University makes you sociable

A UNIVERSITY education makes individuals more sociable, a study found.

Graduates are more extroverted and agreeable, according to researchers who followed 575 teenagers for eight years. This is because university life encouraged them to participate in academic activities with many unfamiliar students.

Lead author Dr Sonja Kassenboehmer, of Monash University in Australia, said: ‘We see quite clearly that students’ personalities change when they go to university.’ Participants were judged using five personality traits – openness to experience, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.

Those who did not go to university initially outperformed their peers in higher education, but graduates were later found to be more sociable. The study, published in the journal Oxford Economic Papers, said that each year at university adds to extroversion and agreeableness.