Big Five personality traits and COVID-19 fear as mediated by anxiety and depression among male prisoners

The goals of this cross-sectional study were to determine associations between Big Five personality traits and the fear of COVID-19 infection among male prisoners and to assess whether anxiety and depression helped explain any of these associations. The sample comprised 168 Caucasian male prisoners aged 20 to 69. We measured personality traits using the Polish version of the Ten Item Personality Inventory and fear of COVID-19 infection using an 11-point rating scale. We evaluated participants' mental health status using the General Anxiety Disorder-7 and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 scales. Fear of COVID-19 infection was negatively correlated with extraversion, openness, and agreeableness, and positively correlated with anxiety and depression. No correlations were observed between COVID-19 infection fear and emotional stability or conscientiousness. Multivariate linear regression analysis revealed that only low openness to experience significantly predicted COVID-19 infection fear. Anxiety and depression mediated the association between openness and COVID-19 infection fear. The importance of openness, anxiety, and depression may be considered in psychotherapy focused on reducing fear of COVID-19 infection among prisoners.