Personality and Professional Quality of Life among Indian Mental Health Professionals: A Canonical Correlational and Mediational Study

The therapist-client relationship is dyadic, with both client and therapist affecting the outcomes. While client-side variables have been studied extensively, therapist characteristics remain relatively less explored. The present study investigated whether therapists' Big Five Personality traits predict Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) and Counseling Self-Estimate (COSE). The sample comprised 60 mental health professionals in India that included counselors, clinical psychologists, and psychotherapists who use different therapeutic modalities. Years of experience ranged from 2 to 15 years. The NeoFFI (McCrae & Costa, 2004), the ProQOL scale (Stamm, 2010), and the COSE (Larson et al., 1992) were administered. The present study included three levels of quantitative analysis. First, we identified correlations between Big Five traits, ProQOL dimensions and COSE. Second, using Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) specific Big Five constellations, associated with Compassion Satisfaction (CS) dimension of ProQOL and COSE on one hand and Burnout and Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) dimensions of ProQOL on the other were identified. Third, we examined the mediating role of Compassion Satisfaction, Burnout, and Secondary Traumatic Stress in the Big Five-COSE relationship. The CCA revealed two distinct personality constellations: a protective one, characterized mainly by High Agreeableness-Conscientiousness and Low Neuroticism, and a vulnerable one characterized by High Neuroticism and Low Agreeableness-Conscientiousness. Mediation analyses revealed that Secondary Traumatic Stress partially mediated the pathway between Neuroticism and Burnout. Compassion Satisfaction fully mediated the pathway between Conscientiousness and COSE, whereas partially mediated the Agreeableness-COSE pathway. Neither Extraversion nor Openness to Experience showed any significant association with ProQOL or Counseling Self-Estimate.