How do personality traits affect the formation of friendship and preference-for-collaboration networks?

Intuitively, personality traits may shape friendships differently from academic connections, potentially influencing social support development. Yet, this remains understudied, while it is crucial for student’s wellbeing. Therefore, this study investigates how the personality traits of the Five-Factor Model interact with the role friendships and preferred collaboration relationships. In a sample of 95 university students, socio-centric data were collected with questionnaires on personality traits and longitudinally on networks of friendship and preferences for collaboration networks. Utilizing stochastic actor-oriented models in RSiena, we showed that students more open to new experiences established more friendships, preferred more collaborations with their peers, and were also more popular in both networks than students less open-to-new-experiences. Students scoring higher on agreeableness were less likely to connect to their peers in both networks, whereas higher-achieving students were more likely to establish peer relationships in both networks. Furthermore, friends were preferred for collaboration (and vice versa), indicating an overlap. This study points to the importance of personality traits and achievement when students integrate into their social and academic environment.