This work is devoted to studying the predictive potential of the Big Five personality trait model in the context of first-year students’ adaptation to university conditions. The object of the study is the Big Five personality traits of first-year students. The subject of the study is the predictive role of extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience in first-year students’ adaptation to academic activities and the student group. The article formulates a general hypothesis that Big Five traits serve as significant predictors of first-year students’ adaptation, as well as a system of specific hypotheses suggesting multidirectional effects of individual personality traits on academic and social adaptation. Particular attention is paid to the lack of domestic research directly linking the five-factor model to different aspects of first-year students’ adaptation, which justifies the relevance of the presented work. To diagnose personality traits, the "Brief Version of the Big Five Inventory2" was used, and to assess adaptation to academic activities and the student group, the "Student Adaptability to University" questionnaire was employed. The sample consisted of 735 first-year students aged 16 to 24 years (median age 18). Statistical analysis was performed using Jamovi, applying correlation and linear regression. The main conclusion of the conducted study is the confirmation of the predictive potential of the Big Five model with respect to first-year students’ adaptation. It was found that neuroticism is a significant predictor not only of adaptation to the student group but also of adaptation to academic activities, which expands the understanding of the role of emotional stability in the educational process. Agreeableness, contrary to expectations, does not have a significant effect on group adaptation, whereas extraversion is a key predictor for both aspects of adaptation. Conscientiousness and openness to experience are significantly related only to academic adaptation, but not to group adaptation. The obtained results, for the first time in a Russian sample, demonstrate a refined structure of the influence of Big Five personality traits on the process of students’ adaptation to university conditions.
Polyakov et al. (Sun,) studied this question.