The Influence of Personality Trait on the Academic Performance of Secondary School Students in Cross River State, Nigeria

This study investigated the influence of personality traits on academy achievements of secondary school students in Cross River State. Two research questions and hypotheses were tested at .05 levels of significance to guide the conduct of the study. The research design used was casual-comparative or ex-post facto. The population of the study consisted of 13, 838 SSI students in all 239 public secondary schools throughout Cross Rivers State. A total of 7 LGAs were randomly drawn out of 23. Then 20 schools were randomly selected, from which a sample of 8530 SSI students was finally drawn. The instrument adapted for the study was the 44-item standardized questionnaire known as the big five personality model by Robert McCrae and Paul Costa (1999). This was validated by expert in the field of measurement and evaluation; the reliability was established using the test re-test method and the reliability coefficient was calculated using Pearson moment correlation coefficient (r) and the reliability indices obtained were, 0.68, and 0.62 respectively for conscientiousness and agreeableness. The data collected were analyzed using the mean (x) and standard deviation (SD) to answer the research question. The independent sample ttest was used to test the hypothesis in order to determine whether there is a significance difference between the means two independent groups being compared for each trait. A significant difference was found between the achievements of students with high level of conscientiousness and agreeableness, and those with low levels of the traits. Based on the findings, the following recommendations were made. Parents and teacher should encourage their children/ wards or students to set clear goals, and ensure that they are disciplined and careful to consistently achieve them. Incentives should be arranged to accompany success to encourage continuous positive performance. This will serve as positive reinforcement. Teacher should endeavor to be close to their students through interaction outside the classroom. Government too can encourage more sponsorship programs to encourage the indigent but conscientious students further their education. Also Neurotic tendencies such as anger, depression, anxiety, and a low self esteem should be discouraged in students at all levels both at home and in the school. Parent should inculcate self confidence in their children by affirming them whenever they do the right thing and correct in love whenever they do wrong. Teachers and counseling psychologists should help them have a positive self esteem through affirmation. This is why guidance and counseling units must be encouraged in all school where this is not the case, especially in the rural areas.