Five-factor Personality Traits Research Articles

Existential Anxiety, Personality Type, and Therapy Preference in Young Adults

The current study examines the relationship between existential anxiety (EA), personality traits, and therapy preference in a sample of young adults. EA is thought to be universal human experience, yet no published research has been conducted on whether certain personality traits predict higher levels of EA. Males and females ( N = 69) aged 18 to 25 years completed several self-report measures, including a measure of EA, five-factor personality traits, and therapy preference (insight- vs. action-oriented). Pearson correlation coefficients and linear regression analyses were conducted to determine the relationship among the constructs of interest. Results indicate a significant positive correlation between Neuroticism as measured by the NEO-Five Factor Inventory and EA. The Neuroticism N4 Self-Consciousness subscale showed the strongest association with EA. There was no relationship between therapy preference and EA. The results suggest that individuals with personality types characterized by elevated levels of shyness, guilt, and inferiority may be more likely to experience elevated EA. Experiencing higher levels of EA does not seem to affect therapy preference. These findings have important implications for clinicians treating young adults who present with internalizing symptoms.

The measurement equivalence of personality measures across high- and low-stake test taking settings

Traditionally, organizational psychologists rely on personality measures in order to make personnel selection decisions. However, the extent to which the measurement of personality traits is varies across high-stake test-taking context is not entirely understood. Drawing on a Romanian dataset, we explored different levels of invariance between high and low stake contexts for a celebrated five-factor personality measure. Results revealed that the measurement of five-factor personality traits is non-equivalent across high and low test-taking contexts. Additionally, significant differences in latent means were observed for Neuroticism, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness.

Communication as a Mediator Between Personal Characteristics – Five-Factor Personality Traits, Emotional Intelligence, Self-Disclosure – and Romantic Relationship Satisfaction

The present study explored the relation between personal characteristics and romantic relationship satisfaction as mediated by communication. Couples in established heterosexual romantic relationships of at least 3 months (N = 96 couples) were recruited from an undergraduate population at a university through a Psychology Participant Pool System. It’s been hypothesized that there would be a relation between predicting variables — four of five-factor personality traits, emotional intelligence and self-disclosure — and relationship satisfaction as mediated by communication behaviours. Results indicate that for both genders, conscientiousness is related to one’s own relationship satisfaction which is mediated by communication. For females only, communication mediated the relation between emotional intelligence and her relationship satisfaction. For males and females, self-disclosure is related to both one’s own and one’s partner’s relationship satisfaction which is mediated by communication. Collectively, these results suggest that personal characteristics are related to communication which influences the relationship satisfaction of both members of a couple.

P.1.i.024 - No association between brain serotonin 4 receptor binding and five-factor personality traits in healthy individuals: a positron emission tomography study

P.1.i.024 - No association between brain serotonin 4 receptor binding and five-factor personality traits in healthy individuals: a positron emission tomography study

The personality traits of consensually supportive people

We investigated the personality traits of supportive providers, assessed as the consensus among observers. Each provider was rated by three perceivers who knew the provider well in a round robin design (16 groups of 4 apartment mates; N=64). Perceivers rated providers on providers' supportiveness, a subjective judgment that a provider would assist in times of trouble. Perceivers also rated providers on five-factor personality traits. Consensually supportive providers were more agreeable, extroverted and emotionally stable. The link between provider supportiveness and agreeableness was sufficiently strong to suggest that supportiveness is an aspect of agreeableness. We also examined the aspects of personality and support that reflected unique relationships among apartment mates. Relationally supportive providers were seen as highly open to experience. Thus, the trait markers of supportiveness depended upon whether supportiveness was assessed as the consensus among observers or as a feature of relationships. Implications for integrating research on social support and structural models of personality were discussed.

Scientists' personality, values, and well-being.

BackgroundScientists play an important role in modern society. However, only a small number of their psychological characteristics, such as personality traits, have been investigated; hence, further investigation is required.ResultsIn this study, scientists (n = 24) and non-scientist controls (n = 26) were assessed with respect to their five-factor personality traits, 10 basic values, and subjective well-being (subjective happiness and sense of purpose in life). Compared with the non-scientist control group and with normative data of laypeople, the scientists consistently exhibited greater openness (i.e., traits related to curiosity and intelligence), self-direction (i.e., values related to the pursuit of curiosity, creativity, and autonomous action), happiness, and sense of purpose in life.ConclusionsThese data indicate that scientists possess personality traits and values suitable for a career in science, from which they also derive subjective well-being.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40064-016-2225-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Constructing a short form of the hierarchical personality inventory for children (HiPIC): the HiPIC-30.

Children's personality traits are invaluable predictors of concurrent and later mental and physical health. Several validated longer inventories for assessing the widely recognized Five-Factor Model of personality in children are available, but short forms are scarce. This study aimed at constructing a 30-item form of the 144-item Hierarchical Personality Inventory for Children (HiPIC) (Mervielde & De Fruyt, ). Participants were 1543 children aged 6-12 years (sample 1) and 3895 children aged 8 years (sample 2). Sample 1 completed the full HiPIC, from which we constructed the HiPIC-30, and the Child Behaviour Checklist (Achenbach, ). Sample 2 completed the HiPIC-30. The HiPIC-30 personality domains correlated over r = .90 with the full HiPIC domains, had good Cronbach's alphas and correlated similarly with CBCL behaviour problems and gender as the full HiPIC. The factor structures of the HiPIC-30 were convergent across samples, but the imagination factor was not clear-cut. We conclude that the HiPIC-30 is a reliable and valid questionnaire for the Five-Factor personality traits in children. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Five-factor personality traits in priests

Several studies have demonstrated that religiosity is associated with specific personality traits, such as high Agreeableness/Conscientiousness or low Psychoticism. However, this evidence emerged by investigating active churchgoers with high religious practice or clerical individuals using Eysenck's taxonomy. This study explores, for the first time, personality profiles in Priests ordained by the Roman Catholic Church (N=200) using the Five-Factor Model of personality in an Italian population. Priests were compared with demographically matched non-clerical with high religious practices (HRP, N=301) and non-religious men (NR, N=213).Analysis of variance demonstrated that both Priests and HPR men shared similar personality traits, such as higher Agreeableness, lower Extraversion–excitement seeking and Openness, with respect to NR. However, Priests have distinct traits, such as the highest values of Agreeableness and the lowest Neuroticism sub-facets of angry hostility and impulsiveness, in comparison with other groups. Finally, although high Conscientiousness characterized both the Priest and HRP groups, surprisingly, we found that this psychological trait was only more evident in the latter group. Differences in religious order would seem to influence this trait.This study demonstrates that Priests' personality differ from those of HRP men, although some important personality (sub-) facets are similar.

Understanding the P×S Aspect of Within-Person Variation: A Variance Partitioning Approach.

This article reviews a variance partitioning approach to within-person variation based on Generalizability Theory and the Social Relations Model. The approach conceptualizes an important part of within-person variation as Person × Situation (P×S) interactions: differences among persons in their profiles of responses across the same situations. The approach provided the first quantitative method for capturing within-person variation and demonstrated very large P×S effects for a wide range of constructs. These include anxiety, five-factor personality traits, perceived social support, leadership, and task performance. Although P×S effects are commonly very large, conceptual, and analytic obstacles have thwarted consistent progress. For example, how does one develop a psychological, versus purely statistical, understanding of P×S effects? How does one forecast future behavior when the criterion is a P×S effect? How can understanding P×S effects contribute to psychological theory? This review describes potential solutions to these and other problems developed in the course of conducting research on the P×S aspect of social support. Additional problems that need resolution are identified.

The Relationship between the Five-factor Personality Traits of Workers and their Job Satisfaction: S Study on Five Star Hotels in Alanya

Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between five-factor personality traits and job satisfaction among workers of five star hotels within Alanya district of Antalya province. In line with this purpose, the study was conducted with workers from all departments of the hotels included in the study sample. During the study, a total of 471 workers from 12 five star hotels in Alanya districtof Antalya province were contacted. Based on the correlation analysis results, a statistically significant relationship was identified between intrinsic satisfaction and the openness and conscientiousness dimensions. On the other hand, no statistically significant relationship was observed between extrinsic satisfaction and the five-factor personality traits. Furthermore, a statistically significant relationship was also observed between general job satisfaction and the openness and conscientiousness dimensions. Based on the regression analysis, it was determined that the extraversion dimension had a more significant effect than the openness dimension. The extraversion dimension had a negative effect on extrinsic job satisfaction, while the openness dimension had a positive effect. The extraversion and openness dimensions had a weak but statistically significant effect on general job satisfaction. The extraversion dimension had a negative effect on general job satisfaction, while the openness dimension had a positive effect.

The associations between personality traits, education, occupation and the occurrence of eczema in adulthood.

There were 5834 participants with complete data on parental social class at birth, childhood cognitive ability tests scores at 11 years, educational qualifications at 33 years, the Big Five-Factor personality traits, occupational levels and eczema (measured at age 50 years). Results showed that eczema in childhood, educational achievement and occupational levels were significantly associated with the occurrence of reported eczema in adulthood. Emotionally Stable people (non-neurotic) were less likely to have eczema, but those with high Agreeableness and Openness more likely to have eczema. Childhood cognitive ability was significantly and positively associated with eczema in adulthood.

Personality and risk of adult asthma in a prospective cohort study

ObjectiveTraits conceptualized according to the five-factor model of personality have been found to predict numerous health outcomes and may also be predictive of asthma. Prior longitudinal studies on personality and asthma remain however sparse, have been restricted to only two traits (i.e., neuroticism and extraversion), and yielded inconsistent results. We therefore aimed to examine the potential relationships of all five-factor personality traits with incident asthma. MethodsWe combined the 2009 and 2011 data from the population-based German Socio-Economic Panel study for longitudinal analyses (n=12,202). Personality traits were measured by an established 15-item version of the Big Five Inventory. Asthma was measured by participant-reports of having ever received such a diagnosis by a physician. We estimated multivariable risk ratios (RRs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of trait-specific scores (continuous or categorized by tertiles) and incident asthma by Poisson regression. ResultsNeuroticism was the only trait which was predictive of asthma (RR for the z-score=1.17, 95% CI=1.02–1.34; RR for the highest versus the lowest tertile=1.59, 95% CI=1.12–2.25). Associations between personality traits and asthma risk did not differ by sex (p-values for interaction ≥0.07). There were no two-way interactions between personality traits when we tested all potential combinations (all p-values for interaction ≥0.20). ConclusionThe present study suggests that high levels of neuroticism may predispose adults to develop asthma. Future longitudinal studies are needed to confirm our findings and to shed light on the potential psychophysiological processes underlying the observed association.

The effects of self-anger on rumination and on mental health

This study investigated the effects of self-anger on rumination and mental health (depression and anxiety). In study 1, a scale to measure self-anger was developed by the review of previous studies and survey interviews. Exploratory factor analysis identified one factor of self-anger. The reliability and validity of the scale were confirmed by internal consistency measures and correlations with other anger-related scales. In study 2, which used the self-anger scale developed in study 1, undergraduate and graduate students completed a set of scales to measure self-anger, rumination, depression, anxiety, and five-factor personality traits. The results of mediation analysis indicated that self-anger effects depression and anxiety directly or through mediating rumination excluding the effect of sex and neuroticism. Finally, the possibility that self-anger management leads to the reduction of rumination and improvement of mental health was discussed.

Secondary growth among former prisoners of war’s adult children: The result of exposure to stress, secondary traumatization, or personality traits?

The long-term toll of war captivity on secondary traumatization (ST) on adult children has recently been exemplified. Several studies have also revealed that indirect exposure to trauma might be accompanied by positive psychological changes. This study examined secondary posttraumatic growth (SG) among adult children of former prisoners of war (ex-POWs' children) who were compared with adult children of comparable veterans (controls' children). Furthermore, we examined the role of five-factor personality traits in the associations between exposure to stress stemming from fathers' behaviors, ST symptoms, and SG. Participants were Israeli ex-POWs' children (N = 98) and controls' children (N = 90), whose fathers fought in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Results show that ex-POWs' children reported higher levels of SG compared with controls' children. ST symptoms were found to mediate the association between research group and SG, and the direct effect was found to be conditioned at the levels of participants' extroversion. Furthermore, among ex-POWs' children, extroversion and openness to the experience personality traits, as well as exposure to stress, were found to predict SG. Forty years after the war ended, the experience of living with ex-POWs is associated with ex-POWs' children SG that might be more related to their exposure to stress and personality traits than their ST symptoms. Clinical interventions aiming to increase the levels of SG among indirect victims of captivity should consider the influence of pretrauma resources, trauma characteristics, and posttrauma factors. (PsycINFO Database Record

Five-factor personality traits and sleep: evidence from two population-based cohort studies.

The current study examines associations between five factor personality traits and average sleep duration, sleep deficiency, and sleep problems. The participants were from two population-based samples from Australia (n = 1,104, age range 31-41) and Finland (n = 1,623, age range 30-45). Self-reports of sleep behavior, sleep problems (Jenkin's scale), and five factor model personality traits (NEO-FFI) were collected. Associations between personality traits and sleep were analyzed with linear regressions. The results showed that higher extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness were, in general, associated with better sleep, whereas higher neuroticism was associated with sleeping less well. Openness was not associated with sleep. Most of the associations were replicable between the samples from the two countries, but personality traits explained only small part of the variance in sleep behavior. Increasing the knowledge on personality and sleep may benefit more personalized treatment of sleep disorders and help in personnel selection to jobs in which it is critical to stay alert. However, longitudinal research is needed to confirm the current findings.

Personality and adolescent pregnancy outcomes

To examine the relationship between personality, pregnancy and birth outcomes in adolescents. Personality has been shown to be a strong predictor of many health outcomes. Adolescents who become pregnant have worse birth outcomes than adults. Cross-sectional study using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (baseline, 1994-1995; follow-up, 2007-2008). The study sample was 6529 girls, 820 of whom reported on pregnancy outcomes for a teenage birth. Personality data were taken from the Mini International Personality Item Pool personality tool, which measures the five-factor personality traits of neuroticism, conscientiousness, intellect/imagination, extraversion and agreeableness. Logistic regression was used to predict teen pregnancy and linear regression was used to predict birth weight and gestational age with adjustment for confounders and stratification by race. Agreeableness and intellect/imagination were associated with a reduced likelihood of becoming pregnant as an adolescent, while neuroticism, conscientiousness and extraversion were all associated with an increased likelihood of becoming pregnant. Higher neuroticism was associated with lower birth weight and gestational age among Black girls, but not non-Black. Conscientiousness was associated with lower gestational age among non-Black girls. No relationships were found with extraversion or agreeableness and birth outcomes. Receiving late or no prenatal care was associated with higher intellect/imagination. Personality is understudied with respect to pregnancy and birth outcomes compared with other health outcomes. Such research could help professionals and clinicians design and target programmes that best fit the characteristics of the population most likely to need them, such as those with high neuroticism.

Gender Stereotypes of Personality

Numerous studies have documented subtle but consistent sex differences in self-reports and observer-ratings of five-factor personality traits, and such effects were found to show well-defined developmental trajectories and remarkable similarity across nations. In contrast, very little is known about perceived gender differences in five-factor traits in spite of their potential implications for gender biases at the interpersonal and societal level. In particular, it is not clear how perceived gender differences in five-factor personality vary across age groups and national contexts and to what extent they accurately reflect assessed sex differences in personality. To address these questions, we analyzed responses from 3,323 individuals across 26 nations (mean age = 22.3 years, 31% male) who were asked to rate the five-factor personality traits of typical men or women in three age groups (adolescent, adult, and older adult) in their respective nations. Raters perceived women as slightly higher in openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness as well as some aspects of extraversion and neuroticism. Perceived gender differences were fairly consistent across nations and target age groups and mapped closely onto assessed sex differences in self- and observer-rated personality. Associations between the average size of perceived gender differences and national variations in sociodemographic characteristics, value systems, or gender equality did not reach statistical significance. Findings contribute to our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of gender stereotypes of personality and suggest that perceptions of actual sex differences may play a more important role than culturally based gender roles and socialization processes.

Predictors of Approach/Avoidance Achievement Goals: Personality Traits, Self-Esteem and Academic Self-Efficacy

This study aims to examine approach -avoidance achievement goals, five-factor personality traits, self-esteem and academic beliefs within a scope of a model. The study used a relational survey model; the sample group consisted of 513 students (189 male and 324 female) enrolled in the Faculty of Education at Gazi University. Students in this sample groups had different demographic features and were from different classrooms. Research data were obtained using the “Achievement Goals Scales,” “Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale,” “Five-Factor Personality Scale” and “Academic Self-Efficacy Scale.” Path analysis modeling was used to test the hypothesis models. It was found that students’ approach and avoidance achievement goals are explained by cause-effect relationship with personality traits, self-esteem and self-efficacy belief. In this study, it was found that self-efficacy belief and self-esteem are the most important variables that predict approach achievement goals and avoidance achievement goals, respectively. The research results were compared to and discussed with regard to the relevant literature. © 2014 IOJES. All rights reserved

Personality traits as predictors of occupational accident rates among workers of Khorasan Petrochemical Company, Iran

Received: January 2015, Accepted: February 2015 Background: Approximately, 90% of workplace accidents are due to human errors. The study of the relationship between individual differences and accidents and injuries are beneficial in the prevention of these accidents. The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism and occupational accident rates in the petrochemical industry. Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive correlational study. The study population consisted of line employees of Khorasan Petrochemical Company in Bojnourd, Iran (n = 1160); 300 employees were selected using stratified random sampling. Data collection tools consisted of the NEO FiveFactor Inventory and Incident Reporting Rate Scale. In order to analyze the data, regression analysis and to validate the results, confirmatory factor analysis were performed using AMOS 21 software. Results: Findings indicate that correlation coefficients between the five-factor personality traits and occupational accident rates were significant (P < 0.001). In stepwise multiple regression analyses, of the 5 independent variables, only the 2 variables of conscientiousness and agreeableness found permit entry into the regression equation (R 2 = 0.186, P < 0.001). Conclusions: The results of this study showed the importance of conscientiousness and agreeableness as predictors of occupational accident rates. Therefore, in order to select people for working in high risk environments, such as the petrochemical industry, we should rely on these variables.

Personality Traits and Subjective Health in Retirement Age – The Role of Personal Resources

Abstract The aim of the study was to analyse the relationship between five-factor personality traits and subjective health in retirement age, including the mediating role of personal resources. The sample comprised of 240 older adults approaching or of retirement age; aged 55-70 (M = 60.1 years). Subjective health was negatively associated with neuroticism and positively associated with extraversion and openness to experiences. Multiple mediation analyses indicated that personal resources (especially the sense of meaningfulness) mediated most of the analyzed associations between personality and subjective health. For conscientiousness suppressive effects were found