Courage: A Potential Mediator of the Relationship Between Personality and Social Anxiety

Abbas Abdollahi; Alim Al Ayub Ahmed; Wanich Suksatan; Tribhuwan Kumar; Mohammed Sabeeh Majeed; Anna Gustina Zainal; Farimah Dokoushkani; Kelly A Allen

doi:10.1007/s12646-022-00641-2

Courage: A Potential Mediator of the Relationship Between Personality and Social Anxiety

Psychol Stud (Mysore). 2022;67(1):53-62. doi: 10.1007/s12646-022-00641-2. Epub 2022 Mar 1.

Authors

Abbas Abdollahi¹, Alim Al Ayub Ahmed², Wanich Suksatan³, Tribhuwan Kumar⁴, Mohammed Sabeeh Majeed⁵, Anna Gustina Zainal⁶, Farimah Dokoushkani⁷, Kelly A Allen⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Counseling, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran.
² School of Accounting, Jiujiang University, 551 Qianjindonglu, Jiujiang, Jiangxi China.
³ Faculty of Nursing, HRH Princess Chulabhorn College of Medical Science, Chulabhorn Royal Academy, Bangkok, Thailand.
⁴ Department of English Language and Literature, College of Science and Humanities at Sulail, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia, Al Kharj, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Al-Manara College for Medical Sciences, Amarah, Iraq.
⁶ Department of Communication, University of Lampung, Bandar Lampung, Indonesia.
⁷ Department of Human Ecology, Research Group of Environment and Human Studies, Tehran, Iran.
⁸ Educational Psychology and Inclusive Education, Faculty of Education, Monash University, Clayton, Australia.

Abstract

Social anxiety is one of the most prevalent and chronic mental-health conditions in young adults. To date, no studies have been conducted about the relationships between the Big Five personality dimensions, courage, and social anxiety among Malaysian undergraduate students. Therefore, this study was designed to examine courage as a potential mediator of the association between the Big Five personality dimensions and social anxiety among Malaysian Undergraduates. In this study, 500 Malaysian undergraduate students (205 males and 295 females) completed a series of questionnaires. Structural equation modelling (AMOS-SEM) revealed that, of the Big Five, neuroticism and social anxiety were positively correlated. Extraversion, conscientiousness, openness to experience, and agreeableness, as well as courage, were negatively correlated with social anxiety. Courage mediated the relationship between the Big Five personality dimensions and social anxiety. The main contribution of the present research is to show how the Big Five personality dimensions may contribute to social anxiety. The findings of this study also could be implicated for counselling practice for undergraduate students in Malaysia as a collectivist setting and other collectivist settings around the world.

Keywords: Big Five personality dimensions; Courage; Social anxiety; Undergraduates.