Exploring the relationship among learning patterns, personality traits, and academic performance in freshmen

Abstract

Providing information about how 1st-year students learn may help colleges plan actions aimed at increasing students' persistence in higher education programs. This research aims to assess 1st-year students' academic performance, using a path analysis to establish inter-correlations among students' personality traits, learning patterns, high school achievement, and objectively measured outcomes. Participants included 509 freshmen from different academic disciplines. Results show a causality relations model in which Conscientiousness positively influences Sequential and Precise learning patterns as well as academic performance. The path model also confirms Extraversion as a negative antecedent of the Technical learning pattern. It is argued that knowing students is a primary step to putting them in a position to become an active part of the learning process.

Keywords:

• freshmen
• academic performance
• personality traits
• learning patterns

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the reviewers for their very constructive and detailed comments.

Notes

1. Access Qualification is the entrance grade for admission to undergraduate studies. Forty percent of this grade is calculated out of university entrance examinations, and 60% corresponds to the student's average grades in secondary education.