From traits to tomorrow: Academic life satisfaction as a bridge between personality and future expectations

This study examined how Big Five personality traits and academic life satisfaction are associated with future expectations among Turkish university students ( N = 302). Using multiple and hierarchical regression analyses, personality traits were differentially related to academic life satisfaction (R2 = 0.087) and future expectations (R2 = 0.180), with openness emerging as the most consistent predictor. Academic life satisfaction contributed incremental variance in future expectations beyond personality traits (ΔR2 = 0.032), yielding a final model explaining 21.3% of the variance (R2 = 0.213). Mediation analyses (PROCESS Model 4; 5000 bootstrap samples) indicated a significant indirect association for openness via academic life satisfaction, weaker evidence for extraversion, and no indirect association for conscientiousness, although conscientiousness retained a direct association with future expectations. Moderation analyses showed no gender differences, while age modestly strengthened the association between extraversion and future expectations (ΔR2 = 0.010). Overall, findings suggest that future expectations are linked to both dispositional traits and domain-specific academic evaluations within a Turkish higher education context, while underscoring the need for longitudinal and multi-method research to clarify directionality.