Big Five Personality Traits and Psychological Resilience as Predictors of Fear of Corona pandemic (COVID-19) among University Students

Abstract

Objective: The study aims to determine the levels of fear of the (COVID-19) pandemic and the relative contribution of psychological resilience and the big five personality factors for predicting the fear of COVID-19. Methods: The psychological resilience scale, the scale of the five major factors of personality, and the scale of fear of the Corona pandemic were used in this study. The study sample consisted of (215) male and female students in the faculties of Education, Arts, and Humanities at Suez Canal University, Egypt. Results: The results indicated that (69.30%) suffer from fear of the Corona pandemic (COVID-19) in a medium to large degree. There is a statistically significant positive correlation between fear of the Corona pandemic and both the dimension of neuroticism, and the dimension of commitment and care for psychological resilience. The results also showed a statistically significant negative correlation between fear of the Corona pandemic and both the dimension of conscientiousness and the dimension of optimism and perseverance to psychological resilience. Furthermore, there were negative effects of both the dimension of optimism and perseverance to psychological resilience and the dimension of conscientiousness on fear of the Corona pandemic. Finally, the results showed positive effects of both the dimension of commitment and care for psychological resilience and the dimension of neuroticism on fear of the Corona pandemic. Conclusions: This study recommends developing the awakening of conscience and psychological resilience to reduce the fear of the Corona pandemic by preparing psychological programs