Higher Levels Of Neuroticism Research Articles

Screening for maternal postpartum depression and associationswith personality traits and social support. A Polish follow-upstudy 4 weeks and 3 months after delivery.

To investigate the likelihood of postpartum depression and to explore maternal characteristics in terms of personality, social support and other medical and psychological data. A sample of 548 patients was investigated 4 weeks and 3 months after delivery. They responded to questionnaires containing sociodemographic questions: the EPDS (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale), the PHQ-9 (Patient Health Questionnaire-9), theNEO-FFI (Personality Inventory), and the BSSS (Berlin Social Support Scales). Probable depression any time during first 3 months postpartum was prevalent among 6.38% of women, based on the following criteria: EPDS > 12 points and PHQ-9 > 9 points. A score of EPDS > 9 in the first week after delivery (ORa = 4.16; CI 1.59-10.86), a history of hospitalisation during pregnancy (ORa = 3.51; CI 1.32-9.20), a high level of neuroticism (ORa = 1.37; CI 1.05-1.77), and high buffering-protective social support (ORa =2.56; 1.25-5.23) were significantly associated with depressive symptoms. Potential protective factors were initial breastfeeding (ORa = 0.31; CI 0.11-0.90) and high satisfaction with currently received social support (ORa=0.41;CI 0.22-0.79). The total dropout rate was 23%. New mothers who are neurotic and who suffered from physical or mental problems during pregnancy and puerperium might experience depressive symptoms more easily. They would also protect those close to them from negative information about themselves. A lack of initial breastfeeding and unsatisfactory social support played a similar role.

Neuroticism and Emotion Regulation Predict Attention Performance during Positive Affect

Most studies of personality and attention have focused on negative affect and psychopathology. We predicted that to the extent that personality characteristics involve the ability to control emotion and attention, the same principles would apply whether the circumstances involved negative or positive affect. Participants completed a dual-task attention experiment under conditions of positive affect, involving both low and high arousal. It was found that self-reported poorer attentional control, higher levels of neuroticism, and more difficulties in emotion regulation predicted greater differences in performance between low and high arousal conditions. Rumination styles did not predict differences in performance among these conditions. The demonstration of disruptions in attention by arousal during positive affect raises important questions about the interactions among individual differences, arousal, and mechanisms of attention.

The Big Five personality and temperamental traits and its correlation with styles of coping with stress in the fire brigade officers

Abstract
 Selecting specific professional activities (e.g. a brigade officer) and methods for coping with difficult situations may result from personal predispositions of a given person. Personality is founded on the innate temperament. The way of dealing with stress depends on personality traits whose influence is manifested, amongst other things, in the selection of specific coping styles.
 The current study aim to examine the level of correlation between personality and temperamental traits with manifested coping styles.
 The study covered 58 volunteers – male fire brigade officers. The following tools were used: Personality Inventory, NEO-FFI, Formal Characteristics of Behaviour: Temperament Inventory – Revised Version, FCZ-KT (R) and Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations, CISS.
 Emotion-focused coping style for stressful situations correlates with the following traits: positively, with perseveration (r=0.5115) and with emotional reactivity (r=0.4927), and negatively, with briskness (r=-0.3926) and endurance (r=-0.5408). The task-oriented coping style for stressful situations correlates positively with extraversion (r=0.3236) and conscientiousness (r=0.3088), and negatively with neuroticism (r=-0.3368) in the NEO-FFI. The emotion-focused coping style for stressful situations is positively correlated with neuroticism (NEO-FFI) (r=0.4150).
 In fire brigade officers, As far as personality traits were concerned, fire brigade officers scored relatively high in extraversion, conscientiousness and low in neuroticism and were likely to demonstrate the task-oriented coping style for stressful situations. Lower level of perseveration and high level of briskness and endurance were associated with emotion-focused coping style for stressful situations. Similarly, the tendency to focus on emotions experienced in stressful situations were associated with high level of neuroticism in the study group.

Associations between personality and distress tolerance among trauma-exposed young adults

Low distress tolerance (DT) is related to negative mental health outcomes, particularly among trauma-exposed populations, who are at greater risk for mental health problems. However, little is known about potential etiological factors underlying the development of perceived (i.e., self-report) or behaviorally assessed DT. The present study examined associations between Big Five personality factors (i.e., openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism) and multiple measures of DT. Participants were 440 college students (71.4% women) endorsing a history of one or more potentially traumatic events. Participants completed the abbreviated Big Five Inventory (BFI), Distress Tolerance Scale (DTS), Discomfort Intolerance Scale (DIS), breath-holding task, and Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT). Results of a series of hierarchical linear regressions indicated that higher levels of neuroticism and lower levels of conscientiousness were significantly associated with lower DTS scores, but no other DT measures. Greater extraversion was significantly associated with greater DT on the DIS and the PASAT. Lower levels of openness were associated with lower DT on the breath-holding task. Individual differences in normal personality traits account for significant variation in multiple measures of DT and may provide insight into the etiology of various forms of DT.

Resisting Temptation: Is Compulsive Buying an Expression of Personality Deficits?

We summarized studies focusing on the associations between compulsive buying and temperament/personality traits in community and clinical samples published between 2010 and 2016. We found significant associations between compulsive buying (CB) and high levels of Behavioral Activation System (BAS) reactivity, Novelty Seeking, and Positive Urgency (promotion focus), as well as high levels of Neuroticism, Emotional Instability, and Negative Urgency (prevention focus). Finally, the results showed negative relationships between CB and lack of Effortful Control, Self-Control, Perseverance, and Premeditation. CB seems to be driven by positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement as well as a breakdown in self-regulation. Longitudinal studies should investigate the development of CB throughout time, and experimental studies should examine whether individuals with CB suffer from a general vs. a cue-specific breakdown in self-regulation. Psychotherapy should focus on the training of self-control as well as the development of behavioral alternatives to regulate emotions.

The big five personality traits and parental burnout: Protective and risk factors

Parental burnout is an emotional disorder related to the context of parenthood (Roskam, Raes, & Mikolajczak, 2017). Personality differences in parental burnout were explored. One thousand seven hundred twenty-three parents, age 20 to 75years, responded to a questionnaire. Results indicated that three personality traits are linked to this syndrome. A high level of neuroticism, a low level of conscientiousness, and a low level of agreeableness were all found to be risk factors for parental burnout. Parents who have difficulty initiating and maintaining positive affective relations with their child(ren) (high neuroticism), identifying and responding to their child(ren)’s needs (low agreeableness), or providing their child(ren) with a structured and coherent environment (low conscientiousness) are more likely to experience parental burnout syndrome.

The Repeated Recording Illusion

The repeated recording illusion refers to the phenomenon in which listeners believe to hear different musical stimuli while they are in fact identical. The present paper aims to construct an experimental paradigm to enable the systematic measurement of this phenomenon, investigating potentially related extrinsic and individual difference factors. Participants were told to listen to “different” musical performances of an original piece when in fact they were exposed to the same repeated recording. Each time, the recording was accompanied by a text suggesting a low, medium, or high prestige of the performer. Most participants (75%) believed that they had heard different musical performances. Participants with high levels of neuroticism and openness were significantly more likely to fall for the illusion. While the explicit information presented with the music influenced participants’ ratings significantly, the effect of repeated exposure was only significant in the more familiar music condition. These results suggest that like many other human judgments, evaluations of music also rely on cognitive biases and heuristics that do not depend on the stimuli themselves. The repeated recording illusion can constitute a useful paradigm for investigating nonmusical factors because it allows for the study of their effects while the music remains the same.

The role of personality traits in development of overtraining syndrome in elite athletes in adolescence: a review study

Sport performance of elite athletes is accompanied by long-term intensive training. Without adequate period of rest this intensive training can cause overreaching of young athlete. Stress, fatigue, lack of rest and load before and during competitions increase the risk of overtraining that leads to a decrease of performance, persistent fatigue, reduced ability to compete and mood disorders. The main purpose of this study is to map the theoretical background and previous empirical research work to integrate existing knowledge about a role of personality traits in development of overtraining syndrome of young elite athletes and to create basis for a further research in the field of sport psychology. The review of quantitative researches covered the period from 1999 to 2016. Nine relevant studies fulfilling the criteria were chosen. Neuroticism and Conscientiousness were found to be significant predictors of athlete’s performance. The differences between athletes and physically inactive population were found for dimension of Neuroticism, Extraversion and Conscientiousness. Differences between individual and team sports were found in all five dimensions of personality. Some differences occur also in female and male athletes and athletes competing on national and international level of competition compared to those competing on regional level of competition. Due to the symptoms of overtraining syndrome and areas that can be affected by it, it is possible to assume certain changes in personality traits, caused by long-term overload of the athletes. High level of Neuroticism and Conscientiousness are considered as possible risk factors for development of overtraining syndrome.

Effect of neuroticism on risk of cardiovascular disease in depressed persons - a Swedish population-based cohort study

BackgroundThe relationship between neuroticism, depression and cardiovascular disease (CVD) is complex and has so far not been studied in depth. The aim of this study was to determine if neuroticism is an effect-modifier in the association between depression and CVD. Data derived from a longitudinal cohort study on mental health, work and relations among adults (20–64 years), including 10,443 individuals. Depression was assessed using the Major Depression Inventory (MDI) and neuroticism by the Swedish Scale of Personality (SSP). Outcomes of cardiovascular disease were register-based from the National inpatient register.ResultsBoth depression (OR 1.9 (95%CI 1.4, 2.5)) and high levels of neuroticism (OR 1.2 (95%CI 1.1–1.3)) were associated with increased risk of CVD. The combined effect of depression and neuroticism on the risk of CVD revealed HRs ranging from 1.0 to 1.9 after adjusting for age and gender, socioeconomic position, prevalent hypertension and diabetes. Almost similar associations were seen after further adjustment for lifestyle factors.ConclusionNeuroticism increased the risk of CVD in depressed persons. We found synergistic interaction between neuroticism and depression status in predicting future risk of CVD.

The Effects of Touching and Stroking a Cat on the Inferior Frontal Gyrus in People

ABSTRACTOur study evaluated the effects on the prefrontal cortex, especially the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), of people when touching and stroking a real or soft toy cat, using functional near infrared spectroscopy. Thirty under-graduate students (10 males, 20 females) were recruited and performed three tactile tasks with a real cat and a soft toy cat using their right hand. They also filled in the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM), to measure their emotional responses, and the NEO-Five Factor Inventory, to assess their personalities. During the tactile interactions with the real cat, the integral values of oxygenated hemoglobin in the left IFG of the females were significantly greater than in the males. The valence scores of the SAM after the real cat-associated tasks in females were significantly higher than after the toy cat-associated tasks. Additionally, the number of times the females stroked the real cat was significantly positively correlated with the activation levels of the left IFG and the valence scores of the SAM. The activation levels of the left IFG in females were also positively correlated with neuroticism when stroking the real cat. Thus, in females, especially those with higher levels of neuroticism, touching/stroking the cat improved their mood. The effects of interacting with a cat may be different between the genders.

Does Neuroticism Influence Oral Health-Related QOL in Patients with Removable Partial Dentures?

This prospective cohort study investigated the relationship between patient neuroticism and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) before and after prosthetic treatment as well as changes in OHRQoL-namely, treatment efficacy. Sixty-three patients (23 men and 40 women; mean age 67.2 ± 8.6 years), who were scheduled to receive new removable partial dentures (RPDs), were recruited. OHRQoL was assessed using the Japanese version of the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-J). The Japanese version of the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) was used to assess neuroticism. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was calculated to determine the association between neuroticism and OHIP-J scores before and after treatment. After stratifying patients according to neuroticism score, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used for intragroup comparison of OHIP-J scores before and after treatment. Moreover, logistic regression analysis was used to determine the impact of covariates on treatment efficacy such as age, sex, Eichner classification, neuroticism, changes in maximal occlusal force, and OHIP-J scores before treatment. Statistical analyses showed that higher neuroticism scores were associated with higher total OHIP-J scores before treatment ( r = 0.41, P = 0.001) but were not associated with OHIP-J scores after treatment ( r = 0.07, P = 0.566). When the effect of all independent variables was analyzed in multivariate analysis, neuroticism and OHIP-J scores before treatment affected treatment efficacy. These results suggest that OHRQoL of patients with higher levels of neuroticism was low before prosthetic treatment but significantly improved by oral rehabilitation with RPDs to the same level as patients with lower levels of neuroticism. Knowledge Transfer Statement: The results of this study may change the clinical perception of the effect of prosthetic rehabilitation with removable partial dentures in patients with higher levels of neuroticism. The study concluded that prosthetic rehabilitation could contribute toward satisfaction even in neurotic patients, who are presumed to show less satisfaction with their oral status.

Self-reported Discrimination and Depressive Symptoms Among Older Chinese Adults in Chicago.

Discrimination is part of life for many Americans, especially ethnic minorities. Focusing on older Chinese Americans, this study examines the association between self-reported discrimination and depressive symptoms and identifies subgroups that are more likely to report experiencing discrimination. We conducted cross-sectional analysis of data collected from adults (age 60+ years) of Chinese origin residing in the Greater Chicago area (N = 3,004). Self-reported discrimination was assessed by the Experiences of Discrimination instrument and was dichotomized (yes vs no). Depressive symptoms were measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Logistic regression of self-reported discrimination and negative binominal regression of depressive symptoms were conducted. About 21.5% of the sample reported having experienced discrimination. The odds of reporting discrimination are higher for those who are younger, have higher education and income, are more acculturated, have been in the United States longer, live outside Chinatown, and have higher levels of neuroticism and conscientiousness. Self-reported discrimination is significantly and positively associated with depressive symptoms, independent of sociodemographic characteristics, migration-related variables, and personality factors. Findings suggest a robust relationship between self-reported discrimination and depressive symptoms in older Chinese Americans. They further suggest that the relatively advantaged groups-younger, higher socioeconomic status, more acculturated, and living outside Chinatown-are more likely to report experiencing discrimination.

Three-way interaction of neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness in the internalizing disorders: Evidence of disorder specificity in a psychiatric sample

It is well-established that neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness are individually associated with internalizing disorders, but research suggests that these main effects may be qualified by a three-way interaction when predicting depression. The current study was the first to examine this three-way interaction in a psychiatric sample (N=463) with a range of internalizing symptoms as the outcomes. Using two omnibus personality inventories and a diagnostic interview, the expected three-way interaction emerged most consistently for symptoms of major depression, and there was also evidence of synergistic effects for post-traumatic stress disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. Findings indicate that, even in a clinically-distressed and currently-disordered sample, high levels of extraversion and conscientiousness protect against distress disorders for those with high levels of neuroticism.

Erratum to: High levels of neuroticism are associated with decreased cortical folding of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.

Erratum to: High levels of neuroticism are associated with decreased cortical folding of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.

The interactive effect of parent personality and medication knowledge on adherence in children awaiting solid organ transplantation.

The study aimed to examine parent personality factors as predictors of parent medication knowledge and parent-report of child medication adherence. Seventy-eight parents (Mage = 37.68, 87.2% female) of children (Mage = 8.89, range: 0-20 years) undergoing evaluation for a solid organ transplant were recruited. Parents completed questionnaires about their personality, knowledge of their child's medications, and their child's level of medication adherence. Greater time since the child's diagnosis predicted lower levels of medication knowledge, while higher levels of Neuroticism and Extraversion predicted greater levels of medication knowledge. Greater medication knowledge predicted greater levels of medication adherence, with this effect being moderated by conscientiousness. Children of parents with low knowledge and low conscientiousness had the lowest levels of adherence. Parent personality is significantly related to medication knowledge and children's adherence prior to transplant. As parent personality is theoretically stable, Neuroticism (N), Extraversion (E), and Conscientiousness (C) serve as risk and protective factors that may influence medication knowledge and adherence even after transplantation. Parent medication knowledge and adherence are modifiable factors that would be appropriate targets for intervention during the pretransplant period. (PsycINFO Database Record

Personality Traits and Performance Contracts: Evidence from a Field Experiment among Maternity Care Providers in India.

We study how agents respond to performance incentives according to key personality traits (conscientiousness and neuroticism) through a field experiment offering financial incentives for improving maternal and neonatal health outcomes to rural Indian doctors. More conscientious providers performed better--but improved less--under performance incentives. The effect of the performance incentives was also smaller for providers with higher levels of neuroticism. Our results contribute to a growing body of empirical research on heterogeneous responses to incentives and have implications for worker selection.

0324 RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PERSONALITY DOMAINS, NIGHTMARES, AND SLEEP QUALITY

Previous research suggests certain personality traits (e.g., neuroticism) and dysfunctional sleep-related cognitions may perpetuate sleep difficulties, but few studies have examined this relationship. The current study examines personality domains as predictors of sleep quality and nightmare severity, frequency, and intensity in a college sample. Participants were 348 undergraduate students (64% female; M age = 20.17 [SD=2.77]) from a large university in Texas (U.S.) who were administered an online questionnaire battery including the Disturbing Dreams and Nightmare Severity Index (DDNSI), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PQSI), and Big Five Inventory (BFI) of personality traits. Two multiple regressions were conducted in order to determine if personality traits predicted nightmare symptoms and overall sleep quality/insomnia. The omnibus regression for personality factors predicting DDSNI was significant, F(5, 342) = 12.75, p < .001, R2 = .16. Higher levels of Neuroticism (β = 0.35, p < .001) and Openness (β = 0.21, p < .001) significantly predicted greater nightmare symptoms. The omnibus regression for personality factors predicting PSQI was significant, F(5, 342) = 13.66, p < .001, R2 = .15. Higher levels of Neuroticism (β = 0.27, p < .001) significantly predicted worse sleep quality/insomnia symptoms. The study indicates that the personality factor of neuroticism is related to several dimensions of disturbed sleep including nightmare symptoms and sleep quality/insomnia. Hyperarousal may moderate this relationship, but more research is needed. Additionally, greater openness was related to greater nightmare symptoms, which may reflect propensity of more impressible and imaginative individuals to have and/or report unusual experiences like frequent nightmares. More research is needed to understand the relationship between personality factors and sleep disturbances like nightmares and insomnia. None.

Does Personality Matter in Diabetes Adherence? Exploring the Pathways between Neuroticism and Patient Adherence in Couples with Type 2 Diabetes.

Personality has received some attention in the Type 2 diabetes literature; however, research has not linked personality and diabetes adherence behaviors (diet and exercise), identified pathways through which they are associated, nor taken into consideration important contextual factors that influence behavior (the patient's partner). Dyadic data from 117 married, heterosexual couples in which one member is diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes was used to explore associations between each partner's neuroticism and patient dietary and exercise adherence through the pathways of negative affect, depression symptoms, and couple-level diabetes efficacy (both patient and spouse report of confidence in the patient's ability to adhere to diabetes management regimens). Results revealed that higher levels of neuroticism were associated with lower patient dietary and exercise adherence through (1) higher levels of depression symptoms (for patients' neuroticism) and negative affect (for spouses' neuroticism), and (2) lower levels of couple-level diabetes efficacy. The results from this study provide evidence that both patient and spouse personality traits are associated with patient dietary and exercise adherence through increased emotional distress-albeit different emotional pathways for patients and spouses-and lower couple confidence in the patients' ability to manage their diabetes.

High levels of neuroticism are associated with decreased cortical folding of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

The personality trait neuroticism has been identified as a vulnerability factor for common psychiatric diseases and defining potential neuroanatomical markers for early recognition and prevention strategies is mandatory. Because both personality traits and cortical folding patterns are early imprinted and timely stable there is reason to hypothesize an association between neuroticism and cortical folding. Thus, to identify a putative linkage, we tested whether the degree of neuroticism is associated with local cortical folding in a sample of 109 healthy individuals using a surface-based MRI approach. Based on previous findings we additionally tested for a potential association with cortical thickness. We found a highly significant negative correlation between the degree of neuroticism and local cortical folding of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), i.e., high levels of neuroticism were associated with low cortical folding of the left DLPFC. No association was found with cortical thickness. The present study is the first to describe a linkage between the extent of local cortical folding and the individual degree of neuroticism in healthy subjects. Because neuroticism is a vulnerability factor for common psychiatric diseases such as depression our finding indicates that alterations of DLPFC might constitute a neurobiological marker elevating risk for psychiatric burden.

Personality Traits, Boredom, and Loneliness as Predictors of Facebook Use in On-Campus and Online University Students

This study examined the relationship between individual differences (Big Five personality traits, self-esteem, loneliness, narcissism, shyness, and boredom) and social networking behaviours in two samples of Australian undergraduate students, one enrolled on-campus (n = 93) and another in a completely online (n = 113) version of the same subject. Participants completed an online questionnaire measuring personality traits, psychological variables, and Facebook use. Negative binomial regression models showed that on-campus students with higher levels of neuroticism, extraversion, and loneliness tended to have more Facebook friends, however, no significant predictors of number of friends were found for online students. There were no significant predictors of time spent using Facebook per day for either cohort. Contrary to expectations, boredom was not a significant predictor of time spent on Facebook for on-campus students, but the low participation and completion rate for this on-campus group suggests that students high on boredom proneness were unlikely to have completed the survey.