A new study finds students become less conscientious, open, and agreeable as term time wears on.
10 July 2025
By Emily Reynolds
Those that go to university or college often feel like they rapidly grow into new versions of themselves in this new and challenging environment. As such, the extent to which being in a fresh educational landscape causes shifts in our personality, and how, is the subject of some research interest.
Proponents of the Personality Stability Perspective believe that personality doesn't change all that much, with shifts only really perceivable when we observe traits over years. On the flip side, the Situational Perspective posits that there's variation in our personalities day-to-day, and even hour-to-hour, depending on the situational context we find ourselves in. Those who look at personality from a developmental standpoint also point to evidence that personality traits shift as we mature — especially as we adapt to social role changes when we reach adulthood and navigate transitional periods.
Writing in Frontiers in Psychology, Stephanie M. Anglin and colleagues put these perspectives head to head, investigating a particularly relevant period for potential personality change: the first semester of the school year. They discover that student personality does shift as they transition to college life, along with changes in wellbeing, social support, and health behaviours — insights that could prove useful for educators and universities seeking to better support student mental health.
Participants were 282 U.S. college students, recruited during the autumn term of 2023, who completed surveys at two points: early (weeks 2–3) and two-thirds through the semester (weeks 8–9). At each point, they completed the Big Five Inventory (a measure of five core aspects of personality), as well as reported on various aspects of their wellbeing and social life, health behaviours, academic engagement, and extracurricular activities.
In a finding which may not shock many students, participants' wellbeing seemed to decline across the semester, with students reporting feeling less happy and satisfied, and more stressed as time wore on. Their sleep and exercise routines also suffered, though the health of their diets remained the same across both timepoints.
Perhaps surprisingly, though, students didn't report spending any more time studying as the term progressed (though they were more likely to be absent from class). In general, they also spent less time with friends, their social support suffered, and relationship conflict rose. Personality traits were consistently related to these changes: more neurotic students were more stressed and less happy, while the more extraverted and conscientious had better wellbeing and healthier habits.
When comparing data from early and late semester, the team observed some changes in participants' Big Five personality scores. The dimensions of neuroticism and extraversion largely stayed the same, but students showed meaningful decreases in conscientiousness (as the Situational Perspective would predict, with students getting increasingly comfortable with their new situation), openness, and agreeableness. These changes to openness and agreeableness, the authors share, were unpredicted by all three existing theories of short term personality change.
While it's difficult to pinpoint exactly what might lead to such a shift, the authors suggest that it could be down to students starting the term with greater openness to new environments and relationships, and this enthusiasm may gradually taper off over time. Or, they suggest, it could be that the increasing social and academic demands of college life start to undermine these traits.
Interestingly, there was significant variability between participants: though overall trends did point to specific shifts, students differed in the degree to which their personalities actually changed, suggesting that some may be more reactive to situational pressures than others. Future research could explore what individual, social, and structural factors help explain these differences.
Despite being interesting, the findings should be interpreted carefully, the team warns. Participants were asked to reflect on their personality "over the past week", meaning their responses may have been shaped by extremely short-term changes in mood or memory. The study also had some selection bias: students who dropped out after the first survey tended to report much more negative experiences, meaning the final sample may not be fully representative.
Still, the research offers valuable insights into the pressures students face at a key transitional moment: while short-term declines in some traits may reflect temporary disruptions, they don't necessarily signal longer-term problems. Recognising these patterns may help educators, mental health professionals, and institutions better support students through the ebb and flow of academic life.
Read the paper in full:
Anglin, S. M., Rubinstein, R. S., Haraden, D. A., Otten, C. D., Mangracina, B., & Shaw, K. M. (2025). Personality stability and change across the academic semester. Frontiers in Psychology, 16. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1531794
SOURCE:
https://www.bps.org.uk/research-digest/students-personalities-change-over-course-semesters(accessed 18.07.25)
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