ANALYSING THE CORRELATIONAL INTERACTIONS OF PERSONALITY TRAITS, GENDER MECHANISMS AND GEOPOLITICAL ZONES OF ABODE WITH ACADEMIC STRESS AMONG UNDERGRADUATES

Abstract

This study examined Personality, Gender and Geopolitical Zone of Abode as correlate of Academic Stress among Undergraduates. A total number of three hundred (300) students participated in the study from Nnamdi Azikiwe University and Chukwuemeka Odumegwu University. The participants were selected using convenience sampling method while the selection of the schools was done using simple random sampling technique. The ages of the participants range from 18 - 25 years with the mean age of 31.5 and standard deviation of 8.81. They included both male 122(40.67%) and female 178(59.33%), and the study utilized a correlational design and Pearson product moment correlational statistics was the statistics adopted. The Ten Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) which consist of ten items developed by Gosling et al (2003) and validated in Nigeria for use by Umeaku et al (2021) is a brief measure with five domains(Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Emotional stability) and Perception of Academic Stress Scale which consist of 13 items by Bedwey and Gabriel(2015) and validated in Nigeria by Osenweugwor and Blessing (2019) was employed for the study. Three hypotheses were used for the study and the result of the study showed that personality (Openness, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness and Neuroticism) correlated with academic stress among undergraduates, but gender and geopolitical zone did not. The first hypothesis which stated that personality will significantly correlate with academic stress was accepted at (r=.007,p<.001,r=.171**,p<.001,r=.201**,p<.001,r=.219**,p<.001), the second hypothesis which stated that gender will significantly correlate with academic stress was rejected at (r=.085,p<.001) and the third hypothesis which stated that geopolitical zone of bode will significantly correlate with academic stress was rejected at (r=.011,p<.001). Based on the findings of the study, the researchers made recommendations considering the relationship among personality, gender and geopolitical zone of abode on academic stress in order to promote healthy life styles and achieve Psychological wellbeing’s as well as academic success among the students, also to develop resilient spirits with the aid of parents/guardians and counsellors that will help them perform well as students and cope with the environment.