The big five personality traits, perfectionism and their association with mental health among UK students on professional degree programmes

Background In view of heightened rates of suicide and evidence of poor mental health among healthcare occupational groups, such as veterinarians, doctors, pharmacists and dentists, there has been increasing focus on the students aiming for careers in these fields. It is often proposed that a high proportion of these students may possess personality traits which render them vulnerable to mental ill-health. Aim To explore the relationship between the big five personality traits, perfectionism and mental health in UK students undertaking undergraduate degrees in veterinary medicine, medicine, pharmacy, dentistry and law. Methods A total of 1744 students studying veterinary medicine, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and law in the UK completed an online questionnaire, which collected data on the big five personality traits (NEO-FFI), perfectionism (Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale), wellbeing (Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale), psychological distress (General Health Questionnaire-12), depression (Beck Depression Inventory-II) and suicidal ideation and attempts. Results Veterinary, medical and dentistry students were significantly more agreeable than law students, while veterinary students had the lowest perfectionism scores of the five groups studied. High levels of neuroticism and low conscientiousness were predictive of increased mental ill-health in each of the student populations. Conclusions The study highlights that the prevailing anecdotal view of professional students possessing maladaptive personality traits that negatively impact on their mental health may be misplaced

Student workload, wellbeing and academic attainment

There has been extensive research on workload, often in the laboratory or workplace. Less research has been conducted in educational settings and there is very little examining workload, wellbeing and academic attainment of university students. The present study of 1294 students examined associations between perceptions of workload, hours spent at university, time pressure and attainment and wellbeing outcomes (measured using the Wellbeing Process Questionnaire). Established predictors (stressors; social support; negative coping; positive personality and conscientiousness) were controlled for, and the analyses showed that workload was significantly associated with all outcomes whereas time pressure was only related to course stress and negative wellbeing (life stress, fatigue and anxiety/depression). Hours spent at the university had no significant effects. The effects of workload were interpreted in terms of an initial challenge leading to increased efficiency and attainment. These results show the importance of including workload in future longitudinal research on student wellbeing and attainment

Personality and E-shopping: Insights from a Nationally Representative Study

According to previous research, a high degree of Openness and Neuroticism, and a low degree of Agreeableness are personality determinants of e-shopping. This study aims to explore the relationship between the Five-factor model of personality (i.e. Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism) and e-shopping in a Swedish context. In a nationally representative sample, a questionnaire was distributed to 3400 citizens. The response rate was 53 percentage (N\ua0=\ua01812). The questionnaire included measures of the Five-factor model of personality (BFI-ten) and e-shopping. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to test if the Five-factor model of personality predicted e-shopping. The dependent variable was self-reported frequencies of e-shopping during the last 12 months. The first analysis showed that Openness is predicting e-shopping. However, this effect disappeared, when age, educational attainment and income were controlled for. Our conclusion is that the Five-factor model of personality is a poor predictor of e-shopping and that e-shopping frequencies are unrelated to the personality of internet users. Methodological limitations are discussed, for instance the use of a single-item for measuring e-shopping and a short-scale for measuring personality. There are difficulties comparing our findings with previous findings, since the concepts personality and e-shopping have not been defined uniformly. The analyses revealed significant variation in definitions, measurements and methodologies. Caution should also be taken in generalizing the present results to other countries and other time periods

Social personality traits in chimpanzees: temporal stability and structure of behaviourally assessed personality traits in three captive populations

Animals of many species show consistency in behaviour across time and contexts that differs from other individuals' behaviour in the same population. Such ‘personality’ affects fitness and has therefore become an increasingly relevant research topic in biology. However, consistent variation in social behaviour is understudied. In socially living species, behaviour occurs in a social environment and social interactions have a significant influence on individual fitness. This study addressed personality in social behaviour of 75 captive chimpanzees in three zoos by coding observed behaviour. Fifteen behavioural variables were significantly repeatable (range 0.21–0.93) in at least two of the three zoos. The behaviours showed considerable long-term stability across 3 years, which did not differ from the short-term repeatability. The repeatable behaviours were then analysed with factor analyses. They formed five independent factors, three of which consisted of social traits and were labelled ‘sociability’, ‘positive affect’ and ‘equitability’. The two non-social behaviour factors were labelled ‘anxiety’ and ‘activity’. The factor scores were analysed for sex and population differences. Males had higher factor scores in all traits except ‘sociability’. The factor scores differed also between the zoos, implying considerable external effects in trait expression. The results show that chimpanzees show personality in a broad range of social and non-social behaviours. The study highlights the importance of assessing personality in the social behaviour, especially in cohesive social species, as only then can we understand the consequences of personality in socially living species