ఓరల్ హెల్త్ అండ్ డెంటల్ మేనేజ్‌మెంట్

నైరూప్య

Correlation among anxiety, personality dimensions and oral health impact profile on young adults.

Adrian Cosmin Ilie*

Purpose: To investigate the relationship between anxiety (state and trait), social phobia and Oral- Health related Quality of Life (OHQoL) among young adults in Timisoara, Romania.

Material and methods: 67 students were asked to complete the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), NEO-FFI-shorten version of NEO Personality Inventory (NEOPI) and Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-49).

Results: The highest levels on anxiousness after the administration of STAI form Y-1 were observed in those having neuroticism (median=50) and on those with experience as character type (median=40) as a principal dimensions. Using form Y-2, anxiousness as a personality trait was observed as being least present in those who displayed conscientiousness character type (median=38), closely followed by individuals pertaining to the extraversion group, (median=40), while the highest ranking was obtained by those within the with neuroticism character type (median=54), followed by experience group character type (median=43).

The OHIP score is positively and statistically significantly correlated with the STAI form Y-1 (Spearman’s r=0.319; p=0.009) and STAI form Y-2 (Spearman’s r=0.371; p<0.001), signifying that the presence of high level of anxiety and anxious traits lead to low oral health-related quality of life. The correlations between OHIP score and SPIN were not statistically significant (Spearman’s r=0.151; p=0.223), appearing that social phobia is not influenced by a decreased perceived oral health. Social phobia scores as assessed by the SPIN questionnaire were also dependent on personality profile. Neuroticism as a character type scored highest (median=31), followed by the experience (median=20), while those encompassed in the extraversion and conscientiousness groups fell within one point of each other (median=15, median=16 respectively).

Conclusion: Anxiety (state and trait anxiety, social phobia) is dependent on personality profile and is associated with a worse OH-QoL.