Modeling the relationship between the big five personality traits and resilience, considering self-esteem as a mediator variable

Introduction: Resilience is a dynamic process that helps people cope with life's stressful issues effectively. Aim: The objective of present study was to test the theoretical model of relationship between the big five personality traits and resilience, considering self-esteem as a mediator variable. Method: The research method was descriptive-correlational. The statistical population included all men and women aged 18 and over in District 6 of Tehran in 2018. The research sample consisted of 252 citizens aged 18 to 64 years who were selected by the convenient sampling method. Of these, 154 were male and 98 were female. The instruments were Connor-Davidson Resilience Inventory (2003), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (1965) and NEO-FFI (1985). The research data were analyzed by the Pearson correlation and path analysis methods. Results: The results of path analysis method indicated that self-esteem only mediates the relationship between neuroticism, extraversion and agreeableness with resilience. To be more precise, agreeableness had only an indirect effect (P<0.001), conscientiousness had only a direct effect (P<0.05), neuroticism and extraversion had both direct and indirect effects (P<0.001), and openness to experience had no significant effect on resilience (P>0.15). Conclusion: According to the results, paying attention to variables such as neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and self-esteem which affect resilience, as well as self-esteem as a mediator of the relationship between neuroticism, extroversion and agreeableness with resilience, can lead to a better understanding of the relationship between these variables.