The Effect of Type-D Personality Traits on Smoking in Students of Medicine Faculty

Objective: The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the smoking status, smoking, and Type-D personality traits of medical students. Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted with 627 Medical Faculty students in the 2019-2020 academic year. In the study, personal information form, Type-D Personality Scale, Fagerstrom Nicotine Dependency Test and Beck Depression Scale Inventory were used. In the analysis of the data, Chi-square test, Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis H test were used. p<0.05 was considered significant. Results: The average age of the students was 21.87±2.23 (min-max; 18-32), 341 (54.4%) of the students were females and 286 (45.6%) of them were males. Smoking prevalence among the students was 31.6% (n=198). It was determined that 353 (56.3%) of the students had Type-D personalities and 118 (18.8%) of the Type-D personalities were smokers. There was no significant difference between the students with and without Type-D personality traits in terms of smoking (p>0.05). The average score of negative affect, which is a sub-dimension of Type-D personality, was higher in smokers (p=0.001). It was found that 267 (42.6%) of the students with type D personality traits had depressive symptoms (p=0.01). Conclusion: It was concluded that Type-D personality was not related to smoking, however, was associated with the presence of depressive symptoms. Furthermore, the fact that negative affect was higher in the students who smoke was associated with demonstrating more depressive symptoms.