Aggression and the Big Five Personality Factors of Grades and Attendance

The focus of this study was to determine whether aggression adds incremental validity above and beyond the big five personality factors in predicting academic success. An archival data analysis was used in this study. The data \vas consisted of all of the eight grade students who were present when the data was collected in a middle school in the SoutheasteIl1 region of the United States. The students completed the Personal Style Inventory-Adolescent (PSI-A), which is a 120 item survey instrument designed to measure the big five personality factors and aggression. Results from this study indicated that aggression does in fact add incremental validity above and beyond the big five personality factors in a sample of middle school students. The results of the study also indicated that the big five personality factors are significantly correlated with academic performance. More specifically, conscientiousness, openness, agreeableness, and emotional stability are significantly correlated with grades in the current sample. When aggression is added into the statistical model, conscientiousness, openness, and aggression are significantly correlated with grades. The limitations, implications and conclusions are also discussed. 11