Personality Traits:Their Relationship with Depression and the Intention to Seek Psychological Help among Depressed Indian Young Adults

The prevalence of depression seems to have risen drastically over the years, especially among Indian young adults. However, young adults today are hesitant to seek professional help for their mental difficulties due to various factors. The purpose of the present study was to identify whether specific personality traits are related to depression and to the intention to seek help for depression. The Five-Factor Model of Personality (McCrae&Costa, 1996), which highlights five main personality dimensions (openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism), was used for this study. Four hundred and fifty Indian young adults, in the age range of 19 to 40 years, were administered the Beck Depression Inventory (Beck, Ward, Mendelson, Mock,&Erbaugh, 1961) and the Big Five Inventory (John&Srivastava, 1999) using handouts as well as an online survey program. Of these participants, 194 young adults were identified as being either mildly depressed or moderately depressed, and the responses of this sample were utilised for statistical analyses. The data obtained from the study was analysed using Pearson's Product Moment Coefficient of Correlation. The results indicated that Openness and Agreeableness were significantly related to the intention to seek psychological help. Extraversion was found to have an inverse relationship with depression, while Neurottctsm had a direct relationship with depression. It can be concluded that personality factors do indeed have a relationship with depression and the intention to seek psychological help among depressed young adults.