Five-Factor Model Dimensions and Academic Performance in Ecuadorian University Students

This study tested whether Five-Factor Model (FFM) personality dimensions were associated with academic performance in an undergraduate psychology cohort (n = 279) from a Latin American higher-education context. Personality was assessed using the NEO (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness) Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI), and academic performance was modeled as a four-level ordered grade outcome. We fit an ordinal logistic regression with cluster-robust standard errors to account for class-based clustering. In the adjusted model, Conscientiousness was the strongest positive predictor of higher-grade categories (OR = 2.88, p < .001), followed by Openness to Experience (OR = 1.89, p < .001), whereas Agreeableness showed an inverse association (OR = 0.56, p < .001). Female students, older students, and students in the ninth academic cycle (relative to the third) had higher odds of stronger academic outcomes, whereas the remaining academic-cycle contrasts were not significant. These results highlight the relevance of self-regulatory and intellectual dispositions for academic success and support interventions focused on planning, organization, and sustained study engagement.