The relationship between personality, self-care, stress, and perceived wellness in psychology doctoral students

Rebbecca L Lowe, Tennessee State University

Abstract

Self-care is extremely important for therapists and therapists-in-training. Neglecting self-care can lead to personal and professional issues, as well as possible ethical concerns. This study examined the relationship between personality, self-care, stress, and perceived wellness in a convenience sample of 338 doctoral psychology students from APA accredited clinical, counseling, and school psychology programs. Participants completed the APAGS Self-Care Survey, HEXACO-PI, and the Perceived Wellness Scale. Means tests indicated that the majority of participants rated moderate levels of stress and minimally successful self-care practice. Exploratory analyses indicated that PhD. students rated themselves significantly more stressed than PsyD students. Additionally, participants rated overall wellness as "average". Multiple regressions indicated that personality accounted for a statistically, but not clinically, significant portion of the variance in wellness. Extraversion accounted for the majority of the variance. Regarding self-care, Emotionality accounted for more of the variance. Lastly, a moderated multiple regression indicated that stress did not moderate the relationship between individual personality traits and the success of self-care.

Subject Area

Psychology|Personality psychology

Recommended Citation

Rebbecca L Lowe, "The relationship between personality, self-care, stress, and perceived wellness in psychology doctoral students" (2015). ETD Collection for Tennessee State University. Paper AAI3723670.
https://digitalscholarship.tnstate.edu/dissertations/AAI3723670

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