Personality Traits and College Adjustment in Relation to Academic Achievement and Engineering Identity

• In Event: A Special Focus on Students of Engineering

Abstract

We seek to examine whether and to what extent general personality traits based on the Big Five model (McCrae & Costa, 2003) and students’ adjustment to college as measured by the Student Adaption to College Questionnaire (Baker & Siryk, 1999) correlate with and explain unique variance of academic achievement and engineering identity among undergraduate engineering students. Correlational analysis revealed a moderate positive relationship between engineering identity and overall college adjustment. College adjustment explained 39% of the variance in engineering identity scores, the most important facet being social-emotional adjustment. The purpose of the present study is to help college engineering students to develop a comprehensive understanding of their strengths and weaknesses, critical for their personal and professional development as future engineers.

Authors

• Yi Ding, Fordham University

• Alexandra Reder, Fordham University

• Qian Wang, Manhattan College