Personality Traits as Predictors of Depressive Symptoms among Young Adults

Abstract

Individual differences in susceptibility to depressive symptoms have been linked to personality traits, although little evidence has been found in young adults in Pakistan. This research investigated the statistical predictability of depressive symptoms by the personality traits of the young adults and how personality traits and depressive symptoms varied between the genders. It was a cross-sectional study involving 200 university students (100 women and 100 men) aged between 18-30 years old (M = 22.6, SD = 3.6) to study in government universities in Karachi, Pakistan. The participants were recruited through convenience sampling and received a demographic form, 44-item Big Five Inventory and 20-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Analysis in SPSS version 23 was done using multiple regression and independent-samples t tests. The personality model had a 22.2% variance in depressive symptoms (R² = .222, p less than.05). Extraversion (β = -.188, p = .008), agreeableness (β = -.165, p = .022), and conscientiousness (β = -.145, p = .041) were significant negative predictors, whereas openness was a significant positive predictor (β = .323, p < .001). The positive value of neuroticism was not significant enough to meet the conventional.05 level of significance (1.42, p = 0.511). There was a higher female than male score on neuroticism and lower male than female score on conscientiousness; no significant gender differences were observed on extraversion, agreeableness, openness or depressive symptoms. The personality factors explained a significant percentage of the variation in depressive symptoms in the present university sample, but the openness result and the insignificant neuroticism coefficient should be viewed with some reservations and repeated. The cross-sectional design lacks causality.