Relationship between personality, resilience, and empathy among dental students: A cross-sectional study

Table 1 Percentage, means, and standard deviations for the four empathy dimensions according to the demographic characteristics of the participants (n = 291), mean ± SD

Category	n	%	Perspective taking	Fantasy	Empathic concern	Personal distress
Sex
Male	120	41.2	13.20 ± 3.89	13.97 ± 3.65	15.04 ± 3.33	8.78 ± 4.49
Female	171	58.8	12.97 ± 3.07	15.22 ± 3.51	15.41 ± 3.42	9.50 ± 3.70
t value			-0.561	2.952	0.912	1.494
P value			0.576	0.003	0.363	0.136
Age
17-20	196	67.4	13.15 ± 3.34	15.10 ± 3.68	15.57 ± 3.45	9.34 ± 3.77
21-23	95	32.6	12.88 ± 3.62	13.91 ± 3.38	14.62 ± 3.16	8.93 ± 4.60
t value			0.626	2.65	2.249	0.82
P value			0.532	0.009	0.025	0.413
Ethnicity
Han	251	86.3	13.11 ± 3.50	14.69 ± 3.61	15.24 ± 3.39	9.21 ± 4.12
Other	40	13.7	12.78 ± 2.97	14.80 ± 3.70	15.35 ± 3.39	9.20 ± 3.65
t value			-0.576	0.179	0.185	-0.01
P value			0.565	0.858	0.853	0.992
Place of residence
Urban	192	66	13.30 ± 3.68	14.78 ± 3.73	15.04 ± 3.47	8.95 ± 4.26
Non-urban	99	43.1	12.62 ± 2.84	14.56 ± 3.41	15.69 ± 3.20	9.71 ± 3.58
t value			-1.608	-0.503	1.557	1.518
P value			0.109	0.615	0.121	0.13
Academic year
Junior grade	147	50.5	13.50 ± 3.50	15.37 ± 3.79	15.92 ± 3.52	9.01 ± 3.94
Senior grade	144	49.5	12.63 ± 3.31	14.03 ± 3.31	14.58 ± 3.11	9.40 ± 4.17
t value			2.181	3.207	3.425	-0.819
P value			0.03	0.001	0.001	0.414
Only child
Yes	184	63.2	13.19 ± 3.33	14.64 ± 3.75	15.07 ± 3.55	9.34 ± 4.03
No	107	36.8	12.86 ± 3.60	14.81 ± 3.41	15.58 ± 3.08	8.97 ± 4.10
t value			-0.779	0.39	1.237	-0.751
P value			0.437	0.697	0.217	0.453
Paternal education level
Elementary and secondary education	126	43.3	13.17 ± 3.64	14.91 ± 3.60	15.57 ± 3.24	9.34 ± 4.15
Higher education	165	56.7	12.99 ± 3.27	14.55 ± 3.64	15.02 ± 3.48	9.10 ± 3.99
t value			-0.44	-0.857	-1.383	-0.496
P value			0.66	0.392	0.168	0.62
Maternal education level
Elementary and secondary education	138	47.4	13.11 ± 3.55	14.86 ± 3.50	15.39 ± 3.11	9.18 ± 4.03
Higher education	153	52.6	13.03 ± 3.33	14.57 ± 3.73	15.14 ± 3.62	9.23 ± 4.09
t value			-0.205	-0.674	-0.639	0.1
P value	0.838	0.501	0.524	0.921

Table 2 Means, standard deviations, and correlations among the continuous variables

Variables	mean	SD	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Perspective taking	13.07	3.43	1
Personal distress	9.21	4.05	0.01	1
Fantasy	14.7	3.62	0.512a	0.013	1
Empathic concern	15.26	3.39	0.399a	-0.206a	0.592a	1
Extraversion	26.18	4.4	0.406a	-0.417a	0.294a	0.349a	1
Agreeableness	32.93	5.59	0.575a	-0.365a	0.447a	0.592a	0.588a	1
Conscientiousness	30.76	5.45	0.483a	-0.387a	0.275a	0.360a	0.663a	0.713a	1
Neuroticism	22.01	4.75	-0.198a	0.675a	-0.05	-0.204a	-0.606a	-0.533a	-0.606a	1
Openness	34.87	5.37	0.585a	-0.303a	0.515a	0.427a	0.680a	0.690a	0.666a	-0.453a	1
Resilience	65.98	17.06	0.543a	-0.256a	0.434a	0.353a	0.618a	0.650a	0.686a	-0.476a	0.722a	1

^aP < 0.01.

Table 3 Hierarchical linear regression results

Predictors	Perspective taking (β)			Fantasy (β)			Empathic concern (β)			Personal distress (β)
	Step 1	Step 2	Step 3	Step 1	Step 2	Step 3	Step 1	Step 2	Step 3	Step 1	Step 2	Step 3
Step 1
Age	0.239	0.054	0.065	-0.087	-0.193	-0.181	0.12	-0.111	-0.112	-0.694a	-0.211	-0.202
Sex	-0.328	-0.438	-0.468	1.059a	0.899a	0.866a	0.101	0.188	0.192	0.784	0.344	0.318
Ethnicity	-0.067	-0.115	-0.063	-0.074	-0.078	-0.02	0.063	-0.061	-0.068	-0.247	-0.265	-0.22
Place of residence	-0.566	-0.101	-0.06	-0.15	0.329	0.375	0.544	0.832b	0.826b	0.666	0.163	0.199
Academic year	-0.904b	-0.232	-0.274	-0.652a	-0.086	-0.133	-0.865b	-0.185	-0.18	0.754a	0.166	0.129
Only child	-0.397	-0.235	-0.207	-0.16	-0.006	0.026	0.168	0.152	0.148	-1.128a	-0.594	-0.569
Paternal education	-0.274	-0.097	-0.066	-0.409	-0.244	-0.21	-0.447	-0.316	-0.32	-1.018	-0.501	-0.474
Maternal education	-0.123	-0.199	-0.113	0.147	-0.074	0.022	0.769	0.805a	0.793a	0.381	-0.026	0.049
Step 2
Extraversion		0.01	-0.006		0.016	-0.001		0.071	0.073		-0.031	-0.045
Agreeableness		0.212b	0.195b		0.206b	0.187b		0.38b	0.383b		-0.031	-0.045
Conscientiousness		0.09	0.056		-0.117a	-0.154a		-0.084	-0.08		0.045	0.016
Neuroticism		0.173b	0.173b		0.187b	0.187b		0.094a	0.093a		0.562b	0.562b
Openness		0.226b	0.179b		0.338b	0.286b		0.051	0.057		0.015	-0.026
Step 3
Resilience			0.038b			0.042b			-0.005			0.033
F	2.333a	16.916b	16.499b	3.157b	13.974b	13.742b	3.263b	15.261b	14.133b	1.987a	18.889b	17.987b
R2	0.062	0.442	0.456	0.082	0.396	0.411	0.085	0.417	0.418	0.053	0.47	0.477
△R²	0.062	0.38	0.014	0.082	0.314	0.015	0.085	0.333	0.001	0.053	0.417	0.007

^aP < 0.05.

^bP < 0.01.

Regression coefficients are presented for completeness; interpretations focus on the overall regression model rather than on isolated coefficients.

Table 4 Mediation of resilience in the correlation between personality traits and empathy

Predictor	Path coefficient				a × b5 (bias-corrected and accelerated 95%CI)
	c1	a2	b3	c’4
Extraversion	0.084	0.373	0.104a	0.045a	0.059 (0.001-0.117)
Agreeableness	0.832a	0.413a	0.104a	0.789	0.063 (0.004-0.121)
Conscientiousness	-0.037a	0.933a	0.104a	-0.134	0.119a (0.027-0.211)
Neuroticism	1.091	-0.043a	0.104a	-1.905a	-0.008 (-0.057-0.041)
Openness	0.577a	1.216a	0.104a	0.45	0.087a (0.032-0.269)

^aP < 0.05. The type of mediation was determined based on the significance of the indirect effect and the direct effect (c’). A non-significant direct effect (c’) indicates complete mediation, whereas a significant direct effect indicates partial mediation.

¹Correlations between personality traits and empathy (total effect).

²Correlations between personality traits and resilience.

³Correlations between resilience and empathy after controlling for predictors.

⁴Correlations between personality traits and empathy with resilience as the mediating variable (direct effect).

⁵Indirect effect (mediation effect) with bias-corrected and accelerated 95%CI.