ArticleBMC psychiatry2025
The mediating role of self-compassion in the relationship between big five personality traits and depression among Chinese preclinical medical students: a multicenter cross-sectional study.
Article in BMC psychiatry, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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Abstract
backgroundMental health problems among medical students have been widely acknowledged and research shows that problems such as depression may occur from the outset of medical education. However, there are few studies focusing on the correlations between personality traits and depression among preclinical medical students. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between big five personality traits and depression and to explore the mediating role of self-compassion in this relationship among preclinical medical students.
methodsThis is a multicenter cross-sectional study. First-year and second-year undergraduate preclinical medical students (N = 730) from three medical universities in China participated in this study and completed questionnaires including NEO-Five Factor Inventory (NFFI), Self-Compassion Scale (SCS), Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and demographic information. Statistical analyses included scale reliability analysis, descriptive statistics analysis, the Student's t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson's correlation analysis, hierarchical linear regression analysis and bootstrap mediation analysis.
resultsAlmost one third of preclinical medical students (30.3%) were found to be depressed and males were more likely to suffer from depression compared with females (p < 0.05). After the adjustment of age and gender, big five personality traits and self-compassion combined accounted for a large proportion (47.4%) in the variance of depression. Self-compassion played a partial mediating role in the relationship between extraversion, conscientiousness, neuroticism and depression and a full mediating role in the association of agreeableness with depression.
conclusionsThis study found a high prevalence of depression among preclinical medical students and self-compassion had a significant mediating effect on the relationship between extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and depression. Medical institutions and related authorities need to consider implementing effective interventions to cultivate preclinical medical students' self-compassion to protect them against depression and make them better prepared for the succeeding clinical study.
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