Role of Extraversion and Meta-Cognitive Worry in Psychological Immunity of Young Adults

Abstract

The present study was aimed to examine the role of extraversion and meta-cognitive worry in psychological immunity of young adults. Moreover, it also focused to determine the role of demographics (gender, education of participants, parental marital status, family system and parental education) across the study variables. Sample (N = 300) consisted of men and women from colleges and universities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad with the age range of 19 to 25 years. The major constructs of the study were assessed with an Extraversion Subscale (Shrivastava, 1994), Meta-Cognitive Belief Questionnaire (Wells & Cartwright, 2004) and Psychological-Immunity Scale (Chochoom, 2013). Findings indicated that extraversion was negatively associated with meta cognitive worry and positively related with psychological immunity. Results showed that meta-cognitive worry was negatively associated with psychological immunity. Significant group differences were also found on gender, family system, education of participants, parental marital status, and parental education. Results showed that men expressed more extraversion traits, low meta-cognitive worry, and better psychological immunity as compared to women. Participants with higher education level expressed more extraversion traits, less meta-cognitive worry, and better psychological immunity than those who had low education level. It was also found that students enrolled in government institutes reflect lesser extraversion traits, more meta-cognitive worry, and poor psychological immunity as compared to the students enrolled in private institutes. Study also showed that respondents whose parents were living together had more extraversion traits, lesser meta-cognitive worry and better psychological immunity as compared to those who were living with single parents. Results showed that the respondents living in nuclear family setup showed lesser extraversion traits, more meta-cognitive worry, and poor psychological immunity as compared to those who were living in joint family system. It was found that participants whose parents were highly educated reflected more extraversion, less metacognitive worry, and better psychological immunity. Practical implications of the study were discussed and suggestions for further research were made.