Relationship between Family Functioning, Personality Traits, and Psychological Health in Clinical Psychology Trainees

Abstract

This research was intended to explore in what way family functioning and personality traits predicts psychological health in clinical psychology trainees. These three variables were never studied together in Pakistan, and it provided the clarity about the impact of both individual and collectivistic variables on psychological health. This study aimed to determine the extent to which family functioning and personality traits predict psychological health in clinical psychology trainees. The study comprised of 135 clinical psychology trainees (30 males, 105 females). Snowball sampling was used to collect the data through online questionnaire. The data were collected from seven major cities of Pakistan like Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Hyderabad, Faisalabad, Multan, and Peshawar. Hierarchical Linear Model was used to analyze the data and the major finding indicated that neuroticism was the predictor of higher psychological health in clinical psychology trainees whereas agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness did not predict psychological health of clinical psychology trainees. Family functioning did not play significant role in predicting psychological health of clinical psychology trainees. However, this study was significant as the psychological health of the clinical psychology trainees is important because they treat people with psychological illnesses. If trainees would not be psychologically well, they would not be able to treat their clients well.