Big-Five Personality Traits, Self-Compassion and Mental Health among University Students

The occurrence and severity of mental health issues among university students is increasing globally. India is also on the same platform when it comes to alarming mental health issues among students. However, most studies so far have been limited to assessing the prevalence and outcomes of psychological issues, and a paucity of studies investigating the protective factors for students’ mental health was observed. With the advent of the salutogenic approach, the research interest in health-protective factors, as opposed to risk factors, has heightened drastically. Given this, the present work investigated the role of personality traits and self-compassion in university students’ mental health. A correlational research design was employed. Participants included university students assessed on Costa and McCrae’s (1992) NEO-Five Factor Inventory, Self-Compassion Scale (Neff, 2003), and Mental Health Inventory (Jagadish and Srivastava, 1983). Data analysis employed Pearson’s correlation and multiple linear regression analysis. Extraversion, agreeableness, and self-compassion were positively associated with mental health, whereas neuroticism was negatively associated. The OCEAN personality traits and self-compassion explained significant variance in mental health, and only extraversion positively and significantly predicted mental health. OCEAN Personality Trait Extraversion is a protective factor for university students’ mental health.