Bend or Break: The Role of Personality Traits and Emotional Resilience as Predictors of Burnout among Nursing Students at Capitol University

Burnout has become a major concern among nursing students because of increasing academic, clinical, and emotional demands throughout nursing education. This study described the Big Five personality traits, emotional resilience, and burnout levels among Bachelor of Science in Nursing students at Capitol University and examined the extent to which personality traits and emotional resilience predicted burnout. A quantitative cross-sectional descriptive-correlational design was employed involving 312 nursing students selected through stratified random sampling. Data were collected using the Big Five Inventory-2 Short Form (BFI-2-S), Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-25), and Copenhagen Burnout Inventory for Students (CBI-S), which measures Personal, Studies-related, Peer-related, and Teacher-related Burnout. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, and multiple linear regression at a 0.05 level of significance. Results showed high levels of all Big Five personality traits, with Agreeableness obtaining the highest mean, while Emotional Resilience was likewise rated high. Studies-related Burnout recorded the highest mean among the four burnout domains. One-way ANOVA revealed significant year-level differences in Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism, with Neuroticism showing the greatest variation (F = 6.48, p < .001), whereas Openness and Extraversion were not significantly different. In the adjusted regression model, emotional resilience showed the strongest inverse association with burnout (β = -.38, p < .001), while neuroticism showed the strongest positive association (β = .32, p < .001). Conscientiousness and Agreeableness were also significant inverse predictors, whereas Openness and Extraversion were not significant. The model explained 48% of the variance in overall burnout (R² = .48). The findings suggest that emotional resilience and selected personality traits are important predictors of burnout among nursing students. These results support the development of resilience-enhancement and student-support programs. Because the study employed a cross-sectional descriptive-correlational design, the findings indicate statistical prediction and association rather than causation.