Mental and physical health of spouse caregivers: the role of personality.

Although personal resources of caregivers, such as coping skills and social support, have been shown to be important in understanding caregiver stress and health outcomes, personality traits have not previously been considered. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between the personality traits of neuroticism and dispositional optimism and mental and physical health outcomes. It was predicted that personality would have direct effects, and indirect effects through perceived stress, on health outcomes. Participants were spouse caregivers of patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Results showed that neuroticism and optimism were significantly related to mental and physical health. Furthermore, neuroticism had significant direct effects on all of the health outcomes, and substantial indirect effects, through perceived stress, on mental health outcomes. Optimism showed stronger indirect than direct effects on all health outcomes. These findings demonstrate the importance of including personality of the caregiver in theoretical and empirical models of the caregiving process.     

Perfectionism and health: A mediational analysis of the roles of stress,social support and health-related behaviours

This study tested a model derived from personality theory in which perceived stress, perceived social support, health-risk and health-promotion behaviours mediate the relationship between perfectionism and perceived physical health. A sample of 538 undergraduate students completed a web-based survey assessing multi-dimensional perfectionism, perceived stress, perceived social support, health behaviours, physical health and a scale tapping elements of the five-factor model of personality. Analyses that account for the effects of traits from the five-factor model (e.g., neuroticism, conscientiousness and extraversion) indicated that socially prescribed perfectionism was associated with poorer physical health and this association was fully mediated by higher levels of perceived stress and lower levels of perceived social support. Self-oriented perfectionism was related complexly to health such that it was related to poorer health via higher levels of perceived stress, but was also related to better health via higher levels of perceived social support. Our findings illustrate the need for considering key mediators of the link between perfectionism and poor health outcomes.     

Perfectionism and health: a mediational analysis of the roles of stress, social support and health-related behaviours

This study tested a model derived from personality theory in which perceived stress, perceived social support, health-risk and health-promotion behaviours mediate the relationship between perfectionism and perceived physical health. A sample of 538 undergraduate students completed a web-based survey assessing multi-dimensional perfectionism, perceived stress, perceived social support, health behaviours, physical health and a scale tapping elements of the five-factor model of personality. Analyses that account for the effects of traits from the five-factor model (e.g., neuroticism, conscientiousness and extraversion) indicated that socially prescribed perfectionism was associated with poorer physical health and this association was fully mediated by higher levels of perceived stress and lower levels of perceived social support. Self-oriented perfectionism was related complexly to health such that it was related to poorer health via higher levels of perceived stress, but was also related to better health via higher levels of perceived social support. Our findings illustrate the need for considering key mediators of the link between perfectionism and poor health outcomes.     

Five-factor personality traits and subjective health among caregivers: the role of caregiver strain and self-efficacy

This study examined the association among caregivers' five-factor personality traits and subjective health with particular emphasis on the role of two theoretically implicated mediators: multi-domain self-efficacy and caregiver strain. The sample comprised 536 informal caregivers (mean age = 62.9 years, SD = 19.9, 72% female, 98% White) of community-dwelling older adults with multiple functional impairments. Both physical health and mental health were negatively associated with neuroticism and positively associated with extraversion and conscientiousness. Agreeableness and openness were associated with better subjective mental health and physical health, respectively. Multiple mediation analyses indicated that self-efficacy mediated all observed associations between personality and subjective health, whereas caregiver strain selectively mediated the associations of neuroticism and agreeableness with mental health.     

Relationships Among Spirituality, Religious Practices, Personality Factors, and Health for Five Different Faith Traditions

To determine: (1) differences in spirituality, religiosity, personality, and health for different faith traditions; and (2) the relative degree to which demographic, spiritual, religious, and personality variables simultaneously predict health outcomes for different faith traditions. Cross-sectional analysis of 160 individuals from five different faith traditions including Buddhists (40), Catholics (41), Jews (22), Muslims (26), and Protestants (31). Brief multidimensional measure of religiousness/spirituality (BMMRS; Fetzer in Multidimensional measurement of religiousness/spirituality for use in health research, Fetzer Institute, Kalamazoo, 1999); NEO-five factor inventory (NEO-FFI; in Revised NEO personality inventory (NEO PI-R) and the NEO-five factor inventory (NEO-FFI) professional manual, Psychological Assessment Resources, Odessa, Costa and McCrae 1992); Medical outcomes scale-short form (SF-36; in SF-36 physical and mental health summary scores: A user??s manual, The Health Institute, New England Medical Center, Boston, Ware et al. 1994). (1) ANOVAs indicated that there were no significant group differences in health status, but that there were group differences in spirituality and religiosity. (2) Pearson??s correlations for the entire sample indicated that better mental health is significantly related to increased spirituality, increased positive personality traits (i.e., extraversion) and decreased personality traits (i.e., neuroticism and conscientiousness). In addition, spirituality is positively correlated with positive personality traits (i.e., extraversion) and negatively with negative personality traits (i.e., neuroticism). (3) Hierarchical regressions indicated that personality predicted a greater proportion of unique variance in health outcomes than spiritual variables. Different faith traditions have similar health status, but differ in terms of spiritual, religious, and personality factors. For all faith traditions, the presence of positive and absence of negative personality traits are primary predictors of positive health (and primarily mental health). Spiritual variables, other than forgiveness, add little to the prediction of unique variance in physical or mental health after considering personality. Spirituality can be conceptualized as a characterological aspect of personality or a distinct construct, but spiritual interventions should continue to be used in clinical practice and investigated in health research.     

Personality and Substance Use in Midlife: Conscientiousness as a Moderator and the Effects of Trait Change

Personality traits predict substance use in adolescence, but less is known about prospective substance use in middle age and beyond. Moreover, there is growing interest in how personality change and the multiplicative effects among personality traits relate to substance use. Participants included approximately 4000 adults aged 25-74 who participated in two waves of the Midlife in the US (MIDUS) study. Higher levels of neuroticism, extraversion, openness, and lower levels of conscientiousness and agreeableness predicted longitudinal substance use. Increases in neuroticism and openness predicted increased substance use while increases in conscientiousness and agreeableness predicted decreased substance use. Higher levels of conscientiousness moderated two of the other trait main effects. Personality, trait change, and interactions among traits reliably forecasted 10-year substance-use behaviors.     

Personality and Health, Subjective Well-Being, and Longevity

ABSTRACT Personality traits can be employed to guide understanding of trajectories to health and longevity, but long-term longitudinal study and multifaceted assessment of healthy aging are crucial. Following up on the life span study initiated by Lewis Terman, we assessed 4 validated factors of personality in young adulthood in 1940, constructed a multifactor measure of participants' healthy aging in 1986, and collected death certificates through 2007 (to determine longevity) on a sample of 1,312 Terman participants (732 men). Neuroticism predicted worse physical health and subjective well-being in old age and, for women, higher mortality risk, but for men, neuroticism predicted decreased mortality risk. For both sexes, extraversion predicted old-age social competence, whereas conscientiousness predicted men's old-age productivity. Differential patterns of association between personality traits and healthy aging components are informative about individual personality characteristics and long-term health outcomes.     

Personality and Sleep: Neuroticism and Conscientiousness Predict Behaviourally Recorded Sleep Years Later

Sleep is one key feature of people's lives that defines their daily routine and reflects overall health and well‐being. To test the relevance of personality for core aspects of sleep, we examined if personality traits across the five broad personality domains predicted behaviourally recorded, week‐long sleep characteristics up to five years later (alongside subjective sleep quality). Data from 382 participants (63% female, aged 34–82 years) were drawn from the longitudinal study on Midlife in the United States Study—Biomarker project. In terms of mean tendencies, both neuroticism and conscientiousness signalled more sleep continuity (fewer interruptions) alongside better subjective quality. In terms of intra‐individual sleep variability, neuroticism predicted more variability in sleep duration, continuity, and subjective sleep quality, while conscientiousness predicted less variability in sleep duration and sleep continuity. Extraversion, agreeableness, and openness traits did not generally foreshadow behaviourally recoded sleep, only higher ratings of subjective quality. These links were robust to the impact of demographic factors and were not moderated by the duration of time between personality and sleep assessments. The findings distinguish which personality traits foreshadow core aspects of sleep and also implicate multiple traits as predictors of variability, not just mean tendencies, in behaviourally recorded sleep. © 2019 European Association of Personality Psychology     

青少年大五人格对网络成瘾的影响:家庭功能的中介作用

目的:探究家庭功能在人格特征与网络成瘾之间的中介作用。方法:973名中学生被试完成基本人口学问卷、网络成瘾量表、人格五因素问卷、家庭功能评定量表。结果:(1)人格特征可以显著预测网络成瘾。其中,情绪性人格可以显著正向预测网络成瘾,责任心、宜人性显著负向预测网络成瘾。(2)家庭功能在情绪性、责任心对网络成瘾的影响具有部分中介作用、在宜人性对网络成瘾的影响具有完全中介作用。结论:在治疗中,可针对网络成瘾者的家庭功能进行积极干预,从而减轻其成瘾症状。     

Personality development in old age relates to physical health and cognitive performance: Evidence from the Berlin Aging Study II

We examine how late-life personality development relates to overall morbidity as well as specific performance-based indicators of physical and cognitive functioning in 1,232 older adults in the Berlin Aging Study II (aged 65–88 years). Latent growth models indicated that, on average, neuroticism and conscientiousness decline over time, whereas extraversion and openness increase and agreeableness remains stable. Higher morbidity and worse grip strength were associated with higher neuroticism. Lower grip strength was further associated with lower openness, attenuated increases in extraversion, decreases in agreeableness and accelerated declines in conscientiousness. Moreover, those with poor perceptual speed reported higher neuroticism and lower conscientiousness. We also found age- and gender-differential associations between physical health and cognitive performance with levels of and changes in personality.     

Role of perfectionism and Five-Factor model traits in career indecision

Although perfectionism has been linked to a variety of mental health problems, the relevance of perfectionism in other life domains is just beginning to receive attention. Given the evidence that personality plays an important role in career choice and adjustment, the present study evaluated whether aspects of perfectionism make any unique contribution to the prediction of career indecision beyond certain traits of the Five-Factor model that may also be related to career indecision. Results showed that both maladaptive and adaptive perfectionism accounted for unique variance in career decision-making self-efficacy beyond variance predicted by neuroticism, extraversion, openness, and conscientiousness. In contrast, only maladaptive perfectionism accounted for unique variance in certainty of career commitment beyond variance predicted by neuroticism and conscientiousness. Results are discussed in terms of perfectionism, the role of personality in career indecision, and implications for career counseling.     

Personality,tobacco consumption,physical inactivity,obesity markers,and metabolic components as risk factors for cardiovascular disease in the general population

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between personality traits, tobacco consumption, physical inactivity, obesity markers and metabolic components as cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs). A total of 2543 participants from the general population (CoLaus|PsyCoLaus) had provided complete information on physical health and unhealthy behaviors and completed the Revised NEO Five-Factor Inventory. Our results show a strong cross-correlation between obesity markers and metabolic components suggesting that their combination could represent an important CVRF. Moreover, socio-demographic characteristics, tobacco consumption, and physical inactivity were associated with both obesity markers and metabolic components latent traits. The conscientiousness personality trait was significantly associated with obesity markers, but played a modest role. Indeed, higher conscientiousness was associated with lower level of obesity indicators. However, no link between personality and metabolic components were found. In sum, our data suggest that health related behaviours have more effect on the development of cardiovascular diseases than personality traits.     

Big Five Personality Traits and Self-Esteem as Predictors of Life Satisfaction in Iranian Muslim University Students

This study presents the first examination of the relation between the Big Five personality traits, self-esteem, and life satisfaction in Iran, which is an understudied country in the well-being literature. Participants were 235 university students at the University of Tehran, all reporting their religious affiliation as Muslim. Findings revealed that the Big Five personality traits explained about 25% of the variance in life satisfaction scores. Among the Big Five traits, extraversion and neuroticism were found to be the strongest predictors of life satisfaction. In addition, it was found that self-esteem significantly predicted life satisfaction over and above the Big Five personality traits. Findings also showed that self-esteem completely mediated the influence of conscientiousness and agreeableness on life satisfaction, while the influence of extraversion and neuroticism on life satisfaction was partially mediated by self-esteem. Furthermore, findings revealed that female students scored significantly higher than male students on life satisfaction. Sex also could moderate the relation between conscientiousness and life satisfaction. This relation was found to be significantly stronger for female students. Implications of the results are discussed with reference to prior studies on the relation between personality traits and different aspects of well-being in Iran.     

责任感、神经质与心理契约违背关系研究:以人力资源实践为调节

对浙江地区551名企业管理者问卷调查,探讨组织中管理者大五人格的责任感、神经质维度与心理契约违背感知的关系,以及组织人力资源实践水平对此两者关系的调节作用.研究发现:(1)责任感水平与管理者对心理契约违背的感知呈负相关;神经质水平与管理者对心理契约违背的感知呈正相关.(2)组织人力资源实践水平在管理者人格特质与心理契约违背感知关系起显著调节作用.     

Personality change via work: A job demand–control model of Big-five personality changes

Based on the job demand–control model and Gray's biopsychological theory of personality, the author proposed a model to suggest that time demand and job control can drive changes in Big-five personality traits, especially neuroticism and extroversion, by shaping an individual's stress experiences at work. Five waves of data from 1814 employees over a five-year period from the Household, Income and Labor Dynamics in Australia Survey were analyzed. Time demand, job control and job stress were measured in all five waves, and Big-five personality was assessed in the first and last waves. The results showed that time demand and job control shaped job stress positively and negatively at a given time; and over time, an increase in time demand predicted an increase in job stress, which subsequently predicted an increase in neuroticism and a decrease in extroversion and conscientiousness. Results also showed that an increase in job control predicted an increase in agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness directly, but did not predict change in neuroticism and extroversion. Finally, the buffering effect of job control on the association between time demand and job stress was only observed in two of five waves and such buffering effect was not observed in a change process. The implications on personality development and work design research are discussed.     

Patient personality and mortality: a 4-year prospective examination of chronic renal insufficiency.

The present study examined the role of personality as a predictor of mortality among patients with chronic renal insufficiency. A prospective evaluation of the influence of personality on patient survival was conducted over an average 49-month period. Cox regression was used to evaluate the effects of 5 dimensions of personality in a sample of 174 patients (100 male and 74 female). At follow-up, 49 patients had died. Significant demographic and clinical predictors of survival included age, diabetic status, and hemoglobin level. After these predictors were controlled for, 2 personality traits, conscientiousness and neuroticism, predicted patient mortality. Patients with high neuroticism scores had a 37.5% higher estimated mortality rate. Patients with low conscientiousness scores had a 36.4% increased mortality rate.     

Conscientiousness and Agreeableness as Moderators of the Relationship Between Neuroticism and Counterproductive Work Behaviors: A constructive replication

Several previous studies examining the predictors of counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs) have found positive relationships for neuroticism and negative relationships for conscientiousness and agreeableness. We extend this research by examining whether employee personality traits interact with each other to influence CWBs. Because conscientiousness and agreeableness may suppress one's tendency to engage in CWBs, we hypothesized that the neuroticism–CWB relationship will be weaker among workers who are high in either conscientiousness or agreeableness than among workers who are low in these traits. Data from three independent samples provide support for these hypothesized moderator effects.     

Comparison of EPI and psychoticism scales with measures of the five-factor model of personality

The need for a comprehensive model of personality traits acceptable to the entire community of personality researches has often been acknowledged. In this article, two such models are compared. Eysenck scales measuring neuroticism, extraversion, psychoticism and lie are correlated with self-report and peer-rating measures of the five-factor model—neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness—in a sample of adult men and women. Findings suggest that: (1) neuroticism and extraversion factors from the two systems match well; (2) sociability and impulsivity are distinguishable traits, but both fall within the broad domain of extraversion; (3) the EPI L scale measures aspects of several substantive traits rather than a response bias; (4) openness to experience is not well-represented in the Eysenck system; and (5) psychoticism corresponds most closely to the low poles of agreeableness and conscientiousness.     

Relationship of resilience to personality, coping, and psychiatric symptoms in young adults

Developing a comprehensive understanding of resilience across the lifespan is potentially important for mental health promotion, yet resilience has been vastly understudied compared to disease and vulnerability. The present study investigated the relationship of resilience to personality traits, coping styles, and psychiatric symptoms in a sample of college students. Measures included the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, NEO Five Factor Inventory, Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations, and Brief Symptom Inventory. Results supported hypotheses regarding the relationship of resilience to personality dimensions and coping styles. Resilience was negatively associated with neuroticism, and positively related to extraversion and conscientiousness. Coping styles also predicted variance in resilience above and beyond the contributions of these personality traits. Task-oriented coping was positively related to resilience, and mediated the relationship between conscientiousness and resilience. Emotion-oriented coping was associated with low resilience. Finally, resilience was shown to moderate the relationship between a form of childhood maltreatment (emotional neglect) and current psychiatric symptoms. These results augment the literature that seeks to better define resilience and provide evidence for the construct validity of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale.     

Predictors of Subjective Memory in Young Adults

While the nature of memory complaints during older adulthood has been studied extensively, the meaning of subjective memory concerns in younger adults has not been fully addressed. Using a sample of 95 younger adults, this study examined the role of personality, health, and depression in predicting objective and subjective memory. For objective memory, openness and self-rated health were unique predictors. For subjective memory ability, only self-rated health was predictive. Finally, similar to studies with older adults, neuroticism and conscientiousness were predictive of both perceived frequency of forgetting and global memory. Using subjective memory concerns as an indicator of actual memory functioning may be inappropriate given the extent to which personality traits and health predict memory concerns.