INTER-CAUSAL MODEL OF PERSONALITY CONSTRUCTS AND PERFORMANCE IN MATHEMATICS OF NON-MATHEMATICS MAJORS IN SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES

The study examined the inter-causal relationship among personality constructs and the extent to which they determine the performance of Non-mathematics majors in Southwestern Nigerian universities. The study adopted an ex-post-facto survey research design comprising of a sample of 755 respondents selected using a multi-stage sampling technique. Three states out of the six states in the Geo-political zone were selected using purposive sampling technique. Six were selected based on the availability of the following seven academic programmes - Chemistry, Physics, Computer Science, Civil Engineering, Electronics/Electrical Engineering, Economics and Sociology in both the Federal and State Universities. Final year regular students were selected using simple random sampling technique. Data for the study were collected using five instruments. These were Basic Mathematics Knowledge Quantitative Scale (BMKQS), General Mental Ability Test (GMAT), Mathematics Self-concept Scale (MSCS), Mathematics Self-efficacy Scale (MSES), and Mathematics Anxiety Questionnaire (MAQ). In addition to this, the examination score sheets of all Mathematics courses (ESSMC) taken by the students collected from records office of their respective institutions from which the researcher calculated the average of the total scores obtained by each of the respondents was used to measure performance of students in Mathematics. Data collected were analyzed using path analysis while the hypothesized causal models were tested using structural equation model (SEM) on STATA version 12 (statistical software package).