A study of Personality in relation to Resilience and Stress

With the growing amount of stress among individuals, a need was felt to investigate Personality types in relation to Resilience and Stress. The sample comprised of 100 college students (50 males and 50 females) in the age range of 18-23 years. For this purpose, Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-R Short Form (Francis et al., 1992), Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen et al., 1983), The 14 item Resilience Scale (RS-14; Wagnild & Young, 1993) and Stress Symptom Rating Scale (Heilbrun & Pepe, 1985) were administered. Data was analyzed using the Pearson Correlation Coefficient and t-ratio. Among females the results showed significant positive relationship between Stress (symptoms and perceived stress) with both Neuroticism and Psychoticism. Positive associations were also seen in perceived stress and stress symptoms among females. Among males positive correlations were observed between Neuroticism and Stress (symptoms and perceived stress) and between Perceived Stress and Stress Symptoms. For the total sample, positive associations were observed between Stress Symptoms, Perceived Stress and Neuroticism. Also there was a positive relationship between Stress Symptoms and Psychoticism in the total sample. No significant gender differences were observed on dimensions of Psychoticism, Neuroticism, Extraversion, Resilience, Perceived Stress, however significant gender differences were observed on the dimension of Stress Symptoms. The results thus revealed stress proneness in individuals high on Neuroticism and Psychoticism. Further it was also observed that people high on Neuroticism and Psychoticism dimensions exhibit a decreased amount of resilience. The study invites interventional researches in order to inculcate resilience and reduce neuroticism to deal with stress successfully.&nbsp