Personality portraits, resilience, and professional identity among nursing students: a cross-sectional study

The lack of professional identity can impede the transition from nursing students to qualified nurses and exacerbate the shortage of health care professionals. Personality is important to resilience-building and professional identity development in nursing students. However, the associations among personality, resilience, and professional identity are less explored. The study aims to identify latent subtypes of personality, to evaluate the mediating role of resilience between personality and professional identity in nursing students, and to provide practical guidance for educators’ subsequent interventions with nursing students’ professional identity.

1397 nursing students were recruited from Be Resilient to Nursing Career (BRNC) between October 2020 and April 2022 by cluster sampling from 4 universities in China. NEO Five-Factor Inventory, 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, and Professional Identity Questionnaire for Undergraduate Students were administered. Analyses of latent profiles and mediations were performed.

Three latent personality types were identified: Over-sensitivity (35.4%), Ordinary (53.8%), and Flexibility (10.8%). Nursing role model was found to be a significant indicator of personality (Ordinary as ref, Over-sensitivity: OR = 0.73, 95% CI: 0.57–0.93, P = 0.010; Flexibility: OR = 1.85, 95% CI: 1.29–2.65, P = 0.001). The association between personality portraits and professional identity were significantly mediated by resilience (P < 0.05).

There exists heterogeneity in nursing students’ personality. Resilience plays a significant role in mediating the relationship between personality and professional identity.