Does Role Balance Influence the Effect of Personality on College Success? A Mediation Model

While the relationship between individual factors, including personality dimensions, and tertiary academic outcomes is well established, the mechanisms by which these factors influence academic success have been less fully explored. This study tested one potential mechanism, the developmental task of role balance, by which personality may influence college success. During emerging adulthood, young people simultaneously explore and establish both individual and relational role identities. As part of this process, these emerging adults work to balance their individual roles with their relational roles in order to maximize success and satisfaction across domains. Using a college student sample (N = 299), this study used Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to test role balance as a mediator between personality dimensions and multiple indicators of college success. Tests indicated that role balance partially mediates the relationship between conscientiousness and neuroticism and college satisfaction but is not associated with other traditional measures of college achievement (grade point average, intention to withdraw)