The Mediating Role of Conscientiousness Personality Characteristic in Relationship between Attitude toward Addiction and Academic Achievement

This study is aimed at examining the mediating role of personality trait of conscientiousness in the relationship between attitudes towards addiction (which is considered to be a barrier to educational achievement) and students’ academic performance. As a cross sectional study lying within the range of descriptive studies, 106 students of Guilan University of medical sciences in 2010-2011 were randomly selected as the study sample and responded to the items of subscale conscientiousnessof NEO Personality Inventory and attitude measurement questionnaire toward addiction. Recent acquired total averages of students were considered as academic performance. In the first step, the academic performance regression was significant aboard tendency towards addiction. In the second step, however, with entry of conscientiousness as a mediator variable, there was observed a significant decrease in the β coefficient of attitude toward addiction and lost its significance. In other words, the mediator variable, consciousness, plays a mediating part in the relationship between tendency to addiction and educational performance. In general, these two variables could moderately explain 12% of the variance in academic performance to make the adjustment. Conscientious people enjoy higher achievement and lower degree often tendency toward addiction due to such factors as self-regulation, perseverance, and resistance against harmful impulses. Therefore,the personality trait of conscientiousness can counteract the detrimental effect of attitude toward addiction on academic performance through performing a protective role.