Accuracy of Self-Reported College GPA: Gender-Moderated Differences by Achievement Level and Academic Self-Efficacy

Assessments of college academic achievement tend to rely on self-reported GPA values, yet evidence is limited regarding the accuracy of those values. With a sample of 194 undergraduate college students, the present study examined whether accuracy of self-reported GPA differed based on level of academic performance or level of academic self-efficacy and whether those differences were moderated by gender and year in college. Significant gender differences were found only within the lower academic performance group and the lower academic self-efficacy group, with females on average overreporting their actual college GPA and males on average underreporting their actual college GPA. Thus, research on college achievement that is conducted with students in lower achieving groups or with lower academic self-efficacy may benefit from the use of university-record GPA data as opposed to self-report data and may need to consider gender differences carefully to guard against potential bias in self-reported values for these groups.