Intervention on Externalizing Problems of Undercontrolled Personality Types in Primary School Students

Resilient, undercontrolled, and overcontrolled personality types in Hong Kong youths and the association with mental health outcomes

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between RUO types and mental health in a youth sample in Hong Kong.

BACKGROUND

Previous research has found that Resilient, Undercontrolled, and Overcontrolled (RUO) personality types derived from Big Five personality traits are associated with mental health outcomes. Most studies, however, have predominantly been conducted in Western societies.

METHOD

Clinical diagnostic interviews and self-rated measures of psychological constructs, covering resilience, rumination, self-esteem and more, were administered to 860 youths aged 15 to 24 recruited from an ongoing epidemiological youth mental health study in Hong Kong.

RESULTS

Three personality clusters were identified. The first (mean age = 19.6, 63.3% female) and second (mean age = 19.5, 60.7% female) cluster both have characteristics of the under- and overcontrolled personalities. The third personality type resembled the resilient profile in RUO typology (mean age = 19.6, 50.5% female) and showed the lowest prevalence of poor mental health.

CONCLUSIONS

The results suggest that the replicability of the RUO profiles was only partial in a Hong Kong sample predominantly Chinese. The resilient profile was replicated but not the undercontrolled and overcontrolled profiles proposed by previous studies. The findings of the current study implicated that culturally contextual considerations are necessary when relating mental health to personality.

The Associations Between Psychological Distress and Academic Burnout: A Mediation and Moderation Analysis

Background

Psychological distress is reported to be associated with academic burnout in students while the mediation and moderation effect of resilience and personality are less explored.

Purpose

The current study was designed to estimate the mediating effect of resilience and the moderation effect of personality between psychological distress and academic burnout.

Participants and methods

A total of 613 students were enrolled from two medical universities between December 2020 and January 2021. They were administered with Academic Burnout Scale, 10-item Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10), Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI). Latent profile analysis and moderated mediation analysis were performed.

Results

Three personalities were identified and named as resilient (13.4%), over-controlled (50.2%) and under-controlled (36.4%). Resilience significantly mediated the relationship between psychological distress and academic burnout while personality significantly moderated the relationship between psychological distress and resilience.

Conclusion

Resilience and personality may be two important mediators between psychological distress and academic burnout. More attentions should be paid to students with under-controlled personality and resilience-enhancing interventions could be developed to prevent or alleviate academic burnout in future research.