Present address: Division of Psychology, London South Bank University, 103 Borough Road, London, SE1 0AA, UK.
Pathobiology and Population Sciences, Royal Veterinary College, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, AL9 7TA, UK.
BMC Psychol. 2020 Jun 2;8(1):54. doi: 10.1186/s40359-020-00423-3.
In view of heightened rates of suicide and evidence of poor mental health among healthcare occupational groups, such as veterinarians, doctors, pharmacists and dentists, there has been increasing focus on the students aiming for careers in these fields. It is often proposed that a high proportion of these students may possess personality traits which render them vulnerable to mental ill-health.
To explore the relationship between the big five personality traits, perfectionism and mental health in UK students undertaking undergraduate degrees in veterinary medicine, medicine, pharmacy, dentistry and law.
A total of 1744 students studying veterinary medicine, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and law in the UK completed an online questionnaire, which collected data on the big five personality traits (NEO-FFI), perfectionism (Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale), wellbeing (Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale), psychological distress (General Health Questionnaire-12), depression (Beck Depression Inventory-II) and suicidal ideation and attempts.
Veterinary, medical and dentistry students were significantly more agreeable than law students, while veterinary students had the lowest perfectionism scores of the five groups studied. High levels of neuroticism and low conscientiousness were predictive of increased mental ill-health in each of the student populations.
The study highlights that the prevailing anecdotal view of professional students possessing maladaptive personality traits that negatively impact on their mental health may be misplaced.
鉴于兽医、医生、药剂师和牙医等医疗职业群体的自杀率上升和心理健康状况不佳的证据，人们越来越关注那些希望从事这些领域职业的学生。人们常认为，这些学生中有相当一部分可能具有使他们易患心理健康问题的人格特征。
探讨英国兽医、医学、药学、牙科和法律专业本科生的五大人格特质、完美主义与心理健康之间的关系。
英国共有 1744 名兽医、医学、牙科、药学和法律专业的学生完成了在线问卷，该问卷收集了五大人格特质（NEO-FFI）、完美主义（Frost 多维完美主义量表）、幸福感（华威-爱丁堡心理健康量表）、心理困扰（一般健康问卷-12）、抑郁（贝克抑郁量表- II）和自杀意念和尝试的数据。
兽医、医学和牙科专业的学生比法律专业的学生更友善，而兽医专业的学生在五个研究组中具有最低的完美主义得分。神经质水平高和尽责性低是每个学生群体心理健康不佳的预测因素。
该研究表明，关于专业学生具有适应不良的人格特质，这些特质对他们的心理健康产生负面影响的普遍观点可能是错误的。
