Personality traits and mental health in middle and high school students with childhood household dysfunction: mediation by life skills

Middle and high school students with childhood household dysfunction (CHD) are at high risk of personality traits immaturity and poor mental health, yet little is known about the mechanism between personality traits and mental health. In this cross-sectional study, 223 students with CHD were recruited from Hunan, China. The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, Middle School Student Life Skills Rating Scale, and Mental Health Test were used to measure personality traits, life skills, and mental health, respectively. Path analysis was conducted to assess these relationships. Mental health problems were positively correlated with neuroticism and psychoticism but negatively related to extraversion and life skills. Life skills partially mediated the relationship between neuroticism and mental health, psychoticism and mental health, and fully mediated between extraversion and mental health. Our findings provide important implications for future mental health promotion programs to focus on life skills improvement among students with CHD to improve their mental health.