Journal of Global Research in Education and Social Science

13(6): 208–212, 2019

ISSN: 2454-1834

THE IMPACT OF THE PERSONALITY TRAITS ON THE

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF THE SENIOR HIGH
SCHOOL STUDENTS

JHOSELLE TUS1*
1
Faculty of Social Science, St. Paul College of Bocaue, Bocaue, Bulacan, Philippines.

AUTHOR’S CONTRIBUTION
The sole author designed, analysed, interpreted and prepared the manuscript.

Received: 05 September 2019

Accepted: 11 November 2019
Published: 20 November 2019 Original Research Article
__________________________________________________________________________________

ABSTRACT

This study aims to investigate the influence of personality traits on the academic achievement of the Senior High
School at St. Paul College of Bocaue. This study used the descriptive-correlation research method that utilized a
standardized instrument as a primary data gathering tool. The respondents of the study were the Grade 11 Senior
High School students at St. Paul College of Bocaue. The result of the study showed that the “Big Five”
personality traits of the students were at an extreme level. Likewise, the result suggests that the students are very
creative, focused on tackling new challenges, pays attention to detail, likes to be the center of attention, likes to
meet new people, feels empathy and concern for other people. Moreover, the students experience a lot of stress,
worry about many different things and feel anxious about their environment. Furthermore, the null hypothesis
was tested at the 0.05 alpha level of significance to determine the impact of personality on the academic
achievement of the students. The computed multiple regression analysis results revealed that personality traits
do not significantly affect the academic achievement of the students.

Keywords: Academic achievement; personality traits.

1. INTRODUCTION that factors of academic achievement can either bring

success or failure of the students.
Personality traits emphasize the distinctiveness of a
person and each one has an idiographic view on their Furthermore, the study of personality traits and
identities [1]. It is vital to know what kind of academic achievement by Abdullah [4] concluded that
personality the person has for it will help him personality was not significantly related. The study
communicate and build his own identity. It helps showed the differences and uniqueness of the mixed
people make their own way of enduring the ever- patterns among the personalities and found out that
changing world. As personality trait is the behavior only a certain personality affected the academic
and way of thinking that an individual develops and achievement of the students.
shows towards the other [2].
As argued by Nokikova [5], in the study entitled:
As studied by Vedel [3], “the Predictors of Academic “Relationship of Personalities and Academic
achievement and its relationship to Personality”, Achievement” the data gathered showed that
results indicated that having learned the personality personality has a great influence on academic
traits can lead to greater achievement and it also states achievement and personality was significantly related
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*Corresponding author: Email: [email protected];

 Tus; JOGRESS, 13(6): 208–212, 2019

to the performance of students at school. Therefore, correlational and an empirical study. It is also limited
the study concluded that personality is a factor in the to the sample population of Filipino undergraduate
improvement of the performance of the students. students and Filipino high school students. The study
revealed that there are certain factors that have
In this context, it becomes imperative to study the positively affected the variables, especially the
personality traits of the respondents and their impact academic performance of Filipino students. It
on their academic achievement. As such, to be concluded the importance of understanding one’s
enlightened on how personality can influence their personality to be able to perform well on subject
performance in school and attain the success of their matters.
educational goal.
Furthermore, Reyes [9] in his study “Exploring Five-
1.1 Research Questions Factor Model Personality traits As predictors of
Burnout Dimensions among College Students in the
The present study sought to answer the following
Philippines” stated the relationship of the big five
questions:
personality towards the students’ performance being
1. What is the profile of the personality traits and burnt. The sample population in his study was 577
the level of the academic performance of the Filipino students ages 17-24 that are currently
students? studying to the public and private sector in Metro
2. What is the impact of personality traits on the Manila Universities. The study found out that there is
academic achievement of the students? a significant relationship between the academic
performance and the big five personality traits,
2. LITERATURE REVIEW although there are some personalities that scored the
highest, namely the neuroticism and
Personality is one of the branches of psychology that conscientiousness, these two personalities are
is most known and has the widest range of influencing considered a very important factor in the academic
ones’ actions in his/her life. Personality is ones’ idea performance, distinct from other personalities.
of themselves, it is about your understanding of how
certain actions are being interpreted and shown in the In addition, Lacap [10] studied the relationship of the
environment one belongs to Cherry [6]. A person’s personality traits among the business administration
personality is a case to case basis, which depends on students at the De La Salle University-Manila. It is a
the situation an individual is currently facing. There descriptive-correlational study that aims to determine
are various known personalities, but the most widely how the personality will affect the performance of the
accepted, is the Big Five Personality Traits, students. The respondents were from the 5 different
conveniently you can know and remember these universities in Pampanga. Results from the study
personality traits through the abbreviation of OCEAN states that statistically, there is a significant difference
which means Openness, Conscientiousness, between the variables presented. However, not all the
Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism. The Big big five personality traits are significantly related
Five Personality is a combination and the idea that because the extraversion scored the lowest and
makes up an individual. And there are concepts of reflects that there is no significant relationship of the
factors that affect the personality and often can adhere independent variables. The study recommended that
to how he/she relates to other people [7]. there must be new activities and programs to establish
to be able to fully determine the impact of the
Moreover, it is the distinct interpretation of an personality on the students’ performance.
individual’s attitude, behavior, feelings, and view
towards himself and other people, and it that can 3. MATERIALS AND METHODS
either not affect or affect the academic performance.
In the Big five personality traits, it deals with five 3.1 Participants
broad dimensions and is a continuum that often
encapsulates to one’s identity [6]. The participants of this study were the Grade 11
Senior High School students of St Paul College of
According to Datu [8], in his study entitled Bocaue who were enrolled for the school year 2018-
“Flourishing the Personality is Associated with 2019. The total number of respondents was 137
Higher Academic Achievement and Engagement in students.
Filipino Undergraduate and High School Students, he
stated and emphasized the importance of integration 3.2 Instrument
and understanding an individual’s well-being and
psychological capabilities. Theoretical and practical The study utilized the Big Five Inventory (BFI) by
implications were applied and it used a descriptive- John and Scrivastava to measure the students’

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personality traits. This questionnaire consists of a 44- Five Inventory (BFI) obtained by the respondents. In
item inventory and is designed to identify and order to describe the personality using the Big Five
evaluate which big five personality dimension is Inventory Scale of the students, the researcher
dominant to an individual. The number of points developed the following indicators with its range and
ranges from one (1) to five (5) corresponding to was transposed as low (1.00-1.50), average (1.60-
strongly disagree for one, disagree for two, neutral for 2.50) and high (2.60-3.00). Furthermore, the academic
three, agree for four, and strongly agree for five. The achievement of the respondents was measured based
internal reliability is Cronbach’s alpha .79 to .88 [11]. on the standard set by the school. The following are
the rating scales categorized by the school and
3.3 Procedures transposed as Outstanding (90-100), Very satisfactory
(85-89), Satisfactory (80-84), Fairly satisfactory (75-
In order to achieve the essential findings of the study 79) and Did not meet expectations (74 and below).
in examining the impact of the personality traits on
the academic achievement of the Grade 11 Senior It was seen from Table 1 that the range of the mean of
High School students, there are procedures that will the personality traits of the students was from 2.47 -
be observed to be able to fully conduct this research. 3.49 which indicates that the profile of the personality
The researcher submitted a permission letter to the traits of the students was high, according to the
Office of the School Directress to conduct the study norms.
and to gather the data needed especially to obtain the
general average of the respondents. Also, to be able to Based on the result from Table 2, it was seen that
get valuable and solid results, the respondents will be most of the students' academic achievement was
given an instruction regarding the assessment so that satisfactory with 45.98%. Succeeding this is very
the participants will be aware and will show interest satisfactory with 30.66%. Fairly satisfactory follows
in the activity. The researcher had also made sure that with 14.60%. The least number is outstanding with
the respondents would be far from noise and other 8.76%. The leading level of the academic
disturbances. Lastly, the researcher, distributed the achievement of the group is satisfactory which means
questionnaires and had given them enough time to that the students are fulfilling the expectations and
finish answering the questions. After gathering the needs of their academic requirements.
answered questionnaires and the level of the academic
achievement of the respondents for SY 2018-2019, 4.2 Impact of Personality Traits on the
the results will be immediately and confidentially Academic Achievement of the Students
tallied and the last step will be the statistical analysis
of the data. To find out the impact of personality traits on the
academic achievement of the students, the multiple
4. RESULTS regression has been used and tested at 0.05 level of
significance.
This section deals with the results according to the
research questions of the study. To compare the mean Ho: The students’ personality traits do not
and find out the significance between variables, significantly affect their academic achievement.
multiple regression was computed by using IBM
SPSS 20.0. As seen in Table 3, it presents the findings of the
study based on the statistical analysis reveals that the
4.1 Personality Traits and Academic personality traits that indicate non-significance on the
Achievement of the Students academic achievement for the probability associated
was greater than the alpha level of 0.05 level of
The personality traits of the students were measured significance, therefore the null hypothesis is
as a mean of the total score of each domain of the Big accepted.

Table 1. The profile of the personality traits of the students

Personality traits N Mean Interpretation

Agreableness 137 3.49 High
Conscientiousness 137 3.38 High
Extraversion 137 2.47 High
Neuroticism 137 3.18 High
Openness to Experience 137 3.46 High

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Table 2. Level of the academic achievement of the students

Indicators Frequency Percentage

90-100 (Outstanding) 12 8.76%
85-89 (Very Satisfactory) 42 30.66%
84-80 (Satisfactory) 63 45.98%
79-75 (Fairly Satisfactory) 20 14.60%
74 and below (Did Not Meet Expectations) 0 0%
Total 137 100%

Table 3. Results of the regression analysis of the respondents’ personality traits on their academic
achievement

Variables Unstandardized coefficients Standardized T Sig.

coefficients
B Std. error Beta
(Constant) 5.481 1.245 4.404 .000
Agreeableness -.243 .161 -.138 -1.508 .134
Conscientiousness -.006 .144 -.004 -.045 .964
Extraversion -.060 .134 -.040 -.447 .656
Neuroticism -.058 .125 -.043 -.465 .642
Openness to experience -1.75 .180 -.087 -.971 .333
** Regression analysis is not significant at 0.05 level

5. DISCUSSION study identified what contributions can be an indicator

for the improvement of academic achievement. The
The first research questions raised in this study is: results showed that there are only certain personality
What is the profile of the personality traits and the traits that are significant and the researchers
level of the academic achievement of the students? In concluded that interventions must be employed to
order to get the profile of the personality traits and the enhance the academic pursuit of a student.
level of the academic achievement of the students, the
descriptive statistics (frequency, mean and Lastly, personality traits builds up a person's identity
percentage) were utilized to quantify the variables. with that the researcher implies to help the students,
According to Table 1, the personality traits of the parents, teachers, and the school to be aware of the
students with their corresponding mean scores: different personalities a student could have and to
Agreeableness (3.49), Conscientiousness (3.38), have a better understanding regarding the capabilities
Extraversion (2.47), Neuroticism (3.18) and Openness of a student. Particularly, to be able to acknowledge
to Experience (3.46) which indicates as high; the importance of individual uniqueness in order to
therefore, it can be concluded that the students’ achieve better changes for themselves.
personality traits are at the extreme level. Hence, the
majority of the level of the academic achievement of 6. CONCLUSION
the students was satisfactory.
The study investigates the impact of the students’
Furthermore, the impact of students’ personality traits personality traits on their academic achievement. The
do not significantly affect their academic result of the profile of the students’ personality traits
achievement. As studied by Lacap [10], entitled suggests that they are very creative, focused on
“Personality Traits and Entrepreneurial Intentions of tackling new challenges, pays attention to detail, likes
Business Administration Students: A Correlation to be the center of attention, likes to meet new people,
Study” results indicated that not all the big five feels empathy and concern for other people.
personality traits are significantly related because the Moreover, the students experience a lot of stress,
extraversion scored the lowest and reflects that there worry about many different things and feel anxious
is no significant relationship to the variables of the about their environment.
study.
Furthermore, the result of the present study concludes
In addition, Fosse et al. [12] examined the that the students’ personality traits do not significantly
contribution of personality traits on academic affect their academic achievement. This suggests that
achievement. It stated that these variables are the students were still in the process of developing
important factors for academic achievement and the themselves as manifested in the results of their

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personality traits towards their academic achievement. (Retrieved February 5, 2018)

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS journal/index.php/ijhe/article/view/5858
8. Datu J. Flourishing is associated with higher
The corresponding author is grateful to Ms. academic achievement and engagement in
Franchesca Angel Marie M. Tus, Mrs. Mary Criss M. Filipino undergraduate and high school
Tus and Ms. Maricris Tus for their love and students. 2016;19(1):27-39.
inspiration and special thanks to Sr. Angeles D.
Available:https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jhappi/v
Ilagan, SPC for her untiring support for the conduct of
19y2018i1d10.1007_s10902-016-9805-2.html
the study.
9. Reyes M, Davis R, San Diego C, Tamayo M,
COMPETING INTERESTS Dela Cruz N, Don K, Pallasigue C. Exploring
five factor model personality traits as
Author has declared that no competing interests exist. predictors of burnout dimensions among
college students in the Philippines. Journal of
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