Perceived stress and depression among seven-year program medical students:mediating role of Big Five personality

ObjectiveTo examine the prevalence of depression and to explore mediating role of Big Five personality on the relationship between perceived stress and depression among seven-year program medical students,and to provide evidences for promoting development of medical students.MethodsWith stratified cluster sampling,823 students in China Medical University and Dalian Medical University were selected for a cross-sectional self-administrated questionnaire survey in June 2014.A self-designed general questionnaire,Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale(CES-D),Big-Five Factor Inventory,and Perceived Stress Scale were applied in the survey.ResultsAmong the participants,the average CES-D scores were 18.98±9.01 for depression and 17.90±4.74 for perceived stress;the average scores of Big-Five Factor Inventory were 24.31±4.67 for extraversion,32.67±5.24 for agreeableness,23.37±4.67 for neuroticism,32.80±5.81 for openness,and 28.75±4.68 for conscientiousness,respectively.The results of multivariate hierarchical regression analysis demonstrated that perceived stress was significantly correlated positively with depression(P<0.01);extraversion,agreeableness,conscientiousness,and openness of Big-Five personality were significantly correlated reversely with depression and stress(all P<0.01);neuroticism was significantly correlated positively with depression and perceived stress(P<0.01);and perceived stress was positively associated with depression and could explain 33.1% of variance of the depression(P<0.01).The agreeableness,conscientiousness,neuroticism of Big-Five personality played a partial mediating role,in which agreeableness and conscientiousness reversely associated with depression,while neuroticism was positively correlated with depression and could explain 11.0% of variance of depression.Extraversion and openness showed no statistically significant mediating effect.ConclusionThe agreeableness,conscientiousness,neuroticism of Big-Five personality as mediate variables are predictive factors of depression among seven-year program medical students.Releasing stress and building up the appropriate personality are beneficial to mental health among the students.