Anxiety and its relationship to demographic and personality traits data among special operations divers: a cross-sectional study.

Introduction: Special operation diving is becoming increasingly prevalent but has received less attention. The anxiety profile in special operation divers and its influencing factors remain unclear, posing great challenges to medical and psychological security of this unique population. The current study aimed to investigate the anxiety profile and to analyse the correlations between anxiety with demographic and personality traits data among special operation divers.

Methods: From July to October 2023, 650 special operation divers participated this analytical cross-sectional study. The Spielberg's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Five-Factor Inventory were used to evaluate anxiety and personality traits of special operation divers.

Results: 27.2% and 30.3% special operation divers showed high scores on state anxiety and trait anxiety, respectively. Special operation divers who are 30 years or older and who have dived for 15 years or more are prone to higher level of trait anxiety and state anxiety (all p<0.001). Neuroticism showed a significantly positive correlation with both trait anxiety (r=0.675, p<0.001) and state anxiety (r=0.674, p<0.001). Extraversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness are all negatively correlated with both trait anxiety and state anxiety (r=-0.670 to -0.400, all p<0.001). Additionally, significant differences in neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness were observed between the high anxiety group and the low anxiety group (all p<0.001).

Conclusion: The prevalence of trait anxiety and state anxiety are both relatively high among special operation divers. Individuals with older age and longer diving years are more prone to be anxious. Higher neuroticism, lower extraversion, lower openness, lower agreeableness and lower conscientiousness may be predictors of higher trait anxiety and higher state anxiety.