How do personality traits of college students affect their learning flow experience?

Researchers hypothesize that awareness of one's learning motivations leads to diverse levels of learning flow experience depending on one's personality. The present study examined first the personality trait associated with the highest learning flow experience and whether students' learning motivation mediates the relationship between their different personality traits and level of learning flow experience. The sample consists of 450 undergraduate students (257 women and 193 men) from China, and the data were collected using online questionnaires forms. Through correction analysis and stepwise regression analysis, researchers determined in the first step that the personality with the highest degree of learning flow experience was Agreeableness. In a second step, a test of mediating effects was conducted to examine how this personality trait influences the learning flow experience, directly or indirectly, via various coping styles (intrinsic or extrinsic motivation). The results indicated that agreeableness directly predicted the degree of immersion learning experience and influenced the learning flow experience through intrinsic learning motivation. It highlights the significance of college students' motivation to learn as a mediator of the link between the agreeableness personality trait and the learning flow experience.