Exploring the Effect of Gender and Personality Characteristics on Educational Performance

Abstract

This study was an update on gender differences, personality characteristics and academic performance carried out among students at a private University in Ogun State, Nigeria. The present study intends to validate the findings of the previous study with further review of literature on the subject matter. The result of the study showed that male and female students are different with regards to academic performance but not in personality traits. Also, conscientiousness (r=.272, p<.01) was found to be positively related to academic performance while neuroticism (r=-.170, p<.05) negatively correlated with academic performance. Furthermore, the other Big five personality factors did not have any significant relationship with academic performance: extraversion (r= -.027, p>.05), agreeableness (r= .057, p>.05) and openness to experience (r= -.018, p>.05). These personality factors jointly influenced changes in academic performance [F (5,195) = 3.897, p<.01]. The present study found a consensus in gender differences in academic performance with females outperforming the males. Also, studies agree that females are higher in agreeableness and neuroticism but not significantly different in conscientiousness when compared with males. This study concluded that conscientiousness trait had a significant effect on students’ academic performance; and that female students academically performed better than their male counterparts. Consequently, it was recommended that further studies be conducted to ascertain gender differences in personality characteristics using a very large sample size.