To Study the Relationship Between Perceived Stress and Personality Traits Among Undergraduate Students

Abstract

Stress is inevitable part of our daily lives which is also considered as an unavoidable reality of life. However, it is important to understand how an individual perceives stress. The feeling and thoughts process involved in appraising an event as stressful and dealing with it accordingly. Personality traits of an individual has often been attributed in dealing with stressful event or facing a task. This paper aims to study the relationship between perceived stress and personality traits among undergraduate college students. The researcher adopts correlational design and random sampling technique. The sample comprised of 120 undergraduate college going students in Imphal, Manipur. The measurements used in this study were NEO- Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) (Form S) (McCrae ; Costa, 1988) and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) (Cohen, 1983). The data was analysed using SPSS-17, descriptive statistics, t-test and product moment correlation. The findings of the study indicated that Neuroticism had a significant positive relationship with perceived stress. Openness to experience, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness had significant negative relationship with perceived stress but no relationship between Extraversion and Perceived stress was found in this study.