ABSTRACT
Background: An individual personality is reflected in their thoughts, emotion and behavior. Type D personality is defined as joint tendency towards negative emotions and social inhibition. Type D personality is associated with anxiety, depression and psychological stress. The present study is conducted to assess the incidence of Type D personality in the under graduate dental students as they are prone to excessive stress in their education. To study the prevalence Type D personality in first year dental students and to study the various variables associated with type D personality.Methods: The personality of students was analyzed by using DS 14 questionnaire. Likert scale was used to calculate the personality score. The students scoring high on either or both subscales taking cut off value as 10 was considered as type D.Results: 15% students had only social inhibition and 7% students had only negative affectivity. 5% students had both social inhibition and negative affectivity. Overall, the prevalence type D personality was found to be 27% among the students of dental college. The type D personality students were significantly associated with habits like alcoholism.Conclusions: The early identification of Type D personality can be helpful both for physical and mental wellbeing and we can minimize its impact on health by adopting healthier life style, yoga and meditation, mentorship in early college days, emotional support etc.