The Big Five traits as predictors of academic achievements in university students

Abstract

Psychological predictors of academic achievements in university students were studied (N = 176). The aim of the study was to investigate how the Big Five personality traits contributed to different academic achievements. The Unified State Examination (USE) scores were used for evaluation of academic success prior to university admission and grade point average was used as a measure of current academic performance. Introversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism and Openness were shown to be important predictors of academic achievements in Russian university students. These results are only partially supported by the results of similar studies conducted in Western Europe and North America. Possible reasons of the above discrepancies are discussed. It is concluded that these discrepancies are due to country-specific differences in educational environment and requirements to student personality traits.