Mental Health and Personality Traits during COVID-19 in China: A Latent Profile Analysis

Mei Li, Md Zahir Ahmed, Fatema Akhter Hiramoni, Aibao Zhou, Oli Ahmed and Mark D. Griffiths
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Mei Li: School of Psychology, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China
Md Zahir Ahmed: School of Psychology, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China
Fatema Akhter Hiramoni: Department of Economics, Sheikh Hasina University, Netrokona 2400, Bangladesh
Aibao Zhou: School of Psychology, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China
Oli Ahmed: Department of Psychology, University of Chittagong, Chattogram 4331, Bangladesh
Mark D. Griffiths: Psychology Department, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham NG1 4FQ, UK

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 16, 1-15

Abstract: During the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health problems have increased and are likely to be influenced by personality traits. The present study investigated the association between personality traits and mental health problems (anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) symptoms, and obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms) through the person-centered approach because this has some advantages over the variable-centered approach. The data were collected from a sample of 765 Chinese citizens who participated in an online survey in October 2020. Latent profile analysis identified three latent personality profiles—highly adaptive, adaptive, and maladaptive. Highly adaptive individuals had higher extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness, and lower neuroticism, while maladaptive individuals had lower extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness, and higher neuroticism. Multivariate analysis of variance results showed that individuals with highly adaptive profiles had lower anxiety, depression, and PTSD symptoms compared to individuals with adaptive and maladaptive profiles. The findings of the present study indicate mental health professionals would benefit from formulated intervention plans given the association between latent personality profiles and mental health problems.

Keywords: COVID-19; personality; latent profile analysis; mental health; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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