@TechReport{iza:izadps:dp13721,
            	author={Edwards, Rebecca and Gibson, Rachael and Harmon, Colm P. and Schurer, Stefanie},
            	title={First in Their Families at University: Can Non-cognitive Skills Compensate for Social Origin?},
            	year={2020},
	month={Sep},
            	institution={Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)},
            	address={Bonn},
            	type={IZA Discussion Paper},
            	number={13721},
            	url={https://www.iza.org/publications/dp13721},
	abstract={We study the role of non-cognitive skills in academic performance of students who are the first in their family to attend university. We collected survey data on an incoming student cohort from a leading Australian university and linked the survey with students' administrative entry and performance records. First-in-family students have lower grade point averages by about a quarter of a standard deviation than the average student. This performance penalty is larger for young men. The penalty is strongest in the first semester but disappears over time. Some non-cognitive skills (Conscientiousness, Extraversion) predict academic performance almost as strongly as standardised university admissions test scores. 
High levels of Conscientiousness over-compensate for the performance penalty experienced by first-in-family students, while very low levels exacerbate it. However, adjusting for extreme responses in self-assessed Conscientiousness with anchoring vignettes eliminates the performance advantage of disadvantaged, but highly conscientious students. Overall, our findings accentuate the importance of non-cognitive skills as key indicators of university readiness, and their potential for closing the socioeconomic gap in academic performance.},
	keywords={non-cognitive skills;university performance;socioeconomic gradient in education;first-in-family;linked survey and administrative data;anchoring vignettes},
            }