Resilience matters : explaining the association between personality and psychological functioning during the COVID-19 pandemic

Zager Kocjan, Gaja (author), Kavčič, Tina (author), Avsec, Andreja (author)

Background/Objective: The objective of the study was to elucidate the underlying mechanism through which basic personality dimensions predict indicators of psychological functioning during the COVID-19 pandemic, including subjective well-being and perceived stress. As a personality characteristic highly contextualized in stressful circumstances, resilience was expected to have a mediating role in this relationship. Method: A sample of 2,722 Slovene adults, aged from 18 to 82 years filled in the Big Five Inventory, the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, the Perceived Stress Scale, and the Mental Health Continuum. A path analysis with the Boot-strap estimation procedure was performed to evaluate the mediating effect of resilience in the relationship between personality and psychological functioning. Results: Resilience fully or partially mediated the relationships between all the Big Five but extraversion with subjective well-being and stress experienced at the beginning of the COVID-19 outburst. Neuroticism was the strongest predictor of less adaptive psychological functioning both directly and through diminished resilience. Conclusions: Resilience may be a major protective factor required for anadaptive response of an individual in stressful situations such as pandemic and the associated lockdown.

• Language: English
• Keywords: resilience, Big Five, psychological functioning, COVID-19 pandemic, ex post facto study, pandemics, epidemics, coronavirus, personality psychology, personality traits, well being, stress
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts; ZF - Faculty of Health Sciences
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2021
• Number of pages: 9 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 21, iss. 1, art. 100198
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-138414
• UDC: 159.233.3:616-036.22
• ISSN on article: 2174-0852
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijchp.2020.08.002
• COBISS.SI-ID: 46519299

Note

KLJUČNE BESEDE: pandemije, epidemije, koronavirus, psihologija osebnosti, osebnostne lastnosti, blagostanje, stres

• Publication date in RUL: 20.07.2022

ZAGER KOCJAN, Gaja, KAVČIČ, Tina and AVSEC, Andreja, 2021, Resilience matters : explaining the association between personality and psychological functioning during the COVID-19 pandemic. International journal of clinical and health psychology [online]. 2021. Vol. 21, no. 1,  100198. [Accessed 18 March 2025]. DOI 10.1016/j.ijchp.2020.08.002. Retrieved from: https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/IzpisGradiva.php?lang=eng&id=138414

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: International journal of clinical and health psychology
• Shortened title: Int. j. clin. health psychol.
• Publisher: Asociación Española de Psicología Conductual, Elsevier
• ISSN: 2174-0852
• COBISS.SI-ID: 518824473

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
• Description: The most restrictive Creative Commons license. This only allows people to download and share the work for no commercial gain and for no other purposes.

Secondary language

• Language: Spanish
• Title: La resiliencia importa : explicación de la asociación entre personalidad y funcionamiento psicológico durante la pandemia de COVID-19

Abstract

Antecedentes/Objetivo: El objetivo fue dilucidar el mecanismo subyacente a través del cual las dimensiones básicas de la personalidad predicen indicadores del funcionamiento psicológico durante la pandemia de COVID-19, incluido el bienestar subjetivo y el estrés percibido. Como característica de la personalidad altamente contextualizada en circunstancias estresantes, se esperaba que la resiliencia tuviera un papel mediador en esta relación. Método: Una muestra de 2.722 adultos eslovenos (18-82 años), completó el Big Five Inventory, la Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, la Perceived Stress Scale y el Mental Health Continuum. Se realizó un análisis de ruta con el procedimiento de estimación Bootstrap para evaluar el efecto mediador de la resiliencia en la relación entre la personalidad y el funcionamiento psicológico. Resultados: La resiliencia medió total o parcialmente las relaciones entre los Cinco Grandes, y la extraversión con bienestar subjetivo y el estrés experimentado, al comienzo del estallido de COVID-19. El neuroticismo fue el predictor más fuerte de un funcionamiento psicológico menos adaptativo, tanto directamente como a través de la disminución de la capacidad de resiliencia. Conclusiones: La resiliencia puede ser un factor de protección importante y requerido para una respuesta adaptativa de un individuo en situaciones estresantes como la pandemia y el confinamiento asociado.

• Keywords: resiliencia, Cinco Grandes, funcionamiento psicológico, pandemia de COVID-19, estudio ex post facto