Personality & mental health of Greek cosplayers, in relation to postgraduate “mental health” students

Abstract

ABSTRACT Aim of this cross-sectional study is to evaluate personality features and psychiatric symptomatology of the Greek cosplayers, in comparison to a control group of new mental health postgraduate students (NMHPS) at the Technological Educational Institute of Thessaly. Relative literature on cosplayers worldwide is almost non-existent. The psychometric tools used were the HDHQ (Hostility and Direction of Hostility Questionnaire) and the SCL-90-R (Symptoms Check List-90-Revised), on 49 Greek cosplayers and 37 NMHPS. The HDHQ estimates quantity, structure, and direction of hostile mood, which reveals personality characteristics and dimensions. The SCL-90-R detects nine different psychopathological states: somatization, obsessivity-compulsivity, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, anger/aggression, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, psychotic symptoms. Other data investigated were participants’ demographics and cosplay practice. The statistical analysis was descriptive and inductive; parametric and non-parametric. Greek cosplayers exhibited higher levels of all hostility forms; mainly extroverted, self-criticism & other-criticism, and psychopathological conditions; mainly depression & obsessivity-compulsivity, than the NMHPS. Demographics that increased some form of hostility or psychopathological symptom for the cosplayers were female gender, lower level education, cosplaying >10 characters, while, respectively, marital status and health-care profession for the NMHPS. Greek cosplayers experience significantly more pronounced psychopathological symptoms than the control group. Cosplay probably enhances their sociability and interpersonal relationships development, whose type gets influenced by their personality, alike the degree of chosen cosplay character adoption while in costume. Interest to study mental health, might benefit it. Cosplayers may display dysmorphophobic traits and similarities to people disliking their identity; elevated levels of depression, hostility and self/other-criticism.