Correlation between Personality Traits and Dimensions of Anxiety in Young Students in the State of Jalisco

Abstract

Introduction. Young people are highly susceptible to manifesting the various dimensions of anxiety, which have been associated with certain personality traits. Objective. To determine the association between personality traits (PT) and the dimensions of clinical anxiety (CA), trait anxiety (TA), and state anxiety (SA) in young students in the areas of health sciences in the state of Jalisco, Mexico. Method. Five hundred and twenty-one students (with an average age of 20.5 years) enrolled in psychology, nursing, and nutrition degree programs participated, 75.2% of whom were women. From Abril 2020 to May 2021, a cross-sectional design was used to virtually evaluate CA (Beck’s inventory), TA and SA (the Spielberger inventory), and PT (Eysenck’s inventory). Linear regression analysis was used to calculate correlations (R) and determination coefficients (R2) to predict the dimensions of anxiety in relation to PT. Results. 25.7% and 24.8% of participants scored for severe and moderate CA respectively, while 54.3% obtained high scores for TA and SA. For CA, the neuroticism PT yielded an R of .607 and an R2 of .367; for TA, an R of .803 and an R2 of .644; and for SA, an R of .735 and an R2 of .540. Discussion and conclusion. The high correlation between the neuroticism PT and anxiety in young people was probably exacerbated by the restrictive conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic. In young students, the neuroticism PT is a predictor for the development of various dimensions of anxiety.