Aberrant personality tendencies and academic success throughout engineering education

Abstract

Objective In a longitudinal field study, we investigated the predictive associations between six aberrant personality tendencies (schizotypal, avoidant, borderline, antisocial, narcissistic, obsessive‐compulsive) and academic success of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics students. Method Bachelor students of Industrial Engineering at a Dutch technical university (N = 432, Mage = 18.45; 87.3% male) filled out the NEO‐PI‐R and aberrant tendencies were operationalized by the five‐factor model (FFM) compound technique. Indicators of academic achievement (grades) and persistence (credit points earned per year, re‐enrollment, study duration) were made available by the academic office. Results Validities across the 3 years of the study program consistently support the role of two aberrant tendencies: Individuals with high antisocial tendency reached lower academic achievement, took longer to finish their study, and had a higher risk of dropout. The obsessive‐compulsive tendency was associated with higher grade‐point average, faster study progress, and higher retention rates and effects were still visible while controlling for known predictors (high school grades, Conscientiousness). Contrary to our expectations, we found no evidence for inverted U‐shaped relationships. Conclusions We used the compound technique for aberrant tendencies based on the FFM in the academic context and our findings support the importance of personality‐based psychopathological tendencies for academic success.

Pathological personality in relation to multiple domains of quality of life and impairment: Evidence for the specific relevance of the maladaptive poles of major trait domains.

“…Le et al (2011) theorized that conscientiousness may relate to rigidity which could result in impairment. However, nonmonotonicity was not supported in studies related to job performance, health, well-being, job satisfaction, and academic success (Bipp et al, 2020;Nickel et al, 2019;Walmsley et al, 2018). Regarding the present study, the results did not support the "too much of a good thing" hypothesis for QoL or impairment.…”

“…This phenomenon has been referred to as "too much of a good thing." Contrary to these findings, other studies have found no evidence in support of nonmonotonic associations between personality and job performance, health, well-being, job satisfaction, and academic success (Bipp et al, 2020;Nickel et al, 2019;Walmsley et al, 2018).…”

“…Of particular interest has been the possibility that both ends are functionally pathological . However, this has rarely been the focus of empirical research with some exceptions (e.g., Bipp et al, 2020; Carter et al, 2016; Le et al, 2011; Nickel et al, 2019; Walmsley et al, 2018; Williams & Simms, 2018). We now turn to describe these studies.…”

Reaching the Finish Line: Personality and Persistence in Postsecondary Education

“…For instance, one previous study that examined the relationship between trait EI and post-secondary retention after first year had a much larger sample size of individuals who withdrew (i.e., N = 213), which likely resulted in the authors being able to detect significant effects (Parker et al, 2006). Similarly, a recent study that found conscientiousness was a significant predictor of three-year retention had a sample of 459 students, with 189 categorized as "withdrawn" (Bipp et al, 2020). Thus, moving forward it would be worthwhile to replicate this study using a larger sample to increase the likelihood of detecting significant effects.…”

“…Previous findings also suggest that openness (e.g., Moses et al, 2011) and agreeableness (e.g., Saklofske et al, 2012) have small positive relationships with GPA and other indicators of short-term academic success, while neuroticism (e.g., Chamorro-Premuzic & Furnham, 2003;Noftle & Robbins, 2007) and extraversion (e.g., Vedel, 2014;Wilson et al, 2019) are less consistently related to academic success. Only recently has the relationship between personality and persistence been explored with findings indicating that conscientiousness was the only significant predictor of retention after three years of study (Bipp et al, 2020). However, more longitudinal research is needed to determine the relationship between personality and degree completion.…”