Study of the Correlation between the Personality Traits, Life Stress and Level of Depression of Taipei City High School and Vocational High School Students and Their Smoking Behavior

• Main Authors: Wan-Shan Tsai, 蔡宛珊
• Other Authors: Cheng-Yu Chen
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2008
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/7hrj2d

碩士 === 國立臺灣師範大學 === 健康促進與衛生教育學系 === 96 === This study uses the cross-sectional survey method to determine whether the interaction between the personality traits, life stress and the depression level of vocational high school students will foster the prevalence of smoking behavior. By using the stratified-cluster random sampling method, first-year to third-year vocational high school students in academic year of ninety-six who are in their first semester, were picked for this study, with a total sample size of 1,082 students. The main findings are listed below: 1.Test subjects generally possess extroverted personality, are emotionally stable, display conformity to society norms, and reveal behavior that meets society’s expectations. In general, the personality traits of test subjects are able to adapt to the environment, while at the same time, able to develop into unique individual personalities. This study also reveals that in comparison: neuroticism and extroverted personality are found in more females than males; males are more likely to display social conformity than females; extroverted personality is found in more vocational high school students than high school students; and third-year students score higher in neuroticism than second-year students. 2.Test subjects face moderate stress levels during the time of this study, and the three main sources of stress were: academic stress, stress from meeting personal expectations, and stress from campus life. In addition, this study reveals that males face greater amount of stress from romantic relationships as compared to females; while females face greater amount of stress due to the need for self-improvement and self-development, and as well as meeting self-expectations; vocational high school students face greater amount of stress from campus life and economic as compared to high school students, while high school students face greater amount of stress from self-expectations as compared to vocational high school students; and students with low socio-economical status face greater economic stress as compared to students with mid-level or high socio-economical status. 3.27.2% of the test subjects faced risk of depression. In addition, among the test subjects, high school students showed more signs of emotional and behavioral depression than vocational high school students; while third year students showed more signs of emotional, physical, behavioral and cognitive depression than their juniors. By comparing the overall level of depression, this study found out that high school students suffer higher levels of depression than vocational high school students, while third year students suffer a higher levels of depression than their juniors. 4.11.7% of the test subjects do smoke with higher occurrence in: males than females, vocational high students than high school students, third year students than second year students, and students with high socio-economical status than students with low socio-economical status. In addition, individuals who possess extroverted personality, score higher in neuroticism, with higher tendency to conform with social norms; together with individuals who face greater overall amount of life stress, family stress, economic stress; together with individuals with higher overall level of emotional, physical, behavioural and cognitive depression, will have higher tendency to smoke. 5.Under the control of social population variable and by using the test subjects’ extroverted personality, level of life stress and depression, it enables a meaningful prediction of their smoking behavior. This study shows that extroverted personality, economic stress and physical depression have the greatest influence in smoking behavior. Individuals, who are more extroverted, faced with greater economic stress and possess higher levels of physical depression, will have higher tendency to smoke. The findings of this study will serve as a guideline for education, and is able to act as a reference for future studies on the personality trait, life stress, depression level, and smoking behavior of adolescents.