The Effects of Personality Traits and Emotional Intelligence on Academic Performance in an Online Learning-Based COVID-19 Environment

The epidemic has increased general stress for individuals and students. College is already a stressful time for many students, and in a pandemic environment, this stress may compound. (Prentice et al., 2020) Not all students learn in the same way and, regardless of the learning environment, academic success will vary. Personality may help us understand how a student will perform academically. Personality traits can influence academic success; these effects may be amplified due to the idiosyncratic nature of our new learning world (i.e., Zoom). (Abe, 2020). Higher levels of emotional intelligence – one’s ability to handle emotionally charged situations – may help navigate this anomalous new learning environment. Jan et al. (2018) found that students with higher EI abilities attained higher academic performance in terms of GPA. Some personality traits that are not primarily focused on emotional responses and coping may also play a factor in academic success. Neurotics are known to be drastic and irrational in their responses to mental and emotional discomfort. Also, people that are more open to new experiences generally prefer variety are attentive to feelings, have a good imagination, and are intellectually curious. Finally, extroverts are naturally outgoing and sociable and may find academic seclusion challenging Therefore, it is hypothesized that academic success during the COVID-19 pandemic learning environment will be related to emotional intelligence and Openness and inversely related to the degree of Neuroticism and Extraversion