PERSONALITY TYPES AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS AMONG UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA SARAWAK (UNIMAS)

This study aims to investigate the relationship between personality types and psychological distress among undergraduate student in Faculty Cognitive Science and Human Development (FCSHD), University Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS). This research adopted a correlational research design. The sample consisted of 100 respondents consist of 50 males and 50 females undergraduates students in FCSHD UNIMAS. Two instruments were used in this study. The Big Five Personality Test was used to measure the personality of the participants. Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) was used to measure the psychological stress of the participants. Spearman’s correlation and Independent T-test were applied to analyse the collected data. The result shows that there is no significant correlation between four dimensions of personality, which are extraversion (r= .184, p= .067> .05), openness, agreeableness (r= .099, p= .328> .05) and conscientiousness (r= .147, p= .143> .05), and psychological distress. However, there is a significant correlation between only one dimension of personality, which is neuroticism and psychological distress (r= .651, p= .000 < .05). Also, results found that there are significant differences between gender differences and level of psychological distress (p= .003 < .05)