CORRELATION ANALYSIS BETWEEN PERSONALITY AND RESILIENCE IN NON CLINICAL SUBJECTS.

The resilience process has been defined as achieving positive adaptation despite experiencing significant threat, adversity, or risk. Among individual factors contributing to the dimension of resilience, the role of temperament, defined as the genetic/biological component of personality, has been discussed. One of strongest evidences is that having a temperamental proneness to react negatively to novelty is considered a risk factor for social withdrawal and anxiety disorders (Degnan and Fox, 2007). Other studies put into evidence how some temperamental traits such as flexible self-control, sociability, and task orientation can be useful in order to enhance resilience in children. Within the framework of the Cloninger’s (1993) conceptualization of temperament and character, in healthy adults resilience is positively related to reward dependence, and negatively related to harm avoidance (Daphne at al., 2007). The aim of the present study was to evaluate possible correlations between resilience and personality traits according to the Cloninger’s model (1993), by assuming that this model may explain individual differences in cognitive appraisals and in responses to stressors way. Methods: To 323 healthy subjects Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI, Cloninger,1999) and Connor Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC, 2003) were administered. Results: statistical analysis of data showed significant positive correlations (p< 0.0001) among CD-RISC total score and Persistence, Self-Directedness e Cooperativeness, and an inverse correlation between CD-RISC and Harm avoidance. A further linear regression analysis has put into evidence that the four TCI variables were all good predictors of resilience. When entered in a forward stepwise fashion, only Harm Avoidance and Persistence was strong predictors of resilience (p<0.0001). Conclusions: Results confirm that personality traits play a significant role in determining the individual ability to cope with stressors. A proper evaluation of such aspects could provide useful indications on the capability to successful adaptation to life-events.