Change and stability of sense of coherence in adulthood: Longitudinal evidence from the Healthy Child study

The main aim of this three-wave 35-year follow-up study among Finnish employees (n = 532) was to investigate whether Sense of Coherence (SOC) is more stable among those with high SOC compared to those with low SOC, as hypothesized by Antonovsky [Antonovsky, A. (1987). Unraveling the mystery of health: how people manage stress and stay well. San Francisco, CA, US: Jossey-Bass], using two measurement points over 13 years. The participants were first studied in adolescence in 1961–1963, after which they responded to two postal questionnaires measuring SOC, first in 1985, and again in 1998. The results of the Factor Mixture Modeling identified two groups of individuals with different levels and mean changes of SOC: high-SOC (n = 344) and low-SOC (n = 188) individuals. The results supported Antonovsky’s hypothesis: SOC was more stable among high-SOC individuals (stability coefficient 0.57) than among low-SOC individuals (0.31). The results further supported the factor structure of the 11-item SOC scale. However, out of the five generalized resistance resources investigated in adolescence, only the level of home care was associated with SOC in adulthood.     

Developing a model for adult temperament

Hierarchical relations among theoretically generated lower order scales of adult temperament were explored in two studies. In Study One, 258 undergraduates completed the Adult Temperament Questionnaire (ATQ). A five-factor model emerged from exploratory factor analysis, with factors labeled Orienting Sensitivity, Effortful Control, Extraversion, Affiliativeness, and Negative Affect. This model showed considerable convergence with the Big Five. Study Two, with a community sample of 700 participants, yielded a six-factor model, distinguishing aggressive negative affect from non-aggressive negative affect. Relations of the six temperament factors to Cloninger’s TCI, the Five Factor Model, and the Multi-Language Seven were investigated, providing support for the discriminating power of the six-factor temperament model in understanding individual differences in adult temperament and personality.     

Sensation seeking, impulsive decision-making, and risky sex: implications for risk-taking and design of interventions

In an HIV prevention study, 2949 ninth-grade students in 17 high schools in two Midwestern U.S. cities were administered scales measuring sensation seeking and impulsive decision-making and their separate and combined relationships to a number of indicators of sexual risk-taking. Measures of sexual risk-taking included intentions to have sex, ever had sex, number of lifetime sexual partners, been pregnant or caused a pregnancy, used a condom, used marijuana, had unwanted sex when drunk, had unwanted sex under pressure, said no to sex, used alcohol or partner used alcohol before sex. Strong associations were observed between each of the measures and sexual risk-taking for most of the indicators. Strongest associations were found among sexually active students high on both sensation seeking and impulsive decision-making and weakest associations among students low on both measures. Implications for design of interventions in health campaigns are discussed.     

“华人工作相关人格量表”的编制、意义与效度

该文介绍了“华人工作相关人格量表”及其意义、结构、效度的一系列研究。ＣＰＷ选取与人工作相关人格特点有关的题目,在传统人格维度的基础上,增加了服务了取向（ＣＳＯ）和管理才能（ＯＭＲ）这两个针对工作民表境的人格维度。信度分析表明了１５个量表都具可接受内部一致性信度,１５个ＣＰＷ量表分数与一个形容词检测表的相关分析结果支持了ＣＰＷ的内容效度,ＣＰＷ的相关矩阵和因素结构初步确证了ＣＰＷ的结构效度,进一步的     

Personal and social support factors involved in students’ decision to participate in formal academic mentoring

In this study, we examined the role of personal and social support factors involved in students’ decision to participate in formal academic mentoring. Three hundred and eighteen students completing Grade 11 and planning to study sciences in college filled out a questionnaire and were then asked to participate in an academic mentoring program during their first year of college. A total of 150 students agreed to take part in this program (volunteers) and 168 declined the offer (non-volunteers). The overall findings support the hypothesis that academic mentoring is more attractive for some students than others depending on their personality, help-seeking attitudes, academic dispositions, perceived support from friends, and support available during the transition to college. These findings were discussed in light of the different mechanisms proposed by mentoring and social support literatures.     

Well-being in parents of children with cancer: The impact of parental personality,coping, and the child's quality of life

The aim of the study was to investigate the impact of parental personality, coping, and the child's quality of life on the well-being of parents of children treated for cancer. The study included 99 parents (63 mothers and 36 fathers), 41 parents during child's intensive treatment, 23 parents whose child completed intensive treatment, and 25 parents of children who completed treatment at least five years ago. The results of multivariate study have confirmed the predictive role of parental personality (especially Neuroticism); emotion-focused coping styles, and the child's quality of life (especially physical functioning) on parental well-being. About 60% of the variance in parental well-being can be attributed to the predictors. Assessing parental personality functioning and coping styles can help us identify those parents who are less emotionally stable, more prone to emotionally focused coping styles, and most likely to experience poorer well-being. Improved assessment may contribute to the development of further psychological interventions.     

Equilibria in Personality States: A Conceptual Primer for Dynamics in Personality States

We provide a basic, step-by-step introduction to the core concepts and mathematical fundamentals of dynamic systems modelling through applying the Change as Outcome model, a simple dynamical systems model, to personality state data. This model characterizes changes in personality states with respect to equilibrium points, estimating attractors and their strength in time series data. Using data from the Personality and Interpersonal Roles study, we find that mean state is highly correlated with attractor position but weakly correlated with attractor strength, suggesting strength provides added information not captured by summaries of the distribution. We then discuss how taking a dynamic systems approach to personality states also entails a theoretical shift. Instead of emphasizing partitioning trait and state variance, dynamic systems analyses of personality states emphasize characterizing patterns generated by mutual, ongoing interactions. Change as Outcome modelling also allows for estimating nuanced effects of personality development after significant life changes, separating effects on characteristic states after the significant change and how strongly she or he is drawn towards those states (an aspect of resiliency). Estimating this model demonstrates core dynamics principles and provides quantitative grounding for measures of ‘repulsive’ personality states and ‘ambivert’ personality structures. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Who wants to become more conscientious,more extraverted,or less neurotic with the help of a digital intervention?

Desires to increase in extraversion and conscientiousness as well as to decrease in neuroticism are the three most prevalent personality change goals. This study describes characteristics of people who wanted to change one of these personality traits (total N = 1196) with the help of a digital personality change intervention. The extent to which characteristics predicted the selection of one change goal over the other two was explored using machine learning. Individuals desired to change traits with lower (in case of desires to increase) or higher (in case of desires to decrease) self- and observer-reports and with greater self-other discrepancies. This identification of characteristics of people who desired to change certain personality traits informs future interventions.     

Linking personality traits to objective foul records in (semi-)professional youth basketball

Rule breaking behavior in sports (e.g., fouls) can impact the outcome of games, tournaments, or even whole seasons. Although personality traits have been related to different forms of rule breaking behavior across fields, it has hardly been investigated whether personality traits predict rule breaking behavior in sports. We ran a longitudinal study with 242 (semi-)professional basketball players. Specifically, we measured personality traits prior to the start of the season and official foul statistics per player during the season. Out of the basic personality traits from the HEXACO Model of Personality, Conscientiousness accounted for a substantial amount of variability in the committed/called fouls, whereas no robust relations with other traits or a sports-oriented personality trait (i.e., Sports Mental Toughness) were found.     

Neuroticism and emotional risk during the COVID-19 pandemic

Large-scale health crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may evoke negative affective responses, which are linked to psychological maladjustment and psychopathology. Here, we shed light on the role of the personality trait neuroticism in predicting who experiences negative affective responses. In a large-scale experience-sampling study (N = 1,609; 38,120 momentary reports), we showed that individuals high in neuroticism experienced more negative affect and higher affective variability in their daily lives. Individuals high in neuroticism also (a) paid more attention to COVID-19-related information and worried more about the consequences of the pandemic (crisis preoccupation), and (b) experienced more negative affect during this preoccupation (affective reactivity). These findings offer new insights into the consequences and dynamics of neuroticism in extreme environmental contexts.