1 research outputs found
Aberrant personality tendencies and academic success throughout engineering education
Objective: In a longitudinal field study, we investigated the predictive associations between six aberrant personality tendencies (schizotypal, avoidant, borderline, antisocial, narcissistic, obsessiveācompulsive) 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 NEOāPIāR and aberrant tendencies were operationalized by the fiveāfactor model (FFM) compound technique. Indicators of academic achievement (grades) and persistence (credit points earned per year, reāenrollment, 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 obsessiveācompulsive tendency was associated with higher gradeāpoint 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 Uāshaped 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 personalityābased psychopathological tendencies for academic success