PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS AND SELF-ESTEEM AS PREDICTORS OF JOB STRESS AMONG HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS IN A TEACHING HOSPITAL IN LAGOS, NIGERIA

Abstract

Healthcare profession is accompanied with heavy job demands which sometimes exert adverse effects on personal coping resources of employees. However, some people with certain behavioral attributes could cope better with the demands of this kind of job than others. This study investigated the differential using self-esteem and personality characteristics of employees as predictors of job stress. Seven hundred and eighty (780) healthcare employees (297 males and 483 females) of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Lagos Nigeria, participated in the study. The instruments for data collection consisted of the Big Five Personality Inventory (BFI), Index of Self-Esteem (ISE) and Job-Related Tension (JT) Scales, which were administered to them during random medical screening exercise. Data analysis was carried out by means descriptive statistics, correlations and hierarchical multiple regression analysis. After controlling for sex, age and job category, results showed that self-esteem, agreeableness and conscientiousness were negative predictors of job stress while neuroticism was shown to be a positive predictor with self-esteem having the greatest effect [F (9, 770) = 22.04, P < .001]. Results were discussed in the light of the need for personality assessment as a requirement for employment of health care providers and providing both intrinsic and extrinsic job factors to enhance employees’ self-esteem.