PERSONALITY TRAITS AND SOCIAL MEDIA'S IMPACT ON MENTAL ILLNESS STIGMA IN HIGHER EDUCATION
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35631/IJEPC.1163062Keywords:
Mental Illness Stigma, Personality Traits, Social Media, University Students, Help-Seeking BehaviourAbstract
Despite the increasing awareness of mental illnesses, stigma remains an important impediment to help-seeking among university students. Guided by the Big Five Personality Theory and the social learning perspective of media influence, this study aimed to examine the level of stigma and its relationship with personality traits and social media usage among university students. A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted with a sample of 350 students using validated instruments such as Stigma and Self-Stigma Scales (SASS) measuring stigma, selected Big Five personality traits (openness, agreeableness and neuroticism) and social media usage. Descriptive findings indicated that the majority of students exhibited a moderate level of stigma (49.1%), followed by low (28.0%) and high stigma (22.9%). Correlation analysis revealed that openness and agreeableness were significantly negatively associated with stigma (r=-0.42; r=-0.38), while neuroticism showed a positive relationship. Social media usage was also found to be positively related to stigma (r=0.31), suggesting higher exposure to social media is associated with higher stigma levels. Multiple regression analysis demonstrated that personality traits and social media usage collectively explained 41% of the variance in stigma, with openness emerging as the strongest predictor (β = −0.31); F(4, 345) = 59.87, p < .001, R² = 0.41. Agreeableness also showed a significant negative relationship with stigma (β= −0.24) indicating that more agreeable individuals tend to exhibit less stigmatizing attitudes. In contrast, neuroticism was found to be a significant positive predictor (β = 0.19). These findings highlight the importance of both individual psychological factors and digital environments in shaping mental illness stigma. The study suggests that targeted interventions incorporating personality-based approaches and strategic use of social media may be effective in reducing stigma among university students.
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