Running head: PERSONALITY & COLLEGE EXPERIENCE 1

Personality in Relation to College Experiences During and Following the Pandemic

Tegann O. Anderson

Penn State, Hazleton

PERSONALITY & COLLEGE EXPERIENCE 2

Personality in Relation to College Experiences During and Following the Pandemic

When COVID-19 arrived, it brought upon a lot of issues within the world. Aside from

physical health, mental health was one of the most affected areas of people’s lives. Many

students experienced extreme stress and mental issues because they were forced to continue their

education from home. Yet, for all students it was not like that. Some students felt relief in

working from home. Why is that? Could it be because of personality?

Research was done during the pandemic and after to analyze how students felt during the

various transitions in their education. Most of these studies utilized survey methods to retrieve

their data. In one study, researchers sampled stress levels and had participants rate their overall

stress levels on a scale of 0 to 4 (Lohani et al., 2022). In another study, loneliness was measured,

with a three- item scale (Dingle et al., 2022). Most of the studies also utilized the Big Five

personality test in order to measure personality and one study used the OPERAS questionnaire

which assesses the big five traits without using the Big Five questionnaire (Morales-Vives et al.,

2023). These studies found that there were high stress levels and students with high neuroticism

levels were hurt more during learning during the pandemic (Iterbeke & De Witte, 2021). All

these studies are great but most of them are pertaining to high school experiences, I would like to

find out about college students’ experiences.

In the present study the main goal was to figure out whether a student’s personality is

related to how they navigated through the pandemic. I wanted to find out if being an introvert or

extrovert made a difference in how susceptible to stress and poor mental health students were or

made a difference in learning outcomes. Does being an introvert make it easier to learn away

from the classroom? Does being an extrovert make it harder to learn away from the classroom? I

also wanted to find out if students’ lives, in terms of mental health, have improved since
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returning to school. I hypothesized that students who are introverts would have had less mental

health decline during the pandemic than extroverts; and being an introvert or extrovert does alter

difficulty levels in learning from home. Finally, I believe that students who were more likely to

indicate having dropped in their academic performance during the remote learning period would

be more likely to indicate experiencing improvement after the remote learning period.

Method

Participants1

In this study I had 28 participants (21 females, 7 males), all were college students ranging

from sophomores to seniors. Freshmen students (1 who took the survey) were excluded from the

study due to their lack of experience of college during pandemic regulations.

Materials

Personality, mental health (during the pandemic), and quality of learning (during and post

pandemic) were measured. These variables were be measured by using Likert scales in order to

approximate the participants feelings on the statements. Statements were posed and participants

were encouraged to answer on a scale of 1-5, 1 being strongly disagree and 5 being strongly

agree.

Personality was measured using three items. These items presented participants with

statements such as “In everyday settings, I am a social person.” These statements were measured

using a 5-point Likert scale (1-5), 1 being strongly disagree and 5 being strongly agree.

Mental health was measured using three items. These items presented participants with

statements such as “I fell into depression during the pandemic.” These statements were measured

using a 5-point Likert scale (1-5), 1 being strongly disagree and 5 being strongly agree.
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Quality of learning was measured using seven items. These items presented participants

with statements such as “I liked online learning during this time period” and “My academic

performance dropped during this time period.” These statements were measured using a 5-point

Likert scale (1-5), 1 being strongly disagree and 5 being strongly agree.

Procedures

This study was conducted online, using my social media platform, Instagram to recruit

participants. The post was online for 24 hours. Participants were able to decline participation,

and those who accepted, were able to review informed consent and continue with the survey if

they agreed. This survey took up to five minutes and was able to be taken on any piece of

technology that the participant had. Upon completing the survey, the participant received a

completion screen and a thank you for their time.

Results

I hypothesized that students who were more likely to indicate having dropped in their

academic performance during the remote learning period would be more likely to indicate

experiencing improvement after the remote learning period. I conducted a Pearson correlational

analysis and did not find support for this hypothesis, r(27) = -.199, p = .321. There was a low

correlation indicating that academic performance and remote learning have a negative

relationship.

I hypothesized that students who are introverts will have had less mental health decline

during the pandemic than extroverts. I conducted an analysis of variance (ANOVA) with

personality as the independent variable, and mental health as the dependent variable. Results did

not support our hypothesis that introverts would have less mental health decline, on average, than

extroverts, F (1,25) = .003, p = .959.

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I hypothesized that being an introvert or extrovert does alter difficulty levels in learning

from home. I conducted an analysis of variance (ANOVA) with personality (introvert vs

extrovert) as the independent variable, and academic performance (how well I learn in a remote

setting & my academic performance dropped during this time) as the dependent variables.

Results did not support my hypothesis that personality alters difficulty levels in learning in a

remote setting, F (1,25) = .741, p = .398. Results did not support my hypothesis that personality

alters difficulty in learning from home with grades as a dependent variable, F (1,25) = 1.815, p

= .190.

Discussion

In my study, I wanted to find out if a student’s personality affected how they navigated

through the pandemic: if being an introvert made it easier to learn at home. Or if being an

extrovert made it harder to maintain mental health levels because of being forced to being the

house. I also wanted to find out whether students’ academic performance increased when school

reopened or not.

Students who were more likely to indicate having dropped in their academic performance

during the remote learning period would be more likely to indicate experiencing improvement

after the remote learning period. This hypothesis was not supported. Even though there was a

negative correlation, the data was not statistically significant. A reason to explain this could be

because students tried their hardest both in person and during remote learning.

Students who are introverts will have had less mental health decline during the pandemic

than extroverts. This hypothesis was not supported by data. Both groups most likely had the

same struggles during the pandemic. The lack of social interaction and outside activities would

have the same effect on most people.

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A student’s personality does alter difficulty levels in learning from home. This hypothesis

was not supported. Even though a difference is shown (F>1), the data is not statistically

significant. No matter if you’re an introvert or an extrovert, learning topics from home with no

hands-on experience, would be difficult.

Limitations and Recommendations

The time frame could have been a limiting factor of this study. Since the start of the

COVID-19 pandemic was in March 2020, having participants recall information from this time

period could be off. They might not remember all the details of their feelings during this time

period. Researchers can conduct a larger survey than I did. Only having less than 30 people

could be a critical issue within my knowledge of the topic.

Conclusion

My hypotheses were not supported. Even though some showed correlation, the

correlations were weak and none of them were statistically significant. No matter what

personality type you are, going through college during a pandemic is hard on anybody.
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Tables

Table 1

Correlation of Academic Performance During COVID-19 and After COVID-19

M SD

Academic Performance dropped 2.8148 1.56984

during COVID-19

Academic Performance 3.3704 1.00568

improved post COVID-19

Table 2

Comparison of Introverts & Extroverts and Academic Performance Differences

Introverts Extroverts
Academic Performance
M SD M SD

My personality affects how well 3.1429 1.35062 3.6154 1.50214

I learn in a remote setting.

My academic performance 2.4286 1.45255 3.2308 1.64083

dropped during COVID-19.
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References

Dingle, G. A., Han, R., & Carlyle, M. (2022). Loneliness, belonging, and mental health in

Australian university students pre- and post-covid-19. Behaviour Change, 39(3), 146–156.

https://doi.org/10.1017/bec.2022.6

Iterbeke, K., & De Witte, K. (2021). Helpful or harmful? The role of personality traits in student

experiences of the COVID-19 crisis and school closure. Personality and Social Psychology

Bulletin, 48(11), 1614–1632. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672211050515

Lohani, M., Dutton, S., & Elsey, J. S. (2022). A day in the life of a college student during the

COVID‐19 pandemic: An experience sampling approach to emotion regulation. Applied

Psychology: Health and Well-Being, 14(4), 1333–1352.

https://doi.org/10.1111/aphw.12337

Morales-Vives, F., Ferrando, P. J., Dueñas, J., Martín-Arbós, S., Varea, M. D., & Castarlenas, E.

(2023). Are older teens more frustrated than younger teens by the covid-19 restrictions?

The role of psychological maturity, personality traits, depression and life

satisfaction. Current Psychology: A Journal for Diverse Perspectives on Diverse

Psychological Issues, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-04317-6

Schettino, G., Marino, L., & Capone, V. (2022). Technology-enhanced learning and well-being:

A contribution to the validation of a measure to assess university students’ technostress in

the Italian context. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-022-00940-9