Influence of personality on academic stress among first year MBBS students in medical college, Kolar- a cross sectional study

Background: The milieu of medical education has always been considered a stressful setting to students. Maladaptive personality traits like neuroticism are related with increased exposure to stressful life events and certain to form individuals susceptible in experiencing negative emotion and frustration. Methodology: This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out among the first year medical undergraduates at Sri Devaraj URS Medical College, Tamaka, Kolar. Data was collected using the Eyesenck Personality Questionnaire to assess the personality dimensions and Medical Student Stress Questionnaire to assess the levels of academic stress. Results: When comparing the overall stress levels of students, 44(45%) scored 55-81 indicating mild to moderate stress levels and 29(30%) scored more than 81 indicating high stress levels. Female students had more stress than the male students and this difference was statistically significant (p=0.004). The most common stressors identified in our study were feeling tired after a tight schedule from 8:30am to 4:30pm and difficulty in covering portions daily. The least common stressor was failure in the first sessional examination. 13.31% scored high on neuroticism which had a negative impact on the academic performance. There was a positive relationship between those who scored high on extraversion (11.92%) and their academic performance. Conclusions: Stress among medical students is moderate to high. Early identification of the factors causing stressors may be helpful in preventing future illness among medical students. The study may provide better insights to the academic administrators for reducing the intensity of academic stress.