Is Perceived Stress of French University Students Related to Personality Traits?

Abstract

Introduction and goal: Whilst considering attending university as a potentially stressful situation, and in order to highlight predictors of stress in students, our goal is to assess the link between perceived stress and personality traits in this population. Methodology: We used, via online questionnaires, the perceived stress scale (PSS 10) and the French Big Five Inventory (BFI-Fr). The population consists of French university students (n = 483, Average age = 20.23, σ = 1.99). Results: The results show that 86.3% of students from the sample suffer from anxiety and 79.3% display depressive symptoms according to the PSS-10 scale. The regression model (R² = 0.48, p < 0.000)shows that conscientiousness (β = -0.2; p = 0.0000) negatively predicts perceived stress, whereas extraversion (β = 0.07; p = 0.03) and neuroticism (β = 0.66; p = 0.0000) predict it positively. Conclusion: The fact that neuroticism and extraversion predict a high level of perceived stress, whereas consciousness predicts a low level of perceived stress in students allows us to consider using this data for preventative and educational approaches to counter stress in this population.

Resilience as a Mediator of Emotional Intelligence and Perceived Stress: A Cross-Country Study

“…Consequently, they face different stressful situations due to the challenging developmental tasks of the young adulthood stage which can limit their psychological comfort. According to the previous research, university life can be considered as a potentially stressful situation and college students display high levels of psychological distress, such as depression, anxiety, and specially stress (Saleh et al, 2017b). Some studies have found that the tendency to experience unpleasant emotions and suffer from low self-esteem, little optimism and a low sense of self-efficacy could be stress predictors in college students (Saleh et al, 2017a).…”

Mental health and perceived stress in relation to personality traits among Bangladeshi University students

“…Everyone has distinctive traits along the primary axes of their psychological makeup, which aid in the development of distinctive patterns of behavior. Many people and students all across the world have been surveyed in a variety of global surveys to assess personality, mental health issues and stress levels (17)(18)(19) . Several worldwide research with university students revealed that a few personality traits are related to an increased chance of experiencing mental health issues as well as stress (20,21) .…”