Longitudinal Research on Curiosity in Young Adults

 

RESEARCH AIM: 

We investigate how curiosity manifests in young people entering university and what factors are associated with it. Each year, we analyse data from thousands of university applicants, examining the relationship between their curiosity and their performance on academic aptitude tests. We are also interested in how curiosity relates to other psychological traits – for example, approach to error, perseverance, epistemic attitudes, or perceived support from parents and teachers. Our findings to date show that curiosity is a complex construct that often exhibits unexpected patterns. The aim of our research is to better understand how curiosity functions and what role it plays in young people’s lives, which may contribute to more effective support for their development during the transition to university.

 

METHODOLOGY: 

We measure curiosity primarily using standardised self-report scales that capture various dimensions of curiosity—ranging from the desire for new information to deprivation sensitivity. Concurrently, we collect data on participants’ cognitive abilities using standardised tests measuring verbal and analytical skills. To gain a deeper understanding of related psychological constructs, we use questionnaires focused on perseverance, approach to error, mindreading, and the degree of autonomy. We also place great value on environmental factors, which we assess through questionnaires mapping participants’ family backgrounds and educational experiences. We analyse the relationships between these variables using quantitative methods, allowing us to identify which factors enhance curiosity and which, conversely, inhibit it.

 

RESULTS:

Although we are still in the early stages of our longitudinal research on curiosity, the study has yielded some preliminary results. We found that individuals with high levels of one component of curiosity (joyous exploration) perform slightly better on General Academic Aptitude (OSP) tests, particularly in the verbal section (whereas the relationship with the analytical section is considerably weaker). Conversely, the second component of curiosity (deprivation sensitivity) demonstrated a very weak relationship with OSP results in both the verbal and analytical sections. Overall, our findings suggest that curiosity is a complex construct that exhibits largely unexpected patterns, and its full understanding requires further investigation.

 

OUTPUTS (PUBLICATIONS, LINKS AND NETWORKS):

We are currently preparing several scientific publications on the topic of curiosity, which we plan to submit for peer review in journals indexed in Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) in the near future.

We successfully presented our research findings at the 25th Annual Meeting of the Association for Educational Assessment (AEA-Europe) in Cyprus and at the XXXIII Annual Conference of the Czech Association of Educational Research (ČAPV) held in Olomouc in September 2025.
https://2024.aea-europe.net/digital-bag/

You can read more about our findings in the following articles (in Czech):

Řízení školy: Why Support Children’s Curiosity at School

Učitelský měsíčník: How Can I, as a Teacher, Support My Pupils’ Curiosity?

Perpetuum.cz: What is Curiosity and Why Support It (Part I)

Perpetuum.cz: What Curiosity Looks Like in Young Adults (Part II)