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Author: Wai, Jonathan

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1.	Brown, Matt I. Wai, Jonathan Chabris, Christopher F.
1.	Can You Ever Be Too Smart for Your Own Good? Comparing Linear and Nonlinear Effects of Cognitive Ability on Life Outcomes Perspectives on Psychological Science published online (8 March 2021): DOI: 10.1177/1745691620964122. Also: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1745691620964122 Cohort(s): NLSY79, NLSY97 Publisher: Association for Psychological Science (APS) Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Body Mass Index (BMI); British Cohort Study (BCS); Cognitive Ability; Depression (see also CESD); Educational Attainment; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Income; Sociability/Socialization/Social Interaction; Well-Being; Wisconsin Longitudinal Study/H.S. Panel Study (WLS) Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher. Despite a long-standing expert consensus about the importance of cognitive ability for life outcomes, contrary views continue to proliferate in scholarly and popular literature. This divergence of beliefs presents an obstacle for evidence-based policymaking and decision-making in a variety of settings. One commonly held idea is that greater cognitive ability does not matter or is actually harmful beyond a certain point (sometimes stated as > 100 or 120 IQ points). We empirically tested these notions using data from four longitudinal, representative cohort studies comprising 48,558 participants in the United States and United Kingdom from 1957 to the present. We found that ability measured in youth has a positive association with most occupational, educational, health, and social outcomes later in life. Most effects were characterized by a moderate to strong linear trend or a practically null effect (mean R2 range = .002-.256). Nearly all nonlinear effects were practically insignificant in magnitude (mean incremental R2 = .001) or were not replicated across cohorts or survey waves. We found no support for any downside to higher ability and no evidence for a threshold beyond which greater scores cease to be beneficial. Thus, greater cognitive ability is generally advantageous--and virtually never detrimental.
	Bibliography Citation Brown, Matt I., Jonathan Wai and Christopher F. Chabris. "Can You Ever Be Too Smart for Your Own Good? Comparing Linear and Nonlinear Effects of Cognitive Ability on Life Outcomes." Perspectives on Psychological Science published online (8 March 2021): DOI: 10.1177/1745691620964122.

2.	Kanaya, Tomoe Wai, Jonathan Miranda, Brenda
2.	Exploring the Links Between Receiving Special Education Services and Adulthood Outcomes Frontiers in Education published online (14 June 2019) DOI: 10.3389/feduc.2019.00056. Also: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2019.00056/full Cohort(s): NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult Publisher: Frontiers Keyword(s): Economic Independence; Educational Attainment; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Propensity Scores; Special Education Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher. A majority of the research on students receiving special education services in the United States have focused on school-aged outcomes. Comparatively less is known about how these students fare in adulthood. By utilizing a one-to-one propensity score matching technique, individuals who received special education services were compared with those who did not on multiple adulthood outcomes that span educational attainment, economic self-sufficiency, social engagement, and health. Results suggest that Hispanic students in our sample who participate in special education fared better compared to their non-Hispanic counterparts on some outcomes. Moreover, propensity (the likelihood of receiving services) predicted several more outcomes. These results point to the potential importance of the contextual factors that surround special education services and suggest the need to provide context-specific services at the local level. The findings also highlight the use of propensity score analyses to reduce concerns of selection bias in special educational research.
	Bibliography Citation Kanaya, Tomoe, Jonathan Wai and Brenda Miranda. "Exploring the Links Between Receiving Special Education Services and Adulthood Outcomes." Frontiers in Education published online (14 June 2019) DOI: 10.3389/feduc.2019.00056.

3.	Lakin, Joni M. Wai, Jonathan
3.	Spatially Gifted, Academically Inconvenienced: Spatially Talented Students Experience Less Academic Engagement and More Behavioural Issues than other Talented Students British Journal of Educational Psychology published online (17 February 2020): DOI: 10.1111/bjep.12343. Also: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjep.12343 Cohort(s): NLSY97 Publisher: British Psychological Society Keyword(s): Academic Development; Adolescent Behavior; Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB); Behavioral Problems; Cognitive Ability; High School and Beyond (HSB); Project Talent Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher. Aims: The goal of this research was to explore empirical evidence for the claim that spatially talented students would experience more academic struggles than other gifted students. We sought to understand the size of the 'spatially talented' population and their patterns of behavioural and academic struggles in high school. We also looked at long‐term outcomes, including degree completion. Samples: This article explores characteristics of spatial talent in three US nationally representative data sets: Project Talent (1960), High School and Beyond (1980), and the National Longitudinal Study of Youth (1997). Combined, these data provide a 60‐year longitudinal study of student outcomes.
	Bibliography Citation Lakin, Joni M. and Jonathan Wai. "Spatially Gifted, Academically Inconvenienced: Spatially Talented Students Experience Less Academic Engagement and More Behavioural Issues than other Talented Students." British Journal of Educational Psychology published online (17 February 2020): DOI: 10.1111/bjep.12343.

4.	Wai, Jonathan Lakin, Joni M.
4.	Finding the Missing Einsteins: Expanding the Breadth of Cognitive and Noncognitive Measures Used in Academic Services Contemporary Educational Psychology published online (6 September 2020): DOI: 10.1016/j.cedpsych.2020.101920. Also: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0361476X20300850 Cohort(s): NLSY97 Publisher: Elsevier Keyword(s): Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB); Cognitive Ability; High School and Beyond (HSB); Noncognitive Skills; Project Talent; Test Scores/Test theory/IRT Education researchers, policymakers, and practitioners are concerned with identifying and developing talent for students with fewer opportunities, especially students from historically marginalized groups. An emerging body of research suggests "universally screening" or testing all students, then matching those students with appropriate educational challenges, is effective in helping marginalized students. However, most tests have focused on two areas: math and verbal reasoning. We leverage three nationally representative samples of the U.S. population at different time points that include both novel cognitive measures (e.g., spatial, mechanical, and abstract reasoning) and non-cognitive measures (e.g., conscientiousness, creativity or word fluency, leadership skill, and artistic skill) to uncover which measures would improve proportional representation of marginalized groups in talent identification procedures. We find that adding spatial reasoning measures in particular--as well as other non-cognitive measures such as conscientiousness, leadership, and creativity--are worthwhile to consider for universal screening procedures for students to narrow achievement gaps at every level of education, including for gifted students. By showing that these nontraditional measures both improve proportional representation of underrepresented groups and have reasonable predictive validity, we also broaden the definition of what it means to be "gifted" and expand opportunities for students from historically marginalized groups.
	Bibliography Citation Wai, Jonathan and Joni M. Lakin. "Finding the Missing Einsteins: Expanding the Breadth of Cognitive and Noncognitive Measures Used in Academic Services." Contemporary Educational Psychology published online (6 September 2020): DOI: 10.1016/j.cedpsych.2020.101920.

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