Personality trait and its effect on mental health among soldires of combat troops

Objective To investigate the personality trait and its effect on mental health among the soldires in combat troops.Methods A total of 1 435 soldiers were enrolled in this study.Symptom Checklist-90(SCL-90)and Eysenck Personality Questionnaire(EPQ)were used in the survey.Results The total score of SCL-90 in the soldiers was 123.17±37.90,with a positive rate of 26.2%.The score was 8.13±2.33 for psychoticism(P),10.76±0.34 for extroversion(E),10.28±4.47 for neuroticism(N),and 10.19±2.18 for concealment tendency(L),respectively.The score of P in the soldires showed a positive skew distribution and the N score and L score a negative skew distribution.The score of E showed a normal distribution.The mean of P was significantly higher than the norm of Chinese people and Chinese soldiers(P<0.001 for all).The mean of L was significantly lower than the norm of Chinese people and Chinese soldiers(P<0.001 for all).The mean of E was significantly lower than the norm of Chinese soldiers but significantly higher than that of Chinese norm(P<0.001).The mean of N was significantly lower than the norm of Chinese soldiers(P<0.05),but was not significantly different from the norm of Chinese people.The scores of P and N in SCL-90 were negatively correlated with each SCL-90 dimension score and total score(P<0.001).The results of regression analyses showed that psychoticism and neuroticism were the important personality trait influencing the mental health among the soldiers(F=123.46,P<0.01).ConclusionPersonality trait affect mental health of the soldiers in combat troops significantly.Trainning and developing sound personality is a effective way to maintain mental health.