Students experience a variety of achievement emotions (AE) towards school activities and outcomes. The Control-Value Theory (Pekrun et al., 2023) states that these emotions are related to different contextual and individual antecedents, including, among the latter, also personality and sex. However, only a few studies focused on the link between the Big Five personality traits (BF) and achievement emotions (Pekrun et al., 2023; Thomas & Cassady, 2019), particularly in adolescence (Hoferichter et al., 2014; Sorić et al., 2013), without considering possible sex differences. This study aimed at exploring: (1) the relation between the BF, and positive and negative AE; and (2) differences in males and females in this relation. The sample consisted of 256 Italian sixth/seventh graders, who completed questionnaires assessing BF (adaptation of the Big Five Inventory-2; Soto & John, 2017) and school-related AE (Achievement Emotions Adjective List; Raccanello et al., 2022). Through a path analysis, we observed that positive AE were positively linked to Extraversion and Open-Mindedness, and negatively to Neuroticism; and that negative AE were positively associated with Neuroticism, and negatively with Agreeableness. Then, a multi-group comparison revealed sex differences in these relations. Despite some limitations (e.g., cross-sectional design, small sample size), this study documented how BF could impact AE in a sample of adolescents, also showing the influence of sex. These findings could encourage to take into account individual differences when designing interventions on achievement emotions at school.
Personality antecedents of achievement emotions: Sex differences in Italian middle school students
Vicentini G.;Burro R.;Raccanello D
2025-01-01
Abstract
Students experience a variety of achievement emotions (AE) towards school activities and outcomes. The Control-Value Theory (Pekrun et al., 2023) states that these emotions are related to different contextual and individual antecedents, including, among the latter, also personality and sex. However, only a few studies focused on the link between the Big Five personality traits (BF) and achievement emotions (Pekrun et al., 2023; Thomas & Cassady, 2019), particularly in adolescence (Hoferichter et al., 2014; Sorić et al., 2013), without considering possible sex differences. This study aimed at exploring: (1) the relation between the BF, and positive and negative AE; and (2) differences in males and females in this relation. The sample consisted of 256 Italian sixth/seventh graders, who completed questionnaires assessing BF (adaptation of the Big Five Inventory-2; Soto & John, 2017) and school-related AE (Achievement Emotions Adjective List; Raccanello et al., 2022). Through a path analysis, we observed that positive AE were positively linked to Extraversion and Open-Mindedness, and negatively to Neuroticism; and that negative AE were positively associated with Neuroticism, and negatively with Agreeableness. Then, a multi-group comparison revealed sex differences in these relations. Despite some limitations (e.g., cross-sectional design, small sample size), this study documented how BF could impact AE in a sample of adolescents, also showing the influence of sex. These findings could encourage to take into account individual differences when designing interventions on achievement emotions at school.
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