Adult Personality and its Relationship with Stress Level and Coping Mechanism among Final Year Medical Students

Abstract

Each human being exhibits their own personality traits and each aspect of stress and coping is essential and related. The relationship between the big five personality traits, coping mechanisms and stress level among final year medical students of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) was investigated in this study. In this cross-sectional study, 152 final year medical students batch 2017/2018, were randomly selected, excluding those who had chronic diseases, married and repeated final year. The questionnaires used were Big Five Personality Inventory and 12-Item General Health Questionnaire. An open-ended question was used to determine how the respondents cope with their stress. Data was analyzed using SPSS 20.0. Agreeableness was the most common personality trait portrayed among the students, whereas Openness to Experience appeared to be the least. The relationship between the Big Five Personality Traits and coping mechanisms (p=0.016; p<0.05) were significantly related. Students with Neuroticism personality had the highest rate of practicing avoidant coping mechanism, while students with Extraversion personality had the highest rate of practicing active coping mechanism. Total score of stress were significantly difference between the different personality traits (p<0.001; p<0.05). However, the p value of 0.359 (p>0.05) and 0.94 (p>0.05) for the Big Five Personality Traits and level of stress showed no significant results on academic performance. Identified own personality were beneficial for final year medical students as it helps to identify the most effective coping mechanism in reducing stress during studying medicine.

Coping with Stress During the Coronavirus Outbreak: the Contribution of Big Five Personality Traits and Social Support

“…In terms of coping strategies, previous studies have found that extraversion (E) was positively correlated with active coping strategies, such as problem solving and seeking support (Karimzade and Besharat 2011;Vollrath and Torgersen 2000;Wang and Miao 2009;Zainah et al 2019). More specifically, Extraversion was found to be positively related to active problem-focused coping (e.g., problem solving and planning) and adaptive emotionfocused coping (e.g., positive reframing, humor, seeking support, and acceptance) (Roesch et al 2006).…”

“…As such, their ability to cope effectively is crucial under the transactional model of stress developed by Lazarus and colleagues (Lazarus 1966;Lazarus and Folkman 1984). Broad associations observed between personality traits and coping with stress may provide important insight into individual differences in patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving that translate to managing stress through adaptive versus maladaptive coping (Zainah et al 2019).…”

“…In terms of coping strategies, scholars have found that individuals high in N specifically employ avoidance coping more than other strategies (David and Suls 1999;Gunthert et al 1999;O'Brien and DeLongis 1996;Roesch et al 2006;Zainah et al 2019), though maladaptive emotion-focused coping strategies (e.g., substance abuse, behavioral disengagement, venting, and self-blame) are also common (Boyes and French 2010). This is since individuals who are high in N are more susceptible to psychological distress, prone to irrational thoughts, and are less able to control their impulses (Costa and McCrae 1992).…”

The Co-occurrence of Self-Harm and Aggression: A Cognitive-Emotional Model of Dual-Harm

“…Furthermore, research has shown that personality is associated with distinct levels of stress and coping strategies. For example, those with maladaptive personality traits, such as neuroticism, are more likely to use avoidant coping strategies (e.g., escape avoidance or self-blame), which may often lead to harmful behaviours (Afshar et al, 2015;Zainah et al, 2019). Individuals with maladaptive traits have also been shown to be more likely to experience stress and negative emotions (Vollrath and Torgersen, 2000;Zainah et al, 2019).…”

“…For example, those with maladaptive personality traits, such as neuroticism, are more likely to use avoidant coping strategies (e.g., escape avoidance or self-blame), which may often lead to harmful behaviours (Afshar et al, 2015;Zainah et al, 2019). Individuals with maladaptive traits have also been shown to be more likely to experience stress and negative emotions (Vollrath and Torgersen, 2000;Zainah et al, 2019). Such findings suggest that an individual's personality is linked to the level of emotional distress they experience, as well as the strategies they use to respond to such distress.…”