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 Rev. Fr. Moses Orshio Adasu University, Makurdi

CONTEMPORARY JOURNAL OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY (CJAP), Vol. 10 No. 1 (2025)



Influence of Big Five Personality Traits And Coping Strategies Among Internally Displaced Persons in Benue State



Abstract

Coping strategies has been linked with outcomes such as mental health problems, alcohol addiction, anxiety, sleep disturbances, poor performance among others. CHowever, not much is known on coping strategies among Internally Displaced Persons in Benue State. This study examined this phenomenon by investigating Big five personality traits and coping strategies among IDPs in Benue State. The study adopted the ex- post facto survey design in which 399 IDPs, comprising 156(39.1%) males and 243(60.9%) females, whose ages ranged from 18 – 69 (Mean age = 32.03, SD=15.34) served as participants. The Big Five Personality Inventory and Coping Scale were used in data collection, while data analysis involved the use of Multiple Linear Regression. Findings showed that, personality traits had a significant positive influence on coping strategies overall among the IDPs. Personality traits explained 27.1% of the total variance observed in overall coping strategies among the respondents. Results also indicated that, personality traits had a significant positive influence on cognitive coping; while a significant negative influence of personality traits was found on emotional coping and behavioural coping strategies among the IDPs. The study concluded that, factors of personality traits such as conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and openness are positive influencers of coping strategies, while neuroticism is a significant negative influencer of coping strategies among IDPs in Benue State. The study recommended that, personality testing should be introduced in IDP camps, to facilitate adaptive coping among the IDPs



Key words: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism

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