An investigation of psychological sense of community in relation to Big Five personality traits

In this study we examine the relationship between psychological sense of community (PSC) and Big Five personality traits as well as absences from school. Based on samples of 646 high school students and 355 undergraduate college students, PSC was significantly related to Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Neuroticism in both samples and to Openness and Absences in the high school sample. Results of stepwise multiple regression analyses showed that the Big Five variables accounted for 25% of the variance in PSC for the high school sample and 21% for the college sample. Openness, PSC, and Neuroticism significantly entered a regression equation to predict Absences. These findings indicate substantial overlap between PSC and Big Five personality traits, raising the question of whether there are any community‐level effects for PSC above and beyond personality. Our results are discussed in terms of consistency with sense of community definitions, person‐environment issues, and directions for future research. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comm Psychol 31: 531–541, 2003.