Irresponsibility and resilience predict undergraduate grade point average, conscientiousness showed mixed results

Seven personality traits were identified for their theoretical likelihood of being correlated with undergraduate GPA (uGPA). To address possible positivity bias in previous work, two of those traits (neuroticism and irresponsibility) were expected to have negative correlations. The study employed two samples to investigate the consistency of results. In both samples, irresponsibility, resilience, and grit were significantly correlated with uGPA. In the first sample, conscientiousness was also significantly correlated. In the second sample analytical interest was significantly correlated and conscientiousness was not. The significant correlations in each sample were entered into multiple regression equations. Results showed that irresponsibility was significantly (negatively) predictive, over and above the other traits in both samples. In the second sample resilience was also significantly (positively) predictive. The results underscore the importance of identifying situation specific traits that go beyond the Big Five and broadening the focus to include negative traits.