Fitting The Causal Model of the Effect of Personality Factors and Accounting Anxiety: The Mediating Role of Psychological Adjustment of students

Accounting anxiety is students' fear of accounting in terms of their ability to understand accounting terms and concepts, as well as their ability to interpret, analyze and transfer financial information to decision makers. According to Eysenck's theory, anxiety is a personality trait that originates from the personality and cognitive structure of a person. Eysenck (1976) proposes the theory of the basis of personality that personality can best be described by the combination of high and low levels of two prominent traits that have a neural basis, namely extroversion, introversion, neuroticism and emotional stability.  Along with the concepts and dimensions of personality traits affecting anxiety, the psychological adjustment of students can be one of the factors affecting anxiety. Due to the important role they play in the future of the country, students are considered one of the important sections of the society. Studies indicate the prevalence of mental disorders such as stress, anxiety and depression among students. High levels of stress, anxiety, and depression can have negative effects on health, quality of life, academic progress, and students' readiness to accept their professional role. Therefore, it is very important to pay attention to it and its consequences, as well as to adopt appropriate solutions to get rid of it. Since the community of accounting students constitutes a significant part of the student population and is increasing every year, the importance of the mental health of these students is becoming more and more clear In the meantime, it is important and vital to pay attention to this group of students who will be responsible for the financial health of society in the future. Among the factors that cause anxiety, occupational stress plays a significant role, therefore, considering the importance of students' mental health, the prevalence of disorders and diseases related to it is increasing among students, this research aims to investigate the effect of personality traits and psychological adjustment. The statistical population of this research was made up of accounting students of the universities of Golestan province in 1400. The statistical sample studied included 163 students, of which 76 (47%) were female and 87 (53%) were male. To measure accounting anxiety according to Duman's research (2015), a questionnaire containing 20 items based on a Likert scale of 5 (strongly agree=1, strongly disagree=5) was used. The components of accounting anxiety include self-confidence, desire, anxiety, incapability and fear. Another variable of the research was personality characteristics, which is the NEOPI-R personality questionnaire, which is a substitute for the NEO test, which was prepared by McCree and Costa in (1985). This questionnaire also has a short form called NEO-FFI, which is a 21-question questionnaire and is used to evaluate 5 basic factors of personality (neuroticism, extroversion, adaptability, openness, conscientiousness) and based on this, it provides a comprehensive assessment of personality that It is presented on a 5-point Likert scale (1 strongly agree, 5 strongly disagree). Baker and Siriak's 1984 academic adjustment questionnaire was used to measure academic adjustment. This questionnaire contains 22 items that measure students' adaptability and includes the components of academic adaptability, social adaptability, personal-emotional adaptability and organizational dependency. The findings of the research were based on the analysis of 163 received questionnaires and were based on structural modeling. The obtained results show that personality traits had a direct effect on students' accounting anxiety and also with the addition of the mediating variable of psychological adjustment, the effect was still significant. Therefore, personality traits such as neuroticism and extroversion had a positive and significant effect on students' accounting anxiety, and five personality factors of neuroticism, extroversion, adaptability, openness, and conscientiousness had a positive and significant effect on academic psychological adjustment. Personality traits had an indirect effect on accounting anxiety through psychological adjustment. The analysis of the findings shows that students with neurotic personality traits experience more negative emotions and anxiety, and they cite internal factors such as incapacity and lack of talent as the reason for their failures. Students with high neuroticism may be difficult to interact with others due to the presence of mental and nervous disorders, which can also be a factor in the formation of anxiety. In explaining these findings, it can be said that accounting students with extroverted personality traits show high sensitivity to motivational processes based on the content of their university courses and therefore can experience high anxiety. People who are compatible with anxiety, their level of efficiency and social activity is high. These mentioned features can play an effective and positive role in the adaptation of students. People with adaptive characteristics seek external experiences. They are curious people who enjoy the process of research and discovering new things, so students with adaptive characteristics have a positive and significant effect on psychological adaptation. people with the characteristic of openness have high flexibility and these people have the ability to accept new conditions and high adaptability, and as expected, openness has a positive and significant effect on academic psychological adjustment. Being open to experience is a way to reduce anxiety. People with the characteristic of responsibility continue their studies with more responsibility and are more adaptable, which has a significant effect on reducing students' accounting anxiety. This study is related to the educational planners of the university and teachers and accounting professors. Determining the effective factors for anxiety in learning accounting and trying to reduce the causes of anxiety will have a positive effect on the efficiency and effectiveness of learning accounting. The added value created for companies by students who have been taught accounting efficiently and effectively will be enormous.