Associações entre Saúde Mental, Traços de Personalidade e Empatia em Universitários: Uma Revisão Integrativa

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Abstract

Mental health refers to the perceptions of well-being and the capacity to the handle adversities of life, with its grievances increasing along the years, especially after the pandemic. The literature points out to an increase of mental suffering in the academic population, associated with diverse factors, like personality traits and empathy, individual characteristics that can influence in this occurrence. The objective of this study is to investigate associations between perception of mental health, personality traits and empathy in students. An integrative review was done with the descriptors: ("personality traits" OR "empathy") AND ("mental disorder" OR "common mental disorders" OR "psychological symptoms" OR "stress") AND ("university students" OR "college students" OR "undergraduate students"), in the data bases: PubMed, Scielo and Bireme. Initially, 243 studies were found. After applying the inclusion criteria: “last 5 years”, in English, Spanish or Portuguese, and of free access, a final sample of twelve studies were obtained. The majority of the studies were cross-sectional. Of these, ten investigated students' mental health and personality traits, highlighting the neuroticism trait as associated with an increased prevalence with suffering. Only two explored the associations between suffering and empathy, and no significant association was identified between the variables. Even though it is an important component in the health field, studies that address empathy related to mental health of students is still scarce. On the other hand, the literature is consistent in relationship with personality traits and suffering in students. New studies need to be made, to investigate the influence of these variables in mental health of university students.