Low Agreeableness Research Articles

Emotional Labor in Health Care: The Moderating Roles of Personality and the Mediating Role of Sleep on Job Performance and Satisfaction.

The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of emotional labor on job performance and satisfaction, as well as to examine the mediating effect of sleep problems and the moderating effects of personality traits. A time-lagged study was conducted on 864 health professionals. Scales for emotional labor, sleep, personality traits, and job satisfaction were used and job performance data was obtained from records maintained by human resources. Structural equation modeling was performed to investigate the relations. Sleep problems only partially mediated the relationship between surface acting and job satisfaction but completely mediated the relationship between surface acting and job performance. Several personality traits were shown to moderate the relationship between surface acting and sleep problems. The effects were stronger for people with low agreeableness and high neuroticism. The relationship between high levels of deep acting and low levels of sleep problems was more pronounced in individuals with low extraversion. Supervisors should be conscious of emotional labor in the work context and provide necessary deep acting training to facilitate emotional regulation.

Effects of Personality and Emotion Regulation in Depressed Older Adult Inpatients

Personality pathology and emotion dysregulation are associated with impaired psychological and functional outcomes in adults. However, much less is known about their relationship with depression, social functioning, and suicidal behaviors among older clinical samples. The aim of this study was to examine how the two impact depression, social adjustment, and suicidal behavior in an inpatient sample of depressed adults 55 to 89 years of age (N=52). Personality (agreeableness and neuroticism) and suppression strategies (expressive and thought suppression) were first investigated individually and then jointly as a combined predictive model. Results found lower agreeableness predicted poorer social adjustment (β = -2.871, p < .01), while higher neuroticism (β = 0.426, p<.01) and greater use expressive suppression (β =.253, p <.05) each predicted more severe depressive symptoms. Individuals high in neuroticism also evidenced greater use of both thought suppression and expressive suppression, while those who were more depressed endorsed poorer social functioning. Although not reaching the point of statistical significance, lower agreeableness, higher use of suppression strategies, and poor social functioning were found to be moderately associated with experience of recent suicidal ideation. Our findings demonstrated personality pathology and ineffective emotion regulation are promising potential pathways in the detection and intervention of psychological and functional impairments in depressed older adults. Our study also highlighted the need for more research examining the effects of personality pathology and emotional dysregulation from a functional perspective, which could enhance the focus of target problem areas in interventions for severely depressed older adults.

Daily Association Between Sleep and Stressors: Role of Personality Traits

Poor sleep is associated with more stress across adult populations. The sleep—stress relationship is particularly important in nurses who are vulnerable to daily work-related stressors and poor sleep. Nurses with certain personality traits may be more vulnerable, however, the role that personality plays in the sleep-stress relationship has not previously been examined with lack of research in nurses. We examined how personality moderated the association between sleep characteristics and the perception of daily stressors in nurses. Participants were 61 oncology nurses who responded to a background survey that included a personality measure and completed 14 days of ecological momentary assessments. Each morning, participants reported sleep characteristics (i.e., perceived sleep sufficiency, sleep duration). Three times daily, participants reported their stressor experiences. We used multilevel models adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, work shift, and work day. Results showed that on average across 2 weeks, participants with higher sleep sufficiency (β=-21.06, p<.05) and longer sleep duration (β=-11.80, p<.05) reported lower stressor severity. Agreeableness moderated the sleep duration—stressor severity association (β=25.07, p<.01), such that longer sleep duration was associated with lower stressor severity for participants with lower agreeableness (β =-17.39, p<.01), but not those with higher agreeableness (β=5.66, p>.05). These findings indicate that the protective nature of longer sleep duration on stressful experiences may not occur in nurses high in agreeableness. Nurses high in agreeableness may take on more responsibilities, exposing themselves to more daily stress. Thus, nurses who are high in agreeableness may be a good target population for stress-reduction interventions.

The Relationship Between Big Five Personality Traits and Driving Styles in Older Adults

Older adults’ psychosocial factors, including personality, are correlated with driving performance and driving cessation. However, the relationship between personality and driving styles has been examined only among young and middle-aged drivers. This study examined the relationships of personality factors and self-reported driving styles among 72 healthy older drivers aged 65-85 (M=72.29, SD=5.36) using the Multidimensional Driving Style Inventory (MDSI) scale to measure reckless and careless, anxious, angry and hostile, and patient and careful driving styles. Personality was accessed with the Big Five Personality questionnaire. Correlational results indicated that less conscientiousness was significantly correlated with increased reckless and careless and less patient and careful driving styles; and lower agreeableness was significantly correlated with greater angry and hostile and less patient and careful driving styles. Being a man was associated with greater reckless and careless and angry and hostile driving styles. Age was not associated with driving styles. Accordingly, three regressions were tested. After controlling for gender, only lower conscientiousness was associated with greater reckless and careless driving style (β=-.007, p=.03). Men had a higher risk of reckless and careless (β=.342, p<.01) and angry and hostile (β=.392, p<.01) driving styles. Our results highlight the relationship between personality traits and self-reported driving styles among older adults, and how gender may influence some of these relationships. Future research should further investigate the associations between gender and personality traits and older adults’ driving mobility and safety.

Association of Genetic and Phenotypic Assessments With Onset of Disordered Eating Behaviors and Comorbid Mental Health Problems Among Adolescents

Eating disorders are serious mental disorders with increasing prevalence. Without early identification and treatment, eating disorders may run a long-term course. To characterize any associations among disordered eating behaviors (DEBs) and other mental health disorders and to identify early associations with the development of symptoms over time. This multicenter, population-based, longitudinal cohort study used data from baseline (collected in 2010), follow-up 1 (collected in 2012), and follow-up 2 (collected in 2015) of the IMAGEN Study, which included adolescents recruited from 8 European sites. The present study assessed data from 1623 healthy adolescents, aged 14 years at baseline, recruited from high schools. Data analyses were performed from January 2018 to September 2019. Body mass index (BMI), mental health symptoms, substance use behaviors, and personality variables were investigated as time-varying associations of DEBs (dieting, binge eating, and purging) or change in BMI over time. Polygenic risk scores were calculated to investigate genetic contributions associated with BMI, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and neuroticism to DEBs. In this cohort study of 1623 adolescents (829 girls [51.1%]) recruited at a mean (SD) age of 14.5 (0.4) years and followed up at ages 16 and 19 years, 278 adolescents (17.1%) reported binge eating, 334 adolescents (20.6%) reported purging, and 356 adolescents (21.9%) reported dieting at 14, 16, or 19 years. Among the precursors of DEBs, high BMI was associated with future dieting (OR, 3.44; 95% CI, 2.09-5.65). High levels of neuroticism (OR, 1.04; 95% CI, 1.01-1.06), conduct problems (OR, 1.41; 95% CI, 1.17-1.69), and deliberate self-harm (OR, 2.18; 95% CI, 1.37-3.45) were associated with future binge eating. Low agreeableness (OR, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.92-0.97), deliberate self-harm (OR, 2.59; 95% CI, 1.69-3.95), conduct problems (OR, 1.42; 95% CI, 1.20-1.68), alcohol misuse (OR, 1.31; 95% CI, 1.10-1.54), and drug abuse (OR, 2.91; 95% CI, 1.78-4.74) were associated with future purging. Polygenetic risk scores for BMI were associated with dieting (at 14 years: OR, 1.27; lower bound 95% CI, 1.08; at 16 years: OR, 1.38; lower bound 95% CI, 1.17); ADHD, with purging (at 16 years: OR, 1.25; lower bound 95% CI, 1.08; at 19 years, OR, 1.23; lower bound 95% CI, 1.06); and neuroticism, with binge eating (at 14 years: OR, 1.32; lower bound 95% CI, 1.11; at 16 years: OR, 1.24; lower bound 95% CI, 1.06), highlighting distinct etiologic overlaps between these traits. The DEBs predated other mental health problems, with dieting at 14 years associated with future symptoms of depression (OR, 2.53; 95% CI, 1.56-4.10), generalized anxiety (OR, 2.27; 95% CI, 1.14-4.51), deliberate self-harm (OR, 2.10; 95% CI, 1.51-4.24), emotional problems (OR, 1.24; 95% CI, 1.08-1.43), and smoking (OR, 2.16; 95% CI, 1.36-3.48). Purging at 14 years was also associated with future depression (OR, 2.87; 95% CI, 1.69-5.01) and anxiety (OR, 2.48; 95% CI, 1.49-4.12) symptoms. The findings of this study delineate temporal associations and shared etiologies among DEBs and other mental health disorders and emphasize the potential of genetic and phenotypical assessments of obesity, behavioral disorders, and neuroticism to improve early and differential diagnosis of eating disorders.

The Role of Violent Video Game Exposure, Personality, and Deviant Peers in Aggressive Behaviors Among Adolescents: A Two-Wave Longitudinal Study.

The impact of violent video game exposure (VVGE) on aggressive behaviors has been extensively explored, but still remains controversial. Although some studies have shown slight detrimental short-term effects of VVGE, other studies have failed to find any consequence. In addition, the existence of long-lasting effects on aggressiveness, or their impact on adolescents, are still not well established. One limitation of most of these studies is that they do not control for other important risk variables for aggressive behaviors, such as personality and deviant peers, nor have they investigated the possible moderation role of these risk factors in the link between VVGE and aggression. Therefore, the main aim was to examine the additive and interactive role of VVGE, personality, and deviant peers in adolescent aggressive behaviors cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Many regression analyses and a cross-lagged autoregressive model were carried out. At both waves, aggressive behavior was predicted by having deviant peers and specific personality traits, especially low agreeableness. VVGE also presented a slight but significant effect at both waves, but it became nonsignificant when controlling for other variables. No long-term effects on the relation between VVGE and aggressive behaviors were found. Some moderation effects were consistently found at both waves: when participants reported having more deviant peers, the effects of VVGE and low agreeableness on aggressive behaviors significantly increased. These findings suggest that multiple biopsychosocial variables and their complex interplay need to be examined to gain a better understanding of the origin and expression of aggressive behavior.

15554 Personality and its effects on dermatologic conditions: A review

Dermatologic conditions can have a significant impact on quality of life and psychosocial functioning. However, the psychosocial impact of a skin condition does not always correlate to objective medical severity. This discordance may, in part, be from differences in personality characteristics. As new methods of measuring personality have been developed, there has been more research into how personality affects dermatologic conditions. This review seeks to summarize research analyzing the interaction between personality and dermatologic conditions. Studies to date suggest associations of various personality characteristics with outcomes in some common, chronic skin conditions. In patients with atopic dermatitis (AD), those with higher conscientiousness exhibited less severe disease, and patients who developed AD during childhood displayed higher levels of agreeableness and openness as adults. Meanwhile, experimental studies suggest that agreeableness may help reduce symptoms. In contrast, patients with psoriasis demonstrated lower levels of extraversion. Experimental studies in psoriasis also revealed that lower agreeableness was associated with greater scratching and self-consciousness with greater itch. In vitiligo, high neuroticism and low extraversion was associated with worse quality of life. Importantly, the perceived severity of vitiligo was better explained by a patient’s personality and less by clinical objective measures. These findings show that personality characteristics can vary among different skin diseases, possibly augmenting patients’ symptoms or developing afterwards in response. In addition, experimental studies demonstrate that some personality characteristics may promote behaviors that prevent improvement of disease. Future research should further analyze which personality characteristics can impede treatment and to develop methods that improve outcomes.

Personality Factors' Impact on the Structural Integrity of Mentalizing Network in Old Age: A Combined PET-MRI Study.

The mentalizing network (MN) treats social interactions based on our understanding of other people's intentions and includes the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), temporoparietal junction (TPJ), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), precuneus (PC), and amygdala. Not all elders are equally affected by the aging-related decrease of mentalizing abilities. Personality has recently emerged as a strong determinant of functional connectivity in MN areas. However, its impact on volumetric changes across the MN in brain aging is still unknown. To address this issue, we explored the determinants of volume decrease in MN components including amyloid burden, personality, and APOE genotyping in a previously established cohort of 130 healthy elders with a mean follow-up of 54 months. Personality was assessed with the Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Personality Inventory-Revised. Regression models corrected for multiple comparisons were used to identify predictors of volume loss including time, age, sex, personality, amyloid load, presence of APOE epsilon 4 allele, and cognitive evolution. In cases with higher Agreeableness scores, there were lower volume losses in PCC, PC, and amygdala bilaterally. This was also the case for the right mPFC in elders displaying lower Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. In multiple regression models, the effect of Agreeableness was still observed in left PC and right amygdala and that of Conscientiousness was still observed in right mPFC volume loss (26.3% of variability, significant age and sex). Several Agreeableness (Modesty) and Conscientiousness (order, dutifulness, achievement striving, and self-discipline) facets were positively related to increased volume loss in cortical components of the MN. In conclusion, these data challenge the beneficial role of higher levels of Agreeableness and Conscientiousness in old age, showing that they are associated with an increased rate of volume loss within the MN.

The Importance of Antagonism: Explaining Similarities and Differences in Psychopathy and Narcissism's Relations With Aggression and Externalizing Outcomes.

Psychopathy and narcissism are multidimensional constructs with substantial overlap. Low agreeableness (i.e., antagonism) features prominently in clinical and theoretical descriptions of both disorders. The authors examined whether antagonism components of their assessments accounted for the overlap between narcissism and psychopathy. Next, they tested whether the antagonism components were responsible for the relations that narcissism and psychopathy bore to aggression outcomes. Using multiple regression, the authors found that the low agreeableness component accounted for the majority of overlap between psychopathy and narcissism, nearly all of the variance in narcissism's relations with aggression outcomes, and the majority of variance in psychopathy's relations with aggression outcomes. Disinhibitory traits, which serve to distinguish psychopathy from narcissism, accounted for incremental variance in aggression outcomes for psychopathy. Results are discussed in the context of the overlap between narcissism and psychopathy. The authors argue that low agreeableness is largely responsible for the maladaptive outcomes associated with grandiose narcissism and psychopathy.

Trait aggression is primarily a facet of antagonism: Evidence from dominance, latent correlational, and item-level analyses

Trait aggression has been studied for decades and yet remains adrift from broader frameworks of personality such as the Five Factor Model. Across two datasets from undergraduate participants (Study 1: N = 359; Study 2; N = 620), we observed strong manifest and latent correlations between trait aggression and lower agreeableness (i.e., greater antagonism). Trait aggression was also linked to greater neuroticism and lower conscientiousness, but their effect sizes fell beneath our preregistered threshold. Subsequent item-level analyses were unable to articulate trait aggression and agreeableness items into separate factors using the IPIP-NEO, but not the Big Five Inventory. Our findings suggest that trait aggression is accurately characterized as primarily a facet of antagonism, while also reflecting other personality dimensions.

Personality structure in east and west Africa: Lexical studies of personality in Maa and Supyire-Senufo.

The field of psychology relies heavily on evidence from North America and Northern Europe. Universally applicable models require input from around the globe. Indigenous lexical studies of personality, which define the most salient person-descriptive concepts and their structure in a population, provide this. Such results are reported from two nonindustrialized communities, representing 2 of the 3 main language families of Africa, in groups with differing cultural characteristics. Maasai participants, traditionally herders in rural Kenya and Tanzania, have a highly structured, traditional culture. Supyire-Senufo participants are traditional horticulturalists in Mali. The 203 most common person-descriptive terms in Maasai were administered to 166 participants, who described 320 persons (166 highly regarded, 154 less so). The optimal emic solution included 5 factors: virtue/moral-character, debilitation/vulnerability, boldness/surgency, hubris/pride, and timidity. In the Maasai context, descriptions of well-regarded individuals were exceptionally uniform, suggesting the role of personality language in norm socialization in tight, traditional cultures. In Supyire, 115 participants used 208 person-descriptive terms to describe 227 targets (half highly regarded). The optimal emic solution included 10 factors: social self-regulation, well-being, vitality/resilience, broadmindedness, diligence versus laziness, madness, stubbornness versus attractiveness, acceptance versus discontent, hurry/worry, and peacefulness. The best convergence between the languages was at the 3-factor level, where factors relate to moral character, low agreeableness coupled with high extraversion, and emotional stability. Beginning with the 4-factor level, content related to local cultural characteristics became apparent. In both languages, 2-factor solutions matched the Big Two, but 3-, 5-, and 6-factor solutions failed to overlap with etic Pan-Cultural Three, Big Five, or Big Six models. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

An Experiment: Voluntary Separation in Indefinitely Repeated Prisoner's Dilemma Game

In economic and social relationships, such as employment and marriages, participants often have the option to separate from their partner. This study experimentally investigates how the option to separate with or without a cost affects cooperation in indefinitely repeated prisoner’s dilemma game. For costly separation, I consider the cost of establishing a new match as well as the opportunity cost of missed interactions due to delays in matching. The theoretical model assumes the coexistence of non-strategic defectors and strategic conditional cooperators and predicts the long-run cooperation rate to which the population converges as players learn the initially unknown type distribution through experience. The experimental data support the theoretical prediction that compared to no separation, costless separation lowers the cooperation rate in the long run. The low cooperation rate and positive assortment through separation from defectors result in greater equity within matches. Costly separation increases the cooperation rate compared to no separation, yet the higher cooperation rate improves efficiency only under the high continuation probability.

Political correctness and the alt-right: The development of extreme political attitudes.

Recent studies have documented a shift from moderate political attitudes to more extreme attitudes at the ends of the political spectrum. This can be seen in Political Correctness (PC) on the left, and white identitarian (WI) attitudes on the ‘Alt-Right’ (AR). While highly covered in mainstream media, limited academic research has investigated their possible antecedents and psychological correlates. The current study investigated the prevalence and psychological predictors of these attitudes. Utilising a quota-based sample of 512 U.S. participants, we found that extreme political attitudes were associated with various personality traits, social media use, and upbringing. PC attitudes were associated with agreeableness, black-white thinking, social-media use, and perceived overprotective parenting. WI attitudes were associated with low agreeableness and openness, and high black-white thinking. Our results show that extreme left and right attitudes are separated by individual differences, and that authoritarianism can be seen on both the left and the right.

Why do people spread false information online? The effects of message and viewer characteristics on self-reported likelihood of sharing social media disinformation.

Individuals who encounter false information on social media may actively spread it further, by sharing or otherwise engaging with it. Much of the spread of disinformation can thus be attributed to human action. Four studies (total N = 2,634) explored the effect of message attributes (authoritativeness of source, consensus indicators), viewer characteristics (digital literacy, personality, and demographic variables) and their interaction (consistency between message and recipient beliefs) on self-reported likelihood of spreading examples of disinformation. Participants also reported whether they had shared real-world disinformation in the past. Reported likelihood of sharing was not influenced by authoritativeness of the source of the material, nor indicators of how many other people had previously engaged with it. Participants’ level of digital literacy had little effect on their responses. The people reporting the greatest likelihood of sharing disinformation were those who thought it likely to be true, or who had pre-existing attitudes consistent with it. They were likely to have previous familiarity with the materials. Across the four studies, personality (lower Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, higher Extraversion and Neuroticism) and demographic variables (male gender, lower age and lower education) were weakly and inconsistently associated with self-reported likelihood of sharing. These findings have implications for strategies more or less likely to work in countering disinformation in social media.

The personality dispositions and resting-state neural correlates associated with aggressive children.

Despite aggression being detrimental to children’s physical health, mental health and social development, the dispositional and neurological antecedents of aggression in the child are poorly understood. Here we examined the relationship between trait aggression as measured by Buss and Warren’s Aggression Questionnaire and personality traits measured with Big Five Questionnaire for Children in 77 primary-school children and recorded resting-state brain activity (fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations [fALFF]) and resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) using functional magnetic resonance imaging. The present results showed that trait aggression was negatively correlated with agreeableness and positively correlated with neuroticism. The brain analyses showed that children with a higher propensity for aggression had a lower fALFF mainly in the left superior temporal gyrus, right parahippocampal gyrus and left supramarginal gyrus. Physical and total aggressions were negatively associated with rsFC between the right parahippocampal gyrus and the right putamen. Further analysis revealed that this rsFC could moderate the influence of neuroticism on total aggression. Moreover, the results suggest the presence of a sex difference in the neurodevelopmental mechanisms underlying aggression in middle childhood. Overall, our findings indicate that aggressive children have lower agreeableness and higher neuroticism, and the underlying neural systems are mainly implicated in social judgment and empathy.

Factors related to positive and negative attitudes toward dreams: An empirical investigation

Attitudes toward dreams can be positive, e.g., “I think that dreaming is in general a very interesting phenomenon” or negative, e.g., “Dreams are boring for me”. At first, research treated positive and negative attitudes toward dream as two poles of a unidimensional concept but recent evidence has suggested that despite the large overlap both concepts can be differentiated. The findings of the present online survey (N = 1450) supported this notion as variables like age, dream recall frequency, neuroticism, agreeableness are differentially associated with positive and negative attitudes towards dreams. Dream recall frequency and neuroticism were more closely related to positive attitudes toward dreams, whereas low agreeableness was more closely associated with negative attitudes toward dreams. Overall, the correlations between attitude towards dreams and stable factors like personality dimensions raise the question as to how and when attitudes towards dreams are formed, i.e., longitudinal studies during childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood would be desirable.

Reoperations After Cataract Surgery: Is the Incidence Predictable Through a Risk Factor Stratification System?

IntroductionThe objective of the study was to quantify the number of procedures needed to achieve the best possible surgical outcome, depending on the number and type of risk factors identified.MethodsTwo independent observers reviewed the medical records of 1,502 patients who underwent phacoemulsification surgery, during a two-year period (January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2015). Preoperative risk factors were documented according to the stratification system used. Based on the total risk score, each case was allocated to one of four risk groups with 0, 1-2, 3-5, and >6 total risk factors, respectively. All qualitative and quantitative characteristics were gathered and included in a multivariate analysis.ResultsA total of 1,792 eyes were included. Αge over 88 years, low cooperation ability with the patient, and surgeries performed by residents tended to have more often complications, while white/intumescent cataract, iridodonesis/phacodonesis, α1 blockers intake, and male gender are risk factors positively associated with more than one surgery.ConclusionsRisk factors tend to be prognostic for possible intraoperative complications. The number of procedures needed for the best possible surgical outcome seems to depend on these preoperative risk factors. A stratification method increases the level of awareness of the surgeon, and therefore may decrease the number of complications and even procedures while enhancing the "safe" practice and skills of residents.

POTENTIAL CLUSTERS IN BANAT AND THEIR ROLE IN REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

The interest in the study of clusters and their role in the economic development of certain regions has constantly grown in the past years. This interest has also been emphasized by the emergence of successful clusters in many regions; these are clusters that have visibly and they have determined the increase in competitiveness of those particular regions. Clusters are geographic gatherings of firms and institutions, connected to each other and specialized in certain fields of activity. In Romania, due to the low cooperation level among enterprises we cannot say that proper clusters exists, but just some “spatial gatherings” of firms activating in certain domains, connected by the need of using certain natural resources and the existence of a specialized workforce in that particular domain. Natural “clusters” can be identified by means of quantitative analyses, these indicating the possibility to identify certain spatial assemblies of firms in a certain economic sector. Starting from these quantitative analyses, for Banat region have been identified some important spatial gatherings of firms activating in certain domains which could represent potential clusters in this area. As clusters function on the principle of cooperation among enterprises, a strong point of the region is the presence of foreign investors which promoted the model of enterprise cooperation through sub-contracting local enterprises. Among these, we mention the Italian investors which brought to Banat, especially to Timi? County the Italian cluster model. Are there in Banat premises for the emergence of clusters? Which are the fields of activity in which these clusters can emerge? What role will these clusters play in the economic development of the region? These are just some of the questions that we aim answering to through this study.

Nightmare Distress Questionnaire: associated factors.

The diagnosis of a nightmare disorder is based on clinically significant distress caused by the nightmares, eg, sleep or mood disturbances during the day. The question what factors might be associated with nightmare distress in addition to nightmares frequency is not well studied. Overall, 1,474 persons (893 women, 581 men) completed an online survey. Nightmare distress was measured with the Nightmare Distress Questionnaire. The findings indicated that nightmare distress, measured by the Nightmare Distress Questionnaire, correlated with a variety of factors in addition to nightmare frequency: neuroticism, female sex, low education, extraversion, low agreeableness, and sensation seeking. Moreover, the percentage of replicative trauma-related nightmares was also associated with higher nightmare distress. A large variety of factors are associated with nightmare distress, a finding that is of clinical importance. The construct harm avoidance, however, was not helpful in explaining interindividual differences in nightmare distress. Furthermore, the relationship between nightmare distress and other factors, eg, education or agreeableness, is not yet understood.

Parental Differential Treatment of Siblings and Fairness Perception: Moderating Role of Personality

Family harmony is likely to be challenged if children perceive that their parents do not treat them and their siblings fairly. The direction of parental favor is related to an individual’s perception of fairness but does not fully explain it. The current study investigated whether personality traits moderated the relationship between parental differential treatment and fairness perception. A total of 762 undergraduates (aged between 18 and 25) completed the Big Five Inventory and nominated a ‘target sibling’ whom they considered as they completed the Sibling Inventory of Differential Experience and rated the fairness of parenting. Regression analyses showed that slightly more affection towards the participant and slightly more control over the target sibling were evaluated as most fair, whereas extremely unequal parental treatment (regardless of who was favored) was evaluated as very unfair. Of the Big Five personality traits, agreeableness, extraversion, and openness moderated the fairness perception of parental differential affection but not parental differential control. Favored individuals who were highly agreeable and open to novelty were less likely to rate affection preference as fair than favored individuals who were of low agreeableness and low openness. Also, individuals high on extraversion rated both extreme parental favor and disfavor as less fair than individuals who were low on extraversion. The current study highlights the importance of personality in the fairness perception of parental differential treatment. Implications for parents and family practitioners are provided.