The Moderating Role of Personality in the Relationship between Internet Use and Study Abroad Difficulties

Abstract

Studying abroad can be stressful due to culture shock and various other difficulties. However, with the current prevalence of information communication technology, we can surmise that study abroad difficulties should be minimal. Since it has been shown that an individual’s personality is highly associated with their internet use behaviors, it would be interesting to determine the effects of personality traits on the relationship between internet use motives and perceived study abroad difficulties. Data were collected from 1870 volunteer study abroad students in Taiwan. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that when controlling for the effects of age, gender, duration of stay, student status (short-term exchange or degree-seeking), and internet use motives (online benefits, habits, and facilitation), the personality trait neuroticism consistently showed significant relationships with the various study abroad difficulties. Moreover, moderation analyses revealed that all the personality traits except conscientiousness showed significant interactions with internet use, while simple slope comparisons showed significant differences between the high personality traits and their lower counterparts. In sum, an examination of the moderating role of personality traits in the relationship between internet use and study abroad difficulties may be useful for preemptively identifying at-risk students.

The moderating role of conscientiousness and gender in the relationship between perceived family atmosphere and academic performance in students from the city of Babylon, Iraq

“…In line with the approach of the pervasive effects of personality traits in different social, familial, and even work contexts (Ching, 2021), the current study's findings showed that there is a stronger positive relationship between motheroriented perceived family atmosphere and academic performance, as well as between father-oriented perceived family atmosphere and academic performance, at higher levels of conscientiousness compared to lower levels. This means that when conscientiousness in students is high, the relationship between perceived family atmosphere and academic performance is stronger.…”

“…This means that when conscientiousness in students is high, the relationship between perceived family atmosphere and academic performance is stronger. This finding supports the pervasive effects approach of conscientiousness as a personality trait (Ching, 2021) and implies that considering both environmental factors like family atmosphere and personality traits is realistic and necessary when examining variables influencing students' academic performance. The mentioned relationships occur because parents who can create a positive emotional atmosphere in the family are responsible and conscientious, accepted by their children as role models due to the bond based on respect and emotional exchange.…”

“…Conscientiousness, as one of the personality traits in the Big Five personality traits approach (Verbree et al, 2023), encompasses the ability to regulate, control, and direct behaviors and decisions in different situations and conditions (Javaras et al, 2019). Conscientious individuals are those who exert great effort and precision to ensure that tasks are performed correctly, efficiently, and in an organized manner, in line with goals and plans (Ching, 2021). There is evidence that conscientiousness, despite being a personality trait, can be strengthened through education, including family teaching and the process of T development and learning during schooling, based on both genetic foundations and learning through modeling (Tackman et al, 2017).…”

“…On the other hand, there is considerable evidence that conscientiousness is related to academic performance and progress (Khan, 2020;Mammadov, 2022;Nguyen et al, 2005;Wang et al, 2023). The moderating ability of conscientiousness in the relationship between perceived family atmosphere and academic performance lies in the role that conscientiousness plays according to the approach of the pervasive effect of personality traits on behaviors and decisions in different conditions (Ching, 2021). In fact, since conscientiousness facilitates behaviors such as active engagement in academic tasks and duties (Meyer et al, 2023), it has the ability to also affect the influence of family atmosphere on performance.…”

Bridging borders: assessing the impact of semester-long study abroad programs on intercultural competence development in undergraduate engineering students

“…In the C3, though, we saw that students showed some decline in the DO. Prior studies (Ching, 2021) have argued that some of the potential reasons for the decrease could be because students experience culture shock while studying abroad, or they may not feel comfortable interacting with people from other cultures. Studies (Ching, 2021;Kim & Okazaki, 2014) have also indicated that students who are younger in age may find studying abroad a difficult experience.…”