Personality, Adjustment Style and Academic Stress in First Year Medical Students

Abstract

Background: Medical students especially in the first year of their academic life are under extreme stress.

Methods: Study was conducted on 76 first year medical students. They were given a semi-structured questionnaire to collect socio-demographic data. They were subsequently administered the Big Five Inventory scale to assess personality dimensions, the Academic Stress Scale and the Adjustment Style Inventory. The data were analysed with chi-square test, independent-sample T test, and Pearson’s correlation.

Results: The personality dimensions, academic stress and coping scores showed no difference among both sexes. The academic stress score showed a negative correlation with coping scale (p=0.019). Students with high scores on agreeableness and conscientious reported significantly lesser academic stress (p=0.24 and 0.01). Students with a high score on the neuroticism dimension reported significantly more stress (p=0.005). The dimensions agreeableness and conscientious positively correlated with the coping score (p= 0.005 and p<0.001) and neuroticism negatively correlated with coping (p=0.05). Students with higher scores on agreeableness and conscientious showed significantly less scores on negative coping styles (p<0.001 and p<0.001) while those with neuroticism showed significantly more negative coping (p=0.036).

Conclusion: Agreeableness and conscientiousness were associated with lesser negative coping and students having neuroticism had more negative coping skills.