The Across-Time Associations of the Five-Factor Model of Personality With Vigor and Its Facets Using the Bifactor Model

We tested hypothesized across-time associations of personality traits with the affective state of global vigor and its physical, emotional, and cognitive facets. The study was carried out in the context of work, where vigor represents a discrete, positive affective response to one's ongoing interactions with specific elements of the work environment. Our model was based on the bifactor approach to modeling second-order constructs in structural equation modeling. Data were gathered from 1,217 reportedly healthy respondents who underwent a periodical health examination at Time 1 (T1) and Time 2 (T2), about 24 months apart. We found that, independent of T1 and T2 global vigor, agreeableness and conscientiousness predicted both T1 and T2 levels of vigor's emotional facet, and openness predicted vigor's cognitive facet at both T1 and T2.     

Personality Traits and Body Weight Measures: Concurrent and Across‐Time Associations

We tested the possibility that the five‐factor model of personality is associated with three measures of body weight and with changes in their levels over time and that these associations are gender specific. The study was conducted at two points of time, Time 1 (2664 participants) and Time 2 (1492 participants), over approximately 4 years, controlling for gender, age, education, and having a chronic disease. Body weight was assessed by body mass index, waist circumference, waist‐to‐hip ratio, and the five‐factor model by Saucier's Mini‐Markers. Cross‐sectional regression results indicated that conscientiousness was negatively associated with the three body weight measures, whereas neuroticism and extraversion were positively associated with the three body weight measures. The longitudinal regression results indicate that extraversion was associated with an increase in two of the body weight measures. Neuroticism was associated with increase in all three body weight measures and more strongly for women than for men. Openness was associated with a decrease in all three body weight measures for women, but this association was not significant for men. These findings help identify personality traits that lead to risk of weight gain and point to the modifying role of gender. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Self‐Efficacy as a Moderator of the Effects of Job‐Search Workshops on Re‐Employment: A Field Experiment1

We investigated the additive and interactive effects of self‐efficacy as a possible moderator of the effects of a job‐search workshop on re‐employment outcomes. We recruited 659 recently unemployed respondents and randomly assigned them to an experimental group invited to participate in the job‐search workshop (n = 442), or a control group (n = 217). All respondents provided pretest data using self‐administered questionnaires, and posttest data using questionnaires mailed to them 1 and 6 months after the workshop. No direct effects of the intervention on re‐employment outcomes were found. The pretest–posttest change in self‐efficacy interacted with the experimental condition to predict 3 re‐employment outcomes. However, only 1 of the 3 moderating effects found supported our prior expectation in this regard.     

Work Hours and Caseload as Predictors of Physician Burnout: The Mediating Effects by Perceived Workload and by Autonomy

We tested a model in which perceived workload and autonomy were hypothesised to mediate the effects of work hours and caseload on physician burnout. The study was based on data provided by 890 specialists representing six medical specialties. We used structural equation modeling to test our hypotheses. Controlling for the effects of gender, seniority, and the specialists' academic affiliation, we found that the study data fit the hypothesised model—reflecting these hypotheses—quite well. As expected, workload predicted higher levels of global burnout and physical fatigue, while autonomy predicted lower levels of global burnout. Work hours and caseload predicted global burnout only indirectly, via their effects on either perceived workload or autonomy. These findings suggest that public policies, designed to reduce physician work hours in order to reduce burnout and improve patients' safety, should take into account physician perceived workload and autonomy. Nous avons mis à l'épreuve un modèle centré sur l'hypothèse selon laquelle la charge de travail perçue et l'autonomie régulaient l'impact de la durée du travail médical et administratif sur le burnout des médecins. La recherche a exploité des données fournies par 890 spécialistes relevant de six spécialités médicales. On a fait appel à une modélisation en équations structurales pour valider nos hypothèses. En contrôlant l'action du genre, de l'âge et du type de spécialité, il est apparu que les données correspondaient parfaitement au modèle hypothétique. Comme prévu, la charge de travail prédisait des niveaux plus élevés de burnout global et de fatigue physique, alors que l'autonomie débouchait sur des niveaux plus faibles de burnout global. La durée du travail ne prédisait qu'indirectement le burnout global, par l'entremise des retombées sur la charge de travail perçue et l'autonomie. Ces résultats montrent que la réglementation publique qui envisage de réduire le temps de travail des médecins dans le souci d'atténuer le burnout et d'améliorer la sécurité des malades devrait prendre en considération la charge de travail perçue et l'autonomie des médecins.     

Burnout and risk of cardiovascular disease: evidence, possible causal paths, and promising research directions

Burnout is characterized by emotional exhaustion, physical fatigue, and cognitive weariness, resulting from prolonged exposure to work-related stress. The authors review the accumulated evidence suggesting that burnout and the related concept of vital exhaustion are associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular-related events. The authors present evidence supporting several potential mechanisms linking burnout with ill health, including the metabolic syndrome, dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis along with sympathetic nervous system activation, sleep disturbances, systemic inflammation, impaired immunity functions, blood coagulation and fibrinolysis, and poor health behaviors. The association of burnout and vital exhaustion with these disease mediators suggests that their impact on health may be more extensive than currently indicated.     

Adjusting to work: Workplace mobility of young male workers in Israel

The study focuses on some of the correlates of workplace mobility of male workers aged 15 to 17, mostly apprentices, who were registered with the Skilled Department of the Youth Employment Bureau (Y.E.B.) for at least a year prior to the time of the field study. Data regarding these correlates, and longitudinal data concerning the sequence of job movements, were obtained in an interview held with a sample of those youths who resided in Tel-Aviv metropolitan area (n = 146) and from the Y.E.B.'s forms filled out in connection with their registration and job placements. Several measures of sociodemographic background, past work experience and present working conditions were included in the multiple correlation analysis. Controlling for longevity in the labor force, seniority in the first job emerged as the most efficient predictor of workplace mobility. Results suggest that the early stages of a young worker's process of occupational socialization are of importance in determining his future career decisions.     

The big five personality factors as predictors of changes across time in burnout and its facets

We tested the effects of Neuroticism and Conscientiousness on burnout across time, controlling for age, gender, work hours, and depressive symptoms. Our theoretical model included both global burnout and its physical, emotional, and cognitive facets, consistent with the bifactor approach to modeling second-order constructs in structural equation modeling. Data were gathered from 1,105 respondents (63% men) who completed questionnaires at Time 1 (T1) and approximately 24 months later at Time 2 (T2). Neuroticism positively predicted T1 global burnout and negatively predicted T1 and T2 emotional exhaustion. Conscientiousness negatively predicted T1 global burnout and T1 and T2 cognitive weariness, and positively predicted T1 and T2 emotional exhaustion. Our gender-specific exploratory analysis revealed that for each gender, Neuroticism and Conscientiousness predicted different facets of burnout at T1 and T2. We recommend that future research test the possibility that the associations of Neuroticism and Conscientiousness with global burnout and its facets may be gender specific.     

The effects of physical fitness and feeling vigorous on self-rated health

OBJECTIVE: We prospectively studied the hypothesized beneficial effects of feeling vigorous and of objective physical fitness (gauged based on functional capacity) on subsequently assessed self-rated health (SRH), controlling for possible confounders known to be precursors of SRH and of our predictors. We also investigated the reverse-causation hypothesis that SRH predicts subsequent vigor and functional capacity. DESIGN: Participants were apparently healthy employees (N = 779) who underwent a routine health check at two points of time, Time 1 (T1) and Time 2 (T2), about 18 months apart. We used regression analysis, predicting T2 SRH by T1 SRH, the control variables, and T1vigor and functional capacity. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Vigor was assessed using the Shirom-Melamed Vigor Measure; objective physical fitness was indicated by functional capacity following a treadmill exercise, and self-rated health was measured by a single item. RESULTS: As hypothesized, we found that the change in T2 SRH was positively predicted by T1 vigor, functional capacity, and their interactive term. Testing the reverse causation paths, we found that T1 SRH did not predict subsequent functional capacity and was a relatively weak predictor of subsequent vigor. CONCLUSION: The affective state of vigor and objectively assessed functional capacity interact to predict subsequent changes in self-rated health.     

The associations of the Five Factor Model of personality with inflammatory biomarkers: A four-year prospective study

This study evaluated the associations of the Five Factor Model of personality with two inflammation biomarkers, C-reactive protein and fibrinogen, and the possible moderating effects of common health-related behaviors (physical activity and smoking) concurrently and over four years, while adjusting for socio-demographic and health status. Participants were individuals who underwent a health examination at two points of time, T1 (n = 1709) and T2 (n = 923), about four years apart. Regression analyses uncovered positive associations between Neuroticism and Extraversion with two inflammatory biomarkers at baseline (T1) and over time (T2) and increases in their levels over time. Additionally, a synergistic interaction of neuroticism and physical inactivity was associated with higher levels of inflammation biomarkers at both time periods. Openness was negatively associated with inflammation biomarkers at T1 and T2, but not with changes in their levels. No significant associations were found for Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. The results suggest that personality traits might be involved in the inflammatory process both concurrently and over time, and thus indicate a possible mechanism by which personality traits might influence health, especially cardiovascular disease risk.