Chinese Personality Traits and Mental Health: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

This meta-analysis aimed to synthesize the evidence on the relationship between Chinese personality traits and mental health. Through literature search and screening, a total of 70 original articles and 72 independent samples with a total of 65,133 participants were included. The results showed that: (1) Chinese mental health was significantly correlated with three dimensions of personality: psychoticism, neuroticism, and extraversion (correlation coefficients were 0.234, 0.438, and −0.101, respectively); (2) each factor of mental health was significantly positively correlated with psychoticism and neuroticism; only the factor of interpersonal sensitivity was significantly negatively correlated with extraversion; (3) subject type has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between mental health and neuroticism and extraversion, but has no significant moderating effect on the relationship between mental health and psychoticism; (4) publication type does not play a moderating role in the relationship between mental health and the three personality dimensions. This meta-analysis confirmed that personality traits have a significant predictive effect on mental health in Chinese people. However, the relationship between personality and mental health varied considerably across dimensions and groups.

Keywords

• Chinese personality
• mental health
• psychoticism
• extraversion
• neuroticism