Assessment of personality traits among pediatric dentists in Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional analytical study

Background: The essence of an individual is shaped by their persistent array of traits that constitute their personality. The study’s aim is to determine the prevalent personality attributes present in Pediatric dentists practicing in Saudi Arabia. Methods: A cross-sectional analytical research was conducted using the Big Five Personality Test International Personality Item Pool of the Big Five Markers (BFPT IPIP-BFM), which included 50 questions assessing extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience. The survey was distributed to all participants through a Google form. Each trait was evaluated using a Likert scale, and the data was analysed statistically. Results: Out of a total of 132 pediatric dentists, 115 responded by completing the questionnaire in full, resulting in a response rate of 87.12%. The extroversion trait (33.17 ± 5.48) had the highest mean score among males, whereas the agreeableness trait (32.89 ± 4.29) was higher among females. The least expressed trait was neuroticism (28.4 ± 7.6) in both males and females (31.42 ± 5.84) and the difference was found to be statistically significant (p-value < 0.05). Comparison of the overall mean personality scores revealed that agreeableness (32.95 ± 4.83) was the highest scoring personality trait, whereas neuroticism (30.45 ± 6.68) was the lowest. Post-hoc multiple pairwise comparison revealed that only the difference between agreeableness and neuroticism remained statistically significant (p value < 0.005). Conclusions: Among male and female pediatric dentists in Saudi Arabia, agreeableness was the most significantly expressed trait, and females expressed slightly higher neuroticism scores than males.

Agreeableness; Conscientiousness; Extroversion; Neuroticism; Openness to experience; Personality; Pediatric dentist

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