Understanding citizenship competences: The relationship between citizenship competences and personality traits of secondary school students in the Netherlands

Citizenship education is an important tool for strengthening democratic values. Therefore, it is important to develop better conceptual understanding of the citizenship competences of young people. Previous research points to a relationship between personality traits and citizenship competences. The current study focuses on the question: To what extent is there a relationship between personality traits and citizenship competences of secondary school students? Data from 1032 students in the Netherlands were used. Through questionnaires, information was gathered on the Big Five personality traits and the citizenship attitudes and knowledge of students. A relationship was found between personality traits and citizenship competences, where the relationship with citizenship attitudes was the strongest. The personality traits openness and agreeableness had the strongest relationship with citizenship attitudes. Further research on the role of personality traits in the acquisition of citizenship competences might enhance our knowledge about the formation of these competences in education.