Big Five Personality Traits influencing Secondary Students’ Environmental Literacy in Ondo State, Nigeria

Abstract

The human population growth and technological advancement have spurred radical changes in the global environments that are harmful. Unfortunately, scholars have continued to tackle these environmental problems without paying attention to the personality factors responsible for such phenomena. It is consequent on these that this study investigated the combined and independent effects of big five personality factors namely openness to experience, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism on secondary school students’ environmental literacy. A field-based approach was adopted to collect quantitative data through the use of a questionnaire from 462 secondary school students that were randomly selected in thirteen secondary schools in Ondo State, Nigeria. Multiple regression statistical analysis utilized showed that the independent variables were effective predictors of secondary school students’ environmental literacy. These findings were limited to subjects in thirteen secondary schools in Ondo State, Nigeria, as well as the personality factors investigated. These findings provided evidence on the need for secondary school teachers, counselling and educational psychologists in Nigeria to utilize environmental education and appropriate guidance approaches to mitigate the personality factors responsible for environmental problems.