The Relation Between Personality Traits and Violence Tendency in Nursing Students

Abstract

Objective: Nurses usually become either the victims or witnesses of violence in the hospital environment up from pupilage. It is observed that the tendency to violence, besides interpersonal clashes, plays an important role in acts of violence. This study aimed to define the personality traits of nurses and the relation between such traits and the tendency to violence. Methods: This is a descriptive study, and its population comprises of the state/foundation university of nursing students. It was aimed to reach all the students without sampling, and the research was completed with 272 nursing students (participation rate 70.4%) who agreed to participate in the study. The data were collected through 9 question Personal Questionnaire Form, the Five Factor Personality Traits Scale (FFPTS) and Violence Tendency Scale (VTS). The analysis of the data was done with the IBM SPSS 20 package program using percentage calculations, minimum and maximum values, One Way ANOVA and Pearson correlation analysis. Results: While from among the Five Factor Personality Traits Scale (FFPTS) sub-dimension score averages the "self-discipline" personality trait of participating students was the highest with 3.52±0.47, this was followed by "openness to improvement" with 3.43±0.44, "compliance" with 3.42±0.40 and "extraversion" with 3.39±0.46. "Neuroticism" personality trait had the lowest score average with 3.27±0.41. The "Violence Tendency Scale (VTS)" score average of students was found as 40.26±10.46. The relationship between the FFPTS sub-dimensions and the mean VTS score is not statistically significant. Conclusion:No statistically significant relation was found between the Five Factor Personality Traits Scale sub-dimensions and violence tendency. It was determined that students most frequently displayed "self-discipline" and "openness to improvement" personality traits and their tendency to violence was "low" level.