Analysis of personality traits and academic performance in higher education at a Colombian university

Abstract

This paper arises from the question of the correlation between specific personality traits and academic performance, since it is of crucial importance to consider variables other to students’ grades that also affect this phenomenon. The objective was to correlate personality traits with the academic performance of students in a higher education institution. This is a quantitative, correlational research, with a final sample of 214 students. Results confirmed that there is a positive correlation between those variables. Personality traits of abstractedness and perfectionism correlate with academic performance. Results show that perfectionism and abstractedness traits and sex, affect academic performance. It is still important to notice that there are other factors (beyond the scope of this research) that could possibly have a significant impact on academic performance.

Keywords

• Educational psychology
• Personality traits
• Academic performance
• Higher education
• Education Research