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Relationships among personality characteristics, interpersonal trust, and subjective well-being of medical students

YANG Xiu-mu1,2, SHEN Zheng-fu1,3, QI Yu-long1, HAN Bu-xin4, MENG Bei3   

  1. 1.Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences in Anhui Universities， Research Center for General Practice Education Development， Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu 233030， China； 2.Department of Nursing Science, Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu 233030， China； 3.Department of Ideology and Polities，Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu 233030， China； 4.Department of Health and Genetic Psychology， Institute of Psychology， Chinese Academy of Sciences， Beijing 100101， China
  • Online:2015-01-28 Published:2015-01-29
  • Supported by:

    Foundation of Humanities and Social Sciences Research Plan of Ministry of Education, 12YJAZH111； Key Project of Humanities and Social Sciences of Department of Education of Anhui Province, SK2013A111； Key Project of Soft Science in Technology Department of Anhui Province, RKX1402052051; Science and Technology Project of Bengbu Medical College, BYKF12A28SK

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Abstract:

Objective To investigate the relationship between personality characteristics and subjective well-being of medical students and the mediating effect of interpersonal trust on the relationship. Methods A total of 1 519 medical students were surveyed by the Eysenck Personality Characteristics Scale,  Interpersonal Trust Scale, and the Subjective Well-being Scale. Results The difference of scores of subjective well-being of male and female students was not statistically significant (t=－0.24, P>0.05). The scores of interpersonal trust of male students were significantly lower than those of female students (t=－2.68, P＜0.01). Comparisons of different grades showed that the scores of subjective well-being of freshmen were significantly higher than those of sophomores and juniors (F=38.36, P<0.001). The scores of interpersonal trust of sophomores were significantly higher than those of freshmen and juniors (F=8.07, P<0.001). The interpersonal trust negatively correlated with psychoticism, extraversion, and subjective well-being (r=－0.089, r=－0.144, r=－0.122; P＜0.05 or P＜0.001) and positively correlated with neuroticism (r=0.163, P＜0.001). The subjective well-being negatively correlated with psychoticism and neuroticism (r=－0.127, r=－0.348; P＜0.001) and positively correlated with extraversion (r=0.171, P＜0.001). The psychoticism and neuroticism negatively predicted the subjective well-being; the extroversion significantly and positively predicted the subjective well-being; the psychoticism and extraversion negatively predicted the interpersonal trust; the neuroticism positively predicted the interpersonal trust; and the interpersonal trust significantly and negatively predicted the subjective well-being (F=76.231, 21.253, 58.565 and R2=0.131, 0.041, 0.134, respectively). Conclusion The interpersonal trust partially mediates the relationship of personality characteristics and subjective well-being of medical students.

Key words: medical students, personality characteristics, interpersonal trust, subjective well-being