Exploring the predictors of academic performance: the role of personality, rational beliefs, and self-efficacy

TL;DR

This study explores how personality traits, beliefs, and self-efficacy influence academic performance, finding that school type and certain traits like impulsiveness are key predictors.

Contribution

The study reveals gender-specific and self-efficacy-dependent effects of personality traits on academic performance.

Findings

High school type was the strongest predictor of academic performance.

Impulsive sensation seeking positively predicted performance in female students.

Aggressiveness/hostility predicted better performance only in students with high self-efficacy.

Abstract

This study examines the predictive roles of personality traits, rational/irrational beliefs, and self-efficacy in academic performance, while also investigating how these factors interact with gender, residence, and school type.

Data were collected from 453 students at George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science, and Technology in Târgu Mureş using the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire (ZKPQ), the General Self-Efficacy Scale (SES), and the short-form Attitudes and Beliefs Scale (ABSs).

Results revealed that institutional factors, particularly high school type, emerged as the strongest predictors of academic performance. Among the psychological traits, aggressiveness/hostility, impulsive sensation seeking, and rationality significantly predicted academic performance. Notably, impulsive sensation seeking was positively linked to higher performance in female but not male students, while aggressiveness/hostility predicted better performance only among students with high self-efficacy.

These findings highlight the potential for tailored intervention programs that take into account gender and personality differences to improve academic outcomes.

Figures