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Visible Learning™
Visible Learning MetaX™
Version 1.4 – Updated February 2026

Student personality

Overview

  • Influence: Student personality
  • Domain: Student
  • Sub-Domain: Student personality
  • Potential to Accelerate Student Achievement: Likely to have a small positive impact
  • Influence Definition: The most supported model of personality is the Big Five: agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, extraversion, and openness.

Evidence

  • Number of meta-analyses: 12
  • Number of studies: 630
  • Number of students: 592,046
  • Number of effects: 3,158
  • Weighted mean effect size: 0.14
  • Robustness index: 4

Meta-Analyses

Meta-Analyses
Journal Title Author Article Name Year Published Variable Number of Studies Number of Students Number of Effects Effect Size
Personality and Individual Differences Vedel The Big Five and Tertiary Academic Performance: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis 2014 Big Five and achievement 20 17,717 105 0.16
Social Science Research Ibrahim, Yusof, Razak & Norshahidi A meta-analysis of the relationship between big five personality traits and student's achievement: Meta-analysis of the relationship between big five personality traits and students academic achievement. 2014 Big Five and achievement 6 3,078 6 0.08
Personality and Individual Differences O'Connor & Paunonen Big Five personality predictors of post-secondary academic performance 2007 Big Five and achievement 23 NA 108 0.10
British Journal of Educational Psychology Poropat A meta-analysis of adult-rated child personality and academic performance in primary education 2014 Big five personality and achievement 12 10,088 105 0.60
Zeitschrift fur Psychologie / Journal of Psychology Trapmann, Hell, Hirn & Schuler Meta-analysis of the relationship between the Big Five and academic success at university 2007 Big Five and achievement with University students 58 17,493 258 0.05
Reading Education Hattie & Hansford Reading performance and self-assessment: What is the relationship? 1983 Personality on achievement 115 NA 1,197 0.07
Psychological Assessment McAbee & Oswald The criterion-related validity of personality measures for predicting GPA: a meta-analytic validity competition. 2013 Personality on GPA 51 26,382 274 0.47
Review of Educational Research Fong, Davis, Kim, Kim, Marriott, & Kim Psychosocial Factors and Community College Student Success: A Meta-Analytic Investigation 2017 Psychosocial factors and achievement 174 56,095 320 0.18
Journal of Research in Personality O'Boyle, Forsyth, Banks & Story A meta-analytic review of the Dark Triad–intelligence connection 2013 Machiavellian, Narcissism & Psychopathy on achievement 53 10,412 53 0.02
Psychological Bulletin Poropat A meta-analysis of the five-factor model of personality and academic performance 2009 Big Five and achievement 80 341,385 634 0.21
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Clarke Coping with Interpersonal Stress and Psychosocial Health Among Children and Adolescents: A Meta-Analysis 2006 Active coping on achievement 9 NA 9 0.24
Educational Psychology Review Madigan & Curran Does burnout affect academic achievement? A meta-analysis of over 100,000 students 2021 Burnout 29 109,396 89 -0.49
TOTAL/AVERAGE 630 592,046 3,158 0.14
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