Trait Level Personality Variability and Dissociative Phenomenology in Non Clinical Young Adults: Implications for Subclinical Psychopathological Vulnerability

Abstract

Personality traits are a set of psychological characteristics or tendencies that are stable and influence the way in which people express emotions, cognitions, and behaviors in a variety of life situations. Personality has been viewed as a stable construct in adults, although current research acknowledges the dynamic interplay between individual differences and environmental experiences, developmental changes, and stressors. Dissociation, or the separation of consciousness, identity, memory, perception, or emotion, has been a focus of study in the context of trauma-related psychopathologies; however, new models of understanding suggest a continuum of dissociative experiences in non-clinical samples. The current research aims to investigate the relationship between trait level personality differences and the phenomenology of dissociation among non-clinical young adults. The current research is different in context of it as this is based on the experience of the occurrence of dissociation as a coping response, which is influenced by emotional sensitivity, attentional styles, and pressures of the environment, as opposed to the view of the experience of dissociation as a pathological response. It is already established that personality traits can have an impact on the processing of emotional stress, storage of memory, and the level of psychological investment in response to negative experiences. The purpose of the research is to investigate personality traits as independent variables, predicting  dissociative experiences as a dependent psychological outcome. The significance of personality traits and their relationship with dissociative experiences will be beneficial for the development of prevention strategies for university students.