Human Services News

Child Development:

Children in early grades may like a subject in which they don't feel very competent, or they may feel competent in a subject in spite of poor grades.

But by the end of high school, children generally feel most interested in subjects in which they feel they are the strongest.

Those are the findings of a new study published in the March-April 2007 issue of the journal Child Development.

For example, boys are more likely to get the best grades in the school subjects in which they are most interested, whereas girls may get good grades regardless of their interest level.

The researchers, from Humboldt University and the University of Michigan, examined the ties between achievement, ability perceptions, and interest by looking at a group of almost 1,000 children from first grade until they left high school.