Personality traits and psychological distress in Chinese adolescents: the mediating roles of anxiety and depression

Abstract

Background: Adolescents’ mental health is significantly influenced by their personality traits, particularly neuroticism, extraversion, and psychoticism. Understanding how these traits influence levels of psychological distress through anxiety and depression is crucial for developing effective interventions. This study aims to investigate the chain-mediated role of anxiety and depression in the relationship between adolescent personality traits and psychological distress. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using convenience sampling among 3,673 adolescents. All participants completed self-report questionnaires including the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), and Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90). Structural equation modeling was used to test the direct and indirect relationships between personality traits, anxiety, depression, and psychological distress. The mediation model was tested using the bias-corrected percentile bootstrap method. Results: The results indicated that psychoticism exhibited a positive correlation with both adolescent anxiety and overall psychological distress. Neuroticism demonstrated a positive correlation with adolescent anxiety, depression, and overall psychological distress. Conversely, extraversion exhibited a negative correlation with adolescent anxiety, depression, and overall psychological distress. Anxiety was identified as a significant mediating variable between adolescent personality traits and overall psychological distress, whilst depression exerted a partial mediating effect within these relationships. Furthermore, anxiety and depression jointly produced a significant chain-mediated effect on the relationship between personality traits and psychological distress. Conclusion: This study reveals the underlying associative mechanisms through which personality traits influence overall psychological distress levels. These results underscore the value of integrating personality assessments with routine screening for anxiety and depression to better characterize adolescents’ risk profiles. This study contributes to informing practical guidelines for the prevention and intervention of adolescent mental health.