The role of personality traits in the university decision-making process in an Italian sample of secondary school students

During the final years of secondary school, students engage in the decision-making process regarding their important choice of university career. Individual differences in how people approach this process could be attributed to personality traits, gender, and the specific year of attendance. To investigate this hypothesis, a study was conducted involving 805 (Female = 441; 54.3%), secondary school’s students who completed the HEXACO-60, the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale, the Student Career Construction Inventory, and a demographic questionnaire. The findings indicate that the year of attendance, in conjunction with certain personality traits such as Extraversion and Conscientiousness, positively predicts scores on both the Career Adapt-Abilities and the Student Career Construction Inventory. Additionally, in the case of the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale, Openness serves as a positive predictor, and Emotionality as a negative one. Gender did not emerge as a significant predictor in this study. These results suggest that these variables play a role in the university decision-making process and highlight the importance of considering them in future vocational guidance programmes.