable to manage their time will find post-secondary study increas-
to the community college sector. Moreover, the mediation analysis ingly difficult as e-learning becomes more dominant.
suggests that a possible pathway by which greater conscientiousness
results in greater academic achievement is through the use of time 4.3. Limitations and future directions
management strategies. That is, more conscientious students imple-
ment more effective time management practices, which allow them The concurrent design of the current study makes it difficult to
to succeed academically. This finding replicates the work of draw causal inferences about time management causing greater
McKenzie and Gow (2004). One of the applications of the now fairly achievement at community college. It is possible that students judge
universal finding that conscientiousness predicts academic achieve- their time management practices in the light of obtained results
ment is to examine the specific behaviors or mechanisms by which (i.e., “I must be setting goals and planning because I get straight
conscientiousness relates to achievement, and use this knowledge As”) rather than the high levels of time management causing the
to develop effective training programs to increase achievement across valued outcomes. Both time lagged panel designs and the use of
the board. observer-reports of time management behaviors would allow this
Although there is a strong empirical relationship between time issue to be explored in future research.
management and conscientiousness, we argue that time manage-
ment is not a redundant concept due to the potential for interven-
tions (see also Kyllonen, Lipnevich, Burrus, & Roberts, in press). 4.4. Conclusions
Time management is measured or conceptualized as a set of behav-
iors or habits rather than as a stable trait, and is therefore open to This study demonstrates that conscientiousness is as important in
training and improvement. It seems that high conscientiousness indi- community colleges as it is in high school and college, and elaborates
viduals manage their time well and low conscientiousness individuals on a potential mechanism by which conscientiousness predicts aca-
manage their time poorly. However, time management is a set of demic outcomes: Time management. The behavioral manifestation
behaviors and habits that may feasibly be trained among low consci- of high conscientiousness is the effective use of time management
entiousness individuals who do not perform these behaviors auto- strategies. Conscientious students are more likely to regulate their
matically. That is, it is arguably easier to change someone's time own learning through time management, and it is these tendencies
management habits than to change their personality. Programs spe- that relate to academic outcomes. In addition, these factors are partic-
cifically aimed at improving time management have been developed ularly important for part-time students, demonstrating that noncog-
for secondary school teachers, principals, and university academics, nitive constructs may have an important role to play in lifelong
with research demonstrating that such programs lead to an improved learning.
use of time (Hall & Hursch, 1981; Maher, 1982, 1986). There is also
some evidence that these programs work for students. For example, References
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