Basic Personality Traits as they Correlate to Depression Among Graduating Students: A Basis for Holistic Wellness Program

Abstract

The researcher utilized a descriptive correlational method of research which involved 211 respondents from graduating class of allied courses, batch 2017. Standardized tests were used to ensure thevalidity and reliability of the results. These tests are the Basic Personality Inventory (BPI) for personality traits and the Beck’s Depression Inventory Test (BDI) for the level of depression. Frequency, percentage distribution, mean, Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient, and standard score were employed as statistical tools to examine the relationships of the identified variables. Hypotheses were tested at .05 level of significance. The respondents study the last level of allied courses of St.Jude College, Manila. The allied courses are BS Pharmacy, BS Radiologic Technology, BS Physical Therapy, and Respiratory Therapy. Based on data, the majority of the respondents fall on a high score in Personality traits. The highest score is the persecutory Ideas, which got 210 responses or 99.5%. The lowest score among twelve personality traits is Interpersonal problem, which got 109 answers or 51.7%. Based on the data and assessment of the groups of respondents, the six dominant traits are Persecutory Ideas, Thinking Disorder, Impulse Expression, Social Introversion, Self-Depreciation, and Deviation. Persecutory ideas got the highest percentile of 91.69. Second is Deviation with a percentile of 83.18. Thirdly is Thinking Disorder got a percentile of 81.01. Social Introversion is the fourth highest with percentile rating of 77.18. Impulse Expression with a percentile of 76.56 is, which is the fifth-highest. Lastly, the sixth-highest is self-depreciation with percentile rating of 74.04 these six personality traits are considered dominant among the respondents. The depression level of the respondents suggest that they can handle their everyday struggles productively. The majority, about 75 students or 35.5% of the population, says that ups and downs are healthy, but it is quite alarming that there is one student or .5% fall under Extreme depression. Based on the result of the statistical treatment of data Pearson-r correlation three personality traits have a significant relationship with the level of depression for Impulse Expression it has .14 on correlation coefficient which means rejecting the null hypothesis. Therefore, there is a substantial relationship between Impulse Expression and students level of depression.