Personality correlates of hopelessness in depressed inpatients 50 years of age and older.

In this study we examined the relationship between scores on the Beck Hopelessness Scale and the personality traits that constitute the Five-Factor Model in a sample of 77 depressed inpatients, 50 years of age and older. Multiple regression analyses showed that Hopelessness is related to low Extraversion domain scores, and to specific facets of both Extraversion (low positive emotions) and Neuroticism (low self-consciousness, high impulsiveness). Efforts to tie Hopelessness with the motivational, affective, and interpersonal constructs subsumed under Extraversion are warranted.     

Predicting General Well-Being From Emotional Intelligence and Three Broad Personality Traits

This paper examined the joint predictive effects of trait emotional intelligence (trait-EI), Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Neuroticism on 2 facets of general well-being and job satisfaction. An employed community sample of 123 individuals from the Indian subcontinent participated in the study, and completed measures of the five-factor model of personality, trait-EI, job satisfaction, and general well-being facets worn-out and up-tight . Trait-EI was related but distinct from the 3 personality variables. Trait-EI demonstrated the strongest correlation with job satisfaction, but predicted general well-being no better than Neuroticism. In regression analyses, trait-EI predicted between 6% and 9% additional variance in the well-being criteria, beyond the 3 personality traits. It was concluded that trait-EI may be useful in examining dispositional influences on psychological well-being.     

The Relative Importance of Personality,Financial Satisfaction,and Autonomy for Different Subjective Well-Being Facets

Abstract

Using a nationally representative sample (N?=?507) from Singapore, this study examined whether personality, financial satisfaction, and autonomy were important to subjective well-being (SWB), and how the importance of these predictors varied across different SWB facets—life satisfaction, happiness, positive feelings, and negative feelings. The findings indicated that neuroticism, financial satisfaction, and autonomy, were important predictors of happiness. Personality was most important for affective well-being (i.e., positive and negative feelings), whereas financial satisfaction was most important for life satisfaction. Specifically, neuroticism accounted for substantial variance in positive and negative feelings, and was the strongest correlate among the Big Five traits. In contrast, financial satisfaction explained most of the variance in life satisfaction. This highlights that the importance of well-being predictors depended on the facet of well-being examined. The findings suggest that residents in an affluent nation like Singapore do not emphasize only postmaterialist values (e.g., autonomy) and disregard materialist concerns (e.g., financial satisfaction). Though certain SWB facets (positive and negative affect) are largely influenced by dispositional factors, other facets (life satisfaction and happiness) are closely related to factors (e.g., financial satisfaction, autonomy) that may be affected by social policies. Policymakers can thus target those aspects to enhance people’s SWB.     

Relation between alexithymia and the five-factor model of personality: a facet-level analysis

The relation between alexithymia and both the domain and the facet level of the five-factor model (FFM) of personality was examined in a sample of 101 university students by using the Twenty-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20; Bagby, Taylor, & Parker, 1994) and the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (Costa & McCrae, 1992c). Consistent with the alexithymia construct, the TAS-20 was positively correlated with Neuroticism (N) and negatively correlated with Extraversion (E) and Openness (O), whereas no significant relations were found with Agreeableness (A) and Conscientiousness (C). Analysis of the lower order traits (i.e., facets) of the FFM revealed that depression for N; positive emotions and assertiveness for E; feelings and actions for O; altruism, tender-mindedness, and modesty for A; and competence for C predicted alexithymia. These results support the uniqueness of the alexithymia construct, which is represented by a cluster of traits across the dimensions and facets of the FFM.     

Personality and obesity across the adult life span

Personality traits contribute to health outcomes, in part through their association with major controllable risk factors, such as obesity. Body weight, in turn, reflects our behaviors and lifestyle and contributes to the way we perceive ourselves and others. In this study, the authors use data from a large (N = 1,988) longitudinal study that spanned more than 50 years to examine how personality traits are associated with multiple measures of adiposity and with fluctuations in body mass index (BMI). Using 14,531 anthropometric assessments, the authors modeled the trajectory of BMI across adulthood and tested whether personality predicted its rate of change. Measured concurrently, participants higher on Neuroticism or Extraversion or lower on Conscientiousness had higher BMI; these associations replicated across body fat, waist, and hip circumference. The strongest association was found for the impulsivity facet: Participants who scored in the top 10% of impulsivity weighed, on average, 11Kg more than those in the bottom 10%. Longitudinally, high Neuroticism and low Conscientiousness, and the facets of these traits related to difficulty with impulse control, were associated with weight fluctuations, measured as the variability in weight over time. Finally, low Agreeableness and impulsivity-related traits predicted a greater increase in BMI across the adult life span. BMI was mostly unrelated to change in personality traits. Personality traits are defined by cognitive, emotional, and behavioral patterns that likely contribute to unhealthy weight and difficulties with weight management. Such associations may elucidate the role of personality traits in disease progression and may help to design more effective interventions.     

Personality, acculturation, and psychosocial adjustment of Chinese international students in Germany

The effect of personality traits and acculturation variables on crosscultural adjustment were investigated in 139 Chinese students in Germany (52% girls; M age = 25.3 yr., SD = 2.9). Participants were surveyed by house visits to their dormitories. Several scales were administered: (a) Big Five Inventory; (b) Vancouver Index of Acculturation; (c) sociocultural adjustment, general and academic; and (d) psychological adjustment, i.e., depression, self-esteem, and life satisfaction. Results showed that Neuroticism and Openness were two shared predictors of sociocultural adjustment. Agreeableness and mainstream acculturation were only related to general adjustment, while Conscientiousness was only related to academic adjustment. All facets of psychological adjustment were related to Neuroticism and Consciousness, while positive components (self-esteem and life satisfaction) were also related to Extraversion and Openness. No influence of heritage acculturation was found. The findings are discussed in light of measurement issues and the shared and unique individual predictors of the different facets of adjustment.     

On Traits and Temperament: General and Specific Factors of Emotional Experience and Their Relation to the Five-Factor Model

In this article we investigate relations between general and specific measures of self-rated affect and markers of Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. Replicating previous research, we found strong and pervasive associations between Neuroticism, its facets, and the various negative affects; and between Extraversion, its facets, and the positive affects. Conscientiousness also had a significant, independent relation with general positive affect, but this effect was entirely due to the specific affect of attentiveness, which was more strongly related to Conscientiousness than Extraversion. Conversely, only the achievement facet of Conscientiousness correlated broadly with the positive affects. Finally, hostility had a strong independent association with (low) Agreeableness. The results for Neuroticism and Extraversion further clarify the temperamental basis of these higher order trait dimensions; whereas those obtained for Agreeableness and Conscientiousness illustrate the importance of examining personality-affect relations at the lower order level.     

Depression and Openness to Experience

The relation between depression and Openness to Experience was examined. Self-report measures of personality traits (Revised NEO Personality inventory; Costa & McCrae, 1992a) and depression (Beck Depression Inventory; Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979; and Inventory to Diagnose Depression; Zimmerman, 1994) were administered to 143 undergraduate participants from the following 3 groups: current depression (n = 46), past depression (n = 50), and never-depressed controls (n = 47). Depressed participants exhibited significantly higher scores than nondepressed controls on two facets of Openness (Aesthetics and Feelings). Openness to Experience was also found to account for a significant proportion of the variance in depression scores, beyond the variance accounted for by Neuroticism and Extraversion. The facet of Openness to Aesthetics appeared to be most strongly related to depression scores, and the facet of Openness to Fantasy was implicated as a moderator of the relation between Extraversion and depression.     

Functional coordination of personality strategies with physical strength and attractiveness: A multi-sample investigation at the HEXACO facet-level

Previous research has supported adaptationist hypotheses pertaining to the functional coordination of personality strategies with phenotypic determinants of bargaining power, such as physical strength and attractiveness. However, prior studies have focused primarily on explaining variation in Extraversion and Emotionality/Neuroticism as broadband traits. The current study synthesizes data from three subject samples (N = 766) to test correlations of physical strength and attractiveness with the HEXACO factors and facets among young adults. Our analyses reveal specific, functionally meaningful, patterns of phenotypic coordination, and thereby help illuminate which facets drive previously documented associations at the factor-level. Among both sexes, strength was an especially important predictor of facets whose secondary loadings place them in the quadrant of factor space defined by high Extraversion (Expressiveness, Liveliness, Social Boldness) and low Emotionality (Fearfulness, Anxiety). Findings bolster the hypothesis that specific personality strategies are coordinated with phenotypic components of bargaining power, and suggest that granular measures of personality (such as facets) may provide more mechanistic and functional insight than broadband trait factors.     

Early adolescents’ personality and life satisfaction: A closer look at global vs. domain-specific satisfaction

We examined relations between US early adolescents’ major personality traits and global life satisfaction (LS) and satisfaction in five specific domains (i.e., family, friends, school, self, living environment). A sample of 344 7th graders completed the Adolescent Personal Style Inventory (Lounsbury et al., 2003), which assesses the Big Five traits of neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Furthermore, participants completed the Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale (Huebner, 1991) and the Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale (Huebner, Zullig, & Saha, 2012), assessing global and domain-specific satisfaction, respectively. Neuroticism (inversely), and conscientiousness, agreeableness, and extraversion (positively) were uniquely associated with early adolescents’ global LS, with neuroticism showing the strongest association. With respect to domain-specific satisfaction, neuroticism (inversely) and conscientiousness (positively) were uniquely related to satisfaction in all five domains. Extraversion displayed the strongest, unique (positive) association with friend and self-satisfaction reports. Openness displayed the strongest, unique (positive) association with school satisfaction. Agreeableness demonstrated a unique (positive) association with family satisfaction. The results demonstrated the importance of neuroticism in understanding early adolescents’ global LS, while the personality variables revealed varying patterns of relationships with domain-specific satisfaction reports.     

Culture, personality, and subjective well-being: integrating process models of life satisfaction

The authors examined the interplay of personality and cultural factors in the prediction of the affective (hedonic balance) and the cognitive (life satisfaction) components of subjective well-being (SWB). They predicted that the influence of personality on life satisfaction is mediated by hedonic balance and that the relation between hedonic balance and life satisfaction is moderated by culture. As a consequence, they predicted that the influence of personality on life satisfaction is also moderated by culture. Participants from 2 individualistic cultures (United States, Germany) and 3 collectivistic cultures (Japan, Mexico, Ghana) completed measures of Extraversion, Neuroticism, hedonic balance, and life satisfaction. As predicted, Extraversion and Neuroticism influenced hedonic balance to the same degree in all cultures, and hedonic balance was a stronger predictor of life satisfaction in individualistic than in collectivistic cultures. The influence of Extraversion and Neuroticism on life satisfaction was largely mediated by hedonic balance. The results suggest that the influence of personality on the emotional component of SWB is pancultural, whereas the influence of personality on the cognitive component of SWB is moderated by culture.     

Five-factor model of personality and transformational leadership

This study linked traits from the 5-factor model of personality (the Big 5) to transformational leadership behavior. Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, and Agreeableness were hypothesized to predict transformational leadership. Results based on 14 samples of leaders from over 200 organizations revealed that Extraversion and Agreeableness positively predicted transformational leadership; Openness to Experience was positively correlated with transformational leadership, but its effect disappeared once the influence of the other traits was controlled. Neuroticism and Conscientiousness were unrelated to transformational leadership. Results further indicated that specific facets of the Big 5 traits predicted transformational leadership less well than the general constructs. Finally, transformational leadership behavior predicted a number of outcomes reflecting leader effectiveness, controlling for the effect of transactional leadership.     

A psychometric evaluation of the new NEO-PIR facet scales for agreeableness and conscientiousness

The five-factor model of personality represents one of the more important developments in the area of personality theory and assessment. This empirically derived model consists of the major factors of Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. Currently there is only one commercially available measure of these dimensions: The NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI). The NEO-PI measures each of these global domains as well as more specific facets of Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Openness to Experience. The new revision of the NEO-PI (NEO-PIR) now includes facet scales for Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. The purpose of this article is to provide a psychometric evaluation of these new scales using a sample of working adults and relying on both self-report and observer ratings. The results provide strong support for the reliability and construct validity of these new scales.     

A Psychometric Evaluation of the New NEO–PIR Facet Scales for Agreeableness and Conscientiousness

The five-factor model of personality represents one of the more important developments in the area of personality theory and assessment. This empirically derived model consists of the major factors of Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. Currently there is only one commercially available measure of these dimensions: The NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI). The NEO-PI measures each of these global domains as well as more specific facets of Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Openness to Experience. The new revision of the NEO-PI (NEO-PIR) now includes facet scales for Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. The purpose of this article is to provide a psychometric evaluation of these new scales using a sample of working adults and relying on both self-report and observer ratings. The results provide strong support for the reliability and construct validity of these new scales.     

Neuroticism: how does one slice the PI(e)?

Costa and McCrae's operationalization of the Five-Factor Model, the Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Openness Personality Inventory—Revised (NEO-PI-R; Costa and McCrae, 1992a), measures five broad dimensions of personality: Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. According to Costa and McCrae, the Neuroticism (N) domain scale subsumes six facets. Although derived rationally and tested factor analytically, the factorial structure of the facet scales has yet to be unequivocally confirmed with analytic methods imposed at the item level. Using confirmatory and exploratory factor-analytic techniques, this study examines and tests the structure of the N domain scale of the NEO-PI-R. Confirmatory factor analysis indicates poor replication of the structure of the N scale. Results of the exploratory factor analysis indicate that while three of the facets replicated quite well, the other three factors did not correspond to Costa and McCrae's formulation. Future research should elaborate on the factorial structure and construct validity of the N facet scales, especially if they are to be used and interpreted in personality and clinical assessment. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Personality at midlife: stability, intrinsic maturation, and response to life events

Although developmental theories and popular accounts suggest that midlife is a time of turmoil and change, longitudinal studies of personality traits have generally found stability of rank order and little or no change in mean levels. Using data from 2,274 men and women in their 40s retested after 6 to 9 years, the present study examined two hypotheses: (a) that retest correlations should be no higher than about .60 and (b) that there should be small decreases in Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Openness, and small increases in Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. The study also explored the effects of recalled life events on subsequent personality scores. Results did not support the first hypothesis; uncorrected retest correlations uniformly exceeded .60. This was true for all personality traits, including facets of Agreeableness and Conscientiousness not previously included in longitudinal studies. The hypothesized decreases in Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Openness were found, but Conscientiousness showed a small decrease instead of the predicted increase. Life events in general showed very little influence on the levels of personality traits, although some effects were seen for changes in job and marital status that warrant further research.     

Core Dimensions of Personality Broadly Account for the Link from Perceived Social Support to Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety

Specific personality traits and poor social support are risk factors for anxiety and depression. Little work, however, has considered the effects of social support and personality on these aspects of psychopathology simultaneously. We examined whether perceived social support mediates the effects of core personality domains on symptoms of anxiety and depression. Measures of personality (based on the Five‐Factor Model [FFM]), perceived social support, and symptoms of depression and anxiety were collected in a large Dutch adult population‐based sample (n = 555), and, except for depression symptoms, in an independent U.S. adult population‐based sample (n = 511). Path modeling was used to test the effects of FFM traits on symptoms of depression and anxiety, with and without the mediation of perceived social support. Social support showed no link to symptoms of anxiety and only modest links to symptoms of depression when controlling for the FFM traits. Neuroticism had the strongest effect on symptoms of both depression and anxiety, with Extraversion also showing links to symptoms of depression. Social support has limited influence on symptoms of depression, and no effects on anxiety, over and above the effects of personality. Links between social support and anxiety/depression may largely reflect influences of Neuroticism and Extraversion.     

Life events and personality predicting loneliness among centenarians: findings from the Georgia Centenarian Study

Regarding the purpose of this study, the researchers analyzed the roles that both life events (life-time positive events and life-time negative events) and personality (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Trust, Competence, and Ideas) played in participants of the Georgia Centenarian Study. The researchers analyzed these variables to determine whether they predicted loneliness. Analyses indicated that life-time negative events significantly predicted loneliness. In essence, the higher was the number of life-time negative life events, the higher was the loneliness score. Moreover, Neuroticism, Competence, and Ideas were all significant predictors of loneliness. The higher was the level of Neuroticism and intellectual curiosity, the higher was the level of loneliness, whereas the lower was the level of Competence, the higher was the level of loneliness. In addition, both life-time positive and life-time negative life events were significant predictors of Neuroticism. The higher was the number of life-time positive events, the lower was the level of Neuroticism, and the higher was the number of life-time negative events, the greater was the level of Neuroticism. These results indicated that life-time negative events indirectly affect loneliness via Neuroticism. Last, our results indicated that the Competence facet mediated the relationship between lifetime negative life events and loneliness. Life-time negative life events significantly affected centenarians' perceived competence, and Competence in turn significantly affected the centenarians' loneliness. These results as a whole not only add to our understanding of the link between personality and loneliness, but also provide new insight into how life events predict loneliness.     

Personality and engagement at work: the mediating role of psychological meaningfulness

In this study, we examined the associations of personality traits of the Big Five model with work engagement, and tested a theoretical model in which these associations are mediated by the positive state of psychological meaningfulness (perceptions that work is valuable and meaningful). In a sample of 238 UK working adults, we found that the personality facets assertiveness and industriousness were the strongest predictors of work engagement, and that both exhibited direct and indirect effects, mediated by psychological meaningfulness. Neuroticism demonstrated a marginal indirect association with engagement, again mediated by psychological meaningfulness. Our findings offered good support for our model, explaining a pathway from personality traits to engagement. Practical implications for management are discussed.     

Hierarchical structure of the Eysenck Personality Inventory in a large population sample: Goldberg’s trait-tier mapping procedure

The structure of the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) is poorly understood, and applications have mostly been confined to the broad Neuroticism, Extraversion and Lie scales. Using a hierarchical factoring procedure, we mapped the sequential differentiation of EPI scales from broad, molar factors to more specific, molecular factors, in a UK population sample of over 6500 persons. Replicable facets at the lowest tier of Neuroticism included oversensitivity, mood lability, nervous tension and rumination. The lowest order set of replicable Extraversion facets consisted of social dynamism, sociotropy, haste, jocularity, communalism and impulsivity. The Lie scale consisted of an interpersonal virtue and a behavioral diligence facet. Users of the EPI may be well served in some circumstances by considering its broad Neuroticism, Extraversion and Lie scales as multifactorial, a feature that was explicitly incorporated into subsequent Eysenck inventories and is consistent with other hierarchical trait structures.