Document Type
Dissertation
First Faculty Advisor
Trunzo, Joseph
Keywords
Conscientiousness; Mediator; Caffeine; Academic; Performance; correlation;
Publisher
Bryant University
Abstract
Academic performance (AP) is of primary importance to undergraduate students because it is related to future economic and occupational success. Therefore, it is not surprising that students want to maximize their GPA, a common measure of AP. This study used a survey model to investigate the relationships among caffeine use (CU), conscientiousness (CN), and AP. Specifically, it was hypothesized that there would be a positive correlation between CU and GPA, CU and CN, and CN and GPA. In addition, CN was believed to be a mediating variable in the CU-GPA relationship. Analysis of the results revealed that the only significant relationship was the positive correlation between CN and GPA. Additional analyses were performed investigating CU and time-consuming activities. These variables were successfully entered into a model to predict AP. Upon entering CN into this relationship, many of the variables were reduced to nonsignificance. Therefore, students who are low on CN must pay attention to how they spend their time if they want to do well academically because time management may not come naturally to them. Future research should consider using more direct measures and a larger sample size in an attempt to investigate the relationships between the variables.
