International sojourn experience and personality development: Selection and socialization effects of studying abroad and the Big Five

•High levels of agreeableness and openness predict studying abroad.•Studying abroad increases levels of extraversion and agreeableness.•Studying abroad decreases levels of neuroticism.•Initial levels moderate the effect of studying abroad on agreeableness and conscientiousness.•Studying abroad also increases levels of conscientiousness when considering these interactions.

As part of a multi-study project, this test-retest study seeks to identify the relations between studying abroad and a sojourner's personality as measured by the Big Five personality traits. It thereby attempts to answer the questions of who chooses to study abroad and how study abroad changes personality. A total of 221 students from a German university were tracked over the course of a semester, with the Big Five being obtained via a German version of the Big Five Inventory (Lang, Lüdtke, & Asendorpf, 2001) both at the beginning and at the end. The share of 93 students who studied abroad were found to rate higher in agreeableness and openness prior to the international experience than their fellow students who did not sojourn. In turn, sojourning evoked increases in both extraversion and agreeableness and a decrease in neuroticism. Upon inclusion of interaction terms of initial Big Five levels and study abroad status, positive main effects of study abroad and negative interaction effects for both agreeableness and conscientiousness could be observed.