Role of Personality Trait, Age, and Year of Study as Predictors of Academic Motivation in Students of a Private Sector Medical College: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to determine the effect of age, academic year, and personality traits on academic
motivation.
Study Design: Cross-sectional study.
Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at the Department of Community Medicine, Lahore
Medical and Dental College (LMDC), Lahore, Pakistan, from May 2024 to October of 2024.
Methods: The study comprised 616 undergraduate MBBS students, using a convenience sample. A questionnaire comprising the Academic Motivation Scale, named as AMS-28, the Ten-Item Personality Inventory, and the sociodemographic profile was used to gather data. A seven-point Likert scale, with 1 denoting "strongly disagree" and 7 denoting "strongly agree," was used to rate each item in parts 2 and 3 of the questionnaire. To analyse the data, SPSS version 22 was used. Mean scores, frequency, and percentage were calculated as descriptive statistics. Academic motivation was assessed in relation to personality traits, age, and academic year, with a significance level of P≤0.05. To evaluate predictors, multiple regression analysis was used.
Results: The participants had a mean age of 21.19±1.86 years. The highest mean score was observed for extrinsic motivation (5.16 ± 1.17), followed by intrinsic motivation (4.66 ± 1.18). Academic motivation showed a significant negative correlation with age and academic year and a positive correlation with the personality trait openness to experience. In multiple regression analysis, openness to experience and academic year emerged as significant predictors of academic motivation (P ≤ 0.05), indicating that higher openness was associated with greater motivation, whereas advancing academic year was associated with lower motivation.
Conclusion: The most dominant dimension was extrinsic motivation. Academic motivation had a negative correlation with age and academic year and a positive correlation with the attribute "open to experience." The academic year and the openness to experience personality trait were found to be predictors of academic motivation.

How to cite this: Daud S, Maqbool S, Ibnerasa SN, Idrees A. Role of Personality Trait, Age, and Year of Study as Predictors of Academic Motivation in Students of a Private Sector Medical College: A Cross-Sectional Study. Life and Science. 2026; 7(1): 10-16. doi: http://doi.org/10.37185/LnS.1.1.1049