The effect of personality traits on stress and academic achievement Jo Eun-Hyeon1, Lee Dong-Hyung2,* 1Research Scholar, Department of Industrial & Management Engineering, Hanbat National University, Dongseo-daero, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, Korea 2Professor, Department of Industrial & Management Engineering, Hanbat National University, Dongseo-daero, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, Korea *Corresponding Author: Dong-Hyung Lee Professor, Department of Industrial & Management Engineering, Hanbat National University, Korea Email: leedh@hanbat.ac.kr
Online published on 16 October, 2018. Abstract Background/Objectives Stress appears in various different forms as a result of environmental and individual characteristics. Excessive stress elicits overall negative effects on an individual's mental health, such as disrupting stability of the mind and body and causing a decline in motivation to learn and satisfaction in life. This research will analyze the correlation between personality traits, stress, and academic grades, aiming to present the personality traits that have a strong response to stress and a high level of academic achievement. Methods/Statistical Analysis The data used in this research comes from the personality traits, stress levels, and grades of 224 students of H University. Personality traits were classified through an Ego-gram survey into 5 states: CP(Critical Parent), NP(Nurturing Parent), A(Rational Adult), FC(Free Child), and AC(Adapted Child). For stress levels, an everyday stress measurement survey was used. For academic achievement, the grade point average in the semester immediately previous was used. Regression analysis was used to determine the effect personality traits have on stress and academic achievement. Levels of stress were divided into 6 sections (1-level: below 50, 2-level: 51∼60, 3-level: 61∼70, 4-level: 71∼80, 5-level: 81∼90, 6-level: 91∼100), and differences in academic achievement were then compared by stress section afterwards using ANOVA analysis. A T-TEST was used to compare differences in word memory pertaining to highs and lows in stress levels. Findings The results of this research may be summarized as follows. First, the level of stress one feels differs according to one's environment and individual characteristics, and thus it is ideal to raise one's ability to respond through changes in personality as much as possible. Out of all the university students’ personality traits, raising the ‘NP’(considerate) and ‘A’(logical thinking) and lowering the passive adaptive ‘AC’ reduced stress. Furthermore, to increase academic achievement, it is best to increase the ‘A’ and lower the ‘AC’. Second, comparing academic achievement by stress level showed that academic achievement in levels 3 and 4 were higher than that in 1 and 6. This means that academic achievement is very low when stress is very high or very low. In other words, when stress is low, the desire to achieve is also low, leading to disinterest in academic achievement. Likewise, when stress is high, that high psychological state of anxiety leads to lower academic learning efficiency. As a result, maintaining stress at a level between 80∼90 will help improve academic achievement. Improvements/Applications The results of this research can be employed in areas such as various different kinds of lectures, student advising, special lectures, and employment programs run at universities to invigorate the personality traits that can raise academic achievement and lower excessive stress of students. Top Keywords Stress, Personality traits, Academic achievement, Stress level, college, University. Top |