ERIC Number: EJ1152778
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0146-3934
EISSN: N/A
Change of Academic Major: The Influence of Broad and Narrow Personality Traits
Foster, N. A.
College Student Journal, v51 n3 p363-379 Fall 2017
The relationship between academic major change and ten personality traits (the Big Five and five narrow traits), was investigated in a sample of 437 college undergraduates. Contrary to expectations, Career Decidedness and Optimism were positively related to academic major change, regardless of class ranking. When parsing data by college year, additional relationships emerged. Extraversion and Sense of Identity were positively related to academic major change among sophomores and seniors. Work Drive was negatively associated with academic major change among juniors and sophomores. Openness was both positively (sophomores) and negatively (juniors) related to major change. Emotional Stability was positively associated with students changing major at least one time, as were the traits of Conscientiousness, Extraversion and Agreeableness, but only for some grades. For students who changed majors two or more times; both Self-Directed Learning and Work Drive significantly and positively correlated with the dependent variable. Both Career Decidedness and Optimism increased the odds of being a major changer in a logistic regression analysis. Implications for career planning and advising are discussed, along with future research recommendations
Descriptors: Undergraduate Students, Personality Traits, Majors (Students), Questionnaires, Online Surveys, Instructional Program Divisions, Hypothesis Testing, Correlation, Regression (Statistics)
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A