Understanding the Relationship Between Personality Traits and Resilience Among Chinese Students

Abstract

The psychological concept of resilience has drawn attention in recent years, but there are few studies focusing on resilience in China. This study conducted the questionnaire using the Japanese version of the Ten Item Personality Inventory (TIPI-J) and the Bidimensional Resilence Scale (BRS) in order to examine the relationship between individual personality traits (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness) and innate or acquired resilience factors in Chinese university students by means of correlation analysis. As a result, the marginally significant positive correlation was found between the innate resilience factor and the outgoing and sociable personality traits, extraversion $(r=.355,p <. 10)$. No statistical association was seen between resilience and the other factors of agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness. The results suggest that recuperative ability is not only influenced by personality traits but also by other factors and that the acquisition of resilience may be determined by the mutual interaction with other factors.