Personality types and their associations with psychological resilience, coping with stress, and life satisfaction among undergraduate students: A latent profile analysis approach

In this study, we sought to replicate and expand upon Block's (1971) RUO (Resilients-Undercontrollers-Overcontrollers) personality typology using a sample of 483 undergraduate students. We employed latent profile analysis (LPA) to identify distinct patterns of Big Five personality traits and examined how these latent profile groups were associated with critical aspects of well-being, including life satisfaction, coping with stress, and psychological resilience. Our findings provide robust support for the replicability of the RUO typology. Resilients exhibited significantly higher levels of life satisfaction and psychological resilience compared to both Undercontrollers and Overcontrollers. Undercontrollers reported the lowest average scores in life satisfaction. We observed variations in coping strategies among these groups, with Resilients favoring adaptive problem-solving, while Undercontrollers tended to engage in self-critique more frequently than the other two profiles. Resilients were also less likely to use detachment as a coping strategy compared to Overcontrollers and Undercontrollers.