You LF, Qin J, Sun YW, Gao Q. Relationship between personality, resilience, and empathy among dental students: A cross-sectional study. World J Psychiatry 2026; 16(4): 116146 [DOI: 10.5498/wjp.v16.i4.116146]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Yu-Wei Sun, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, No. 36 Sanhao Street, Shenyang 110000, Liaoning Province, China. sunywpsy@163.com
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Psychiatry
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Observational Study
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Apr 19, 2026 (publication date) through Mar 30, 2026
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World Journal of Psychiatry
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2220-3206
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You LF, Qin J, Sun YW, Gao Q. Relationship between personality, resilience, and empathy among dental students: A cross-sectional study. World J Psychiatry 2026; 16(4): 116146 [DOI: 10.5498/wjp.v16.i4.116146]
World J Psychiatry. Apr 19, 2026; 16(4): 116146 Published online Apr 19, 2026. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v16.i4.116146
Relationship between personality, resilience, and empathy among dental students: A cross-sectional study
Long-Fei You, Jie Qin, Yu-Wei Sun, Qian Gao
Long-Fei You, Department of Neurosurgery, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230000, Anhui Province, China
Jie Qin, Shenyang Mental Health Center, Shenyang 110168, Liaoning Province, China
Yu-Wei Sun, Department of Psychiatry, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110022, Liaoning Province, China
Qian Gao, Liaoning Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Shenyang 110010, Liaoning Province, China
Co-first authors: Long-Fei You and Jie Qin.
Co-corresponding authors: Yu-Wei Sun and Qian Gao.
Author contributions: You LF and Qin J designed the research study, performed the research and collected the data, analyzed the data and drafted the manuscript, have made crucial and indispensable contributions towards the completion of the project and thus qualified as the co-first authors of the paper; Sun YW and Gao Q supervised this article, contributed to the interpretation of the results and critically revised the manuscript for important intellectual content, have played important and indispensable roles in the manuscript preparation as the co-corresponding authors; all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of China Medical University.
Informed consent statement: All study participants provided informed consent electronically prior to study inclusion.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: Technical appendix, statistical code, and anonymized dataset are available from the corresponding author at sunywpsy@163.com. Participant consent for data sharing was not obtained, but the presented data are anonymized and the risk of identification is low.
Corresponding author: Yu-Wei Sun, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, No. 36 Sanhao Street, Shenyang 110000, Liaoning Province, China. sunywpsy@163.com
Received: November 28, 2025 Revised: December 26, 2025 Accepted: January 23, 2026 Published online: April 19, 2026 Processing time: 121 Days and 22.6 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Empathy is an important competency in clinical practice and supports effective dentist-patient communication. In dental settings, patients may experience substantial fear or anxiety, and students often need to manage both technical demands and interpersonal interactions during training. Empathy levels may differ across individuals and stages of education, but factors associated with empathy among dental students are not fully understood. Personality traits and resilience have each been linked to empathic tendencies in prior research; however, evidence in dental student populations remains limited and deserves further examination.
AIM
To evaluate empathy in dental students and examine relationships with Big Five traits and resilience, including resilience as a mediator.
METHODS
A cross-sectional study design was employed. About 291 Chinese dental students completed the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, Big Five Inventory, and Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale.
RESULTS
The results showed that females scored higher than males in the fantasy dimension (P = 0.003). Younger students and those in earlier academic years exhibited greater empathy in multiple dimensions. Perspective-taking, fantasy, and empathic concern were positively correlated with extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness, while personal distress was negatively associated with these traits. Neuroticism was positively associated with personal distress and negatively correlated with perspective-taking and empathic concern. Mediation analysis revealed that resilience fully mediated the relationships between empathy and agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness. Additionally, it partially mediated the relationships between empathy and extraversion, and between empathy and neuroticism.
CONCLUSION
These findings suggest that fostering resilience and supporting the development of positive personality traits may enhance empathy among dental students, with implications for medical education and psychological training programs.
Core Tip: Empathy is essential for effective dentist-patient communication, yet its psychological determinants in dental students remain insufficiently understood. This study demonstrates that Big Five personality traits are differentially associated with multiple dimensions of empathy measured by the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. Importantly, resilience, assessed using the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, functions as a key mediating mechanism linking personality traits to empathic capacity. These findings highlight resilience as a modifiable target for educational interventions and support the integration of resilience-focused training into dental curricula to promote sustainable, patient-centered empathy.
