Browsing by Subject "personality"

Adolescent delinquency is a prevalent concern, which carries with psychological and societal costs. Deviant peer affiliation and criminogenic attitudes, as well as personality traits are known to be associated with delinquency, but their interlinked effects are less studied. The present study examines the role of personality in a deviant socialization context. Specifically, I examine whether peer deviance and criminogenic attitudes (1) mediate and/or (2) moderate the associations of the Five-Factor Model personality traits with delinquency. The data included respondents (n=4855) to the cross-sectional Finnish Self-Report Delinquency Study 2012, aged 14-17 years. Delinquency was assessed on the basis of 17 different deviant behaviors; the reported frequencies of engaging in each of them were scaled using a graded response model. Peer deviance and criminogenic attitudes were assessed via respondents' selfreports; two distinct attitudinal indicators (deviant and neutralizing attitudes) were included. Personality was assessed with a 15-item BFI-S questionnaire. A structural equation model was conducted to examine the mediation pathways. The moderation effects were examined with linear regression analysis. Delinquency was associated with higher extraversion, lower agreeableness, lower conscientiousness, and lower neuroticism. Peer deviance and criminogenic attitudes partially mediated the associations of extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness with delinquency. The association between neuroticism and delinquency was fully mediated via criminogenic attitudes. Peer deviance strengthened the associations of low neuroticism, low agreeableness, and low conscientiousness with delinquency. Deviant and neutralizing attitudes strengthened the associations of high extraversion and low agreeableness with delinquent conduct. The findings suggest that personality may provide novel insights into the etiology of delinquency in a context of deviant socialization. Implications of the personality-based approach and directions for further research are discussed.

Objectives. The five-factor model of personality is the most researched and widely accepted theory of the structure of personality. It is claimed to be a near universal even though studies of the model have overwhelmingly relied on samples from Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) populations and/or university or college students from non-WEIRD countries. Therefore, multiple scholars have called for studies that examine personality traits with other kinds of samples, but only relatively few studies like that have been conducted. The aims of this study were to examine whether the model is suitable to explain personality variation in elephant handlers, or mahouts, from Myanmar, and, if it is not applicable, how personality appears to manifest in the mahouts. Testing whether the model applies to this sample is highly valuable for assessing the model’s cultural variability and the claims about its near universality. Methods. The sample (n = 237) consisted of 138 mahouts and 99 of their peers, most of whom were fellow mahouts. They gave self- or observer ratings to an interviewer asking questions from the 44-item Big Five Inventory (BFI), which was translated into Burmese. Self-observer agreement and retest correlations were also calculated. The personality structure of the 138 mahouts was investigated with confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis. Results. The confirmatory factor analysis resulted in a covariance matrix of latent variables that was not positive-definite possibly because of the small sample size. The analysis method was then changed into exploratory factor analysis, and models with four, five, and six factors were com-pared in more detail. However, no clean factor structure emerged since the items measuring Open-ness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism in the BFI did not, in general, load in a clear or sensible way in any of the factor solutions. Conclusions. These results could provide support for the hypothesis that mahout personality cannot be described with the five factors. Their personality variation may instead be organized along differently composed dimensions. This study could therefore be another example of the five-factor model of being more culture-specific than (near) universal.

Objectives. There is a lack of knowledge concerning the contribution of the character traits to the association of work stress and over-commitment with common mental health problems. Primary school teachers are a large, homogenous occupational group that has been related to higher work stress levels and common mental health problems, although to a lesser amount of actual mental disorders. The aim of the study is to examine the extent to which the association between work stress, over-commitment and their interaction with common mental health problems can be attributed to the character traits among primary school teachers. Methods. The data consists of 76 (87% females) primary school teachers from 34 schools randomly selected to a study taking part in the capital area of Finland in 2013-14. There were 1-6 teachers who responded from each school (participation rate 4-33%). Common mental health problems were measured by GHQ-12 (psychological distress) and cognitive anxiety from a state anxiety scale of EMAS (highest tertile vs. two lowest). Work stress and over-commitment (the upper tertile vs. the rest) were measured according to original Siegrist's Effort-Reward-Imbalance Questionnaire. Character traits Self-directness, Cooperativeness, and Self-Transcendence were measured by Cloninger's TCI-questionnaire and each character was dichotomized at median to indicate a higher and lower category of the trait. The control variables were age, working hours and job contract type. The data were analyzed by means of Poisson regression (prevalence ratios, PR, and 90% confidence intervals) and relative rates. Results. Of teachers 30% had common mental health problems. The teachers with high over-commitment in comparison with those with low over-commitment had more often psychological distress (PR=2.5, p=0.018) and cognitive anxiety (PR=2.8, p=0.004). Although work stress was not independently associated with common mental health problems, it was related to the increased psychological distress among those with high over-commitment. Controlling for self-directedness attenuated the association of over-commitment with psychological distress and cognitive anxiety by 29% and 47%, respectively. After all adjustments, an independent association of Self-Directness with cognitive anxiety remained (PR=0.3, p=0.024). The other two character traits didn't have an independent impact on common mental health problems among the primary school teachers, but with the concurrent low self-directedness, low cooperativeness and low Self-Transcendence were related to over-commitment and increased level of cognitive anxiety. Both low cooperativeness and low self-transcendence were related to psychological symptoms. Conclusions: The primary school teachers had higher prevalence of common mental health problems, if they had low self-directedness and were over-committed to their work. Enhancing self-directedness may help in decreasing common mental health problems among overcommitted teachers. In the future the associations of the trait profiles with over-commitment and mental health symptoms should be studied with the larger longitudinal data.

Because personality can be defined as a relatively permanent and individual way of thinking, feeling, and acting, and because personal values can be used to explain our motives and attitudes, both personality and personal values may be considered to influence mate selection. The similarity of couples has been observed to be linked to relationship satisfaction and a smaller divorce risk, which makes the consistent study of couple similarity important. The purpose of this study was to investigate couple similarity in Big Five personality traits, as well as in the 10 and 19 personal values defined by Schwartz. Based on these theories and earlier research, three hypotheses could be set, according to which couples are similar (1) in the personality traits of openness, conscientiousness, and extraversion, (2) on the motivational dimensions of personal values, and in hedonism, self-direction, universalism, benevolence, tradition, conformity, and security from the 10 value types, and (3) in hedonism and tradition, as well as in all the specified value types of self-direction, universalism, benevolence, conformity, and security from the 19 value types. The sample of this study was a part of a larger project, and it consisted of 261 18-55-year-old heterosexual couples, all of which were either parents of small children, expecting their first child, or university students and their spouses. The results of this study principally corresponded to the hypotheses. The couples were observed to be similar in all Big five personality traits, on the motivational value dimensions, in universalism, tradition, conformity, hedonism, self-direction, security, benevolence, achievement, and power from the 10 value types, in all of the specified value types of universalism, self-direction, conformity, and power, as well as in the specified value types of benevolence-dependability, security-societal, humility, and face from the 19 value types. According to these results, it seems that men and women do not end up in relationships completely arbitrarily, but that personality traits and personal values guide couple formation at least to some extent.

Background: Depression is one of the most prevalent disabling mental disorders worldwide. Its relation to the personality of the patient has been a topic of interest both in history and modern research. Understanding the relationship between personality traits and depression will help to develop suitable models of treatment for depression. The Five-Factor Personality Model (FFM, a.k.a. Big Five) is one of the most established scientific personality models, with its traits, namely neuroticism, extraversion, openness, conscientiousness and agreeableness. Connection between neuroticism and depression as well as between extraversion and depression is well known in modern scholarship, but no unambiguous results of connections between other traits and depression exist. High neuroticism seems to function as a risk factor that has a strong connection with Major Depression Episodes, but the moderating effects of the other personality traits are to be studied more deeply. In addition, there have been diverse results whether sex/gender has or has not a trait-independent role in predicting the severity of depression. Aims: Thus, the present study strives for answering the following questions: 1. What is the correlation between individual five-factor personality traits and depression? 2. How does neuroticism trait function as a risk factor for depression? 3. How does sex/gender covariate with the depression? Methods: The data of the present study has been obtained from The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns study (Lasten Sepelvaltimotautien Riskitekijät, LASERI). The project has begun in 1980 and its 27-year follow-up was performed in 2007, when five-factor personality traits and depression score were measured as well. Personality traits and the depression score from 1,714 of the original 3,596 subjects were measured with NEO-FFI-M and BDI II. The participants were divided into four groups on the basis of the median values of neuroticism and extraversion traits. Results and conclusions: High neuroticism has a strong connection with depression, but high extraversion has a moderate opposite influence. No connection between the other traits and depression was found. Women tend to have higher scores of depression than men, but the sex influence is mediated by higher neuroticism among women. Further research is needed on possible trait-independent gender influence. Cross-sectional studies based on population data bring forth valuable information about links between gender, personality and depression, but they do not permit possible changes in personality or causal relations to be studied. Therefore, more profound research in longitudinal paradigm is needed.

Masennustilat ovat yleisimpiä mielenterveyden häiriöitä ja kansanterveyden suurimpia ongelmia. Vakava ja normaalia nuoruuden kehitystä estävä masennusoireilu on huomattava ajoissa. Varhaisessa vaiheessa tarjottu tuki ja hoito parantavat masennuksen ennustetta ja ehkäisevät mielenterveyssyistä johtuvaa syrjäytymistä. Masennus on myös merkittävä itsetuhoisen käytöksen riskitekijä. Temperamentin ja luonteenpiirteiden on todettu olevan yhteydessä masennukseen. Tätä yhteyttä on nuorilla kuitenkin tutkittu kohtalaisen vähän verrattuna aikuisiin. Tässä tutkimuksessa pyrittiin selvittämään persoonallisuuden yhteyttä masennuksen kulkuun ja itsetuhoisuuteen nuorilla. Tutkimus toteutettiin osana Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitoksen ADS-tutkimushanketta (Adolescent Depression Study). Tutkimusaineisto on kerätty Peijaksen sairaalan nuorisopsykiatrian avohoitoon tulleista masennusta sairastavista potilaista (N=218). Potilaiden masennusoireita ja itsetuhoisuutta arvioitiin psykiatrisin diagnostisin haastatteluin. Masennuksen kulkua ja itsetuhoisen käytöksen esiintymistä seurattiin vielä yhden ja kahdeksan vuoden jälkeen alkuarviosta. Persoonallisuutta lähestyttiin Cloningerin temperamentti- ja luonteenpiirremallin näkökulmasta. Potilaat täyttivät persoonallisuutta arvioivan TCI-kyselyn (Temperament and Character Inventory) kahdeksanvuotisseurantahaastattelun yhteydessä. Analyyseissä nousi esiin temperamenttipiirteistä korkean vaikeuksien välttämisen (Harm Avoidance) ja luonteenpiirteistä matalan itseohjautuvuuden (Self Directedness) yhteys ajankohtaiseen ja krooniseen masennukseen. Lisäksi kroonisesti masentuneilla nuorilla havaittiin keskimäärin matalampaa yhteistyöhalukkuutta (Co-operativeness). Korkea vaikeuksien välttäminen osoittautui myös itsemurhayrityksen vaaratekijäksi. Itsemurhaa yrittäneillä havaittiin lisäksi luonteenpiirteiden osalta korkea itsen ja maailmankaikkeuden yhtenäisyyden kokemus (Self-transcendence), sekä matala yhteistyöhalukkuus ja itseohjautuvuus. Itsensä vahingoittamiseen ilman itsemurhatarkoitusta liittyi itsen ja maailmankaikkeuden yhtenäisyyden kokemus ja temperamenttipiirteistä sinnikkyys (Persistence). Persoonallisuuspiirteillä todettiin siis yhteys masennuksen kulkuun ja itsetuhoisuuteen myös nuorilla. Tätä yhteyttä voitaisiin tutkia lisää nuoruusiän masennuksen kroonistumisen ja itsetuhoisuuden riskinarvioinnin, sekä hoidon suunnittelun kehittämiseksi.

Objectives. Previous studies have shown that some personality characteristics are associated with better coping than others. Knowledge concerning temperament characteristics and coping methods among primary school teachers is so far limited. The aim of this study was to examine the association between primary school teachers' temperament characteristics and coping methods. The hypotheses were that, 1) high harm avoidance is associated with the use of the emotion focused coping, 2) low harm avoidance is associated with problem focused coping, 3) high reward dependence is associated with seeking for social support, 4) persistence is associated with problem focused coping, and 5) high novelty seeking is associated with problem focused coping. Methods. The participants were 55 primary school teachers in the metropolitan area. Temperament was measured using Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). The temperament characteristics were harm avoidance, novelty seeking, reward dependence and persistence. Coping was measured using The COPE Inventory. The questions were combined into 15 coping strategies. The data were analysed using Pearson correlation and linear regression. Socio-economic background was controlled in the first model and the other temperament characteristics in the second model. Results and conclusions. Different temperament characteristics have differential associations with the used coping strategies. High harm avoidance was associated with the use of the emotion-focused coping methods and with the problem-focused coping methods. High novelty seeking was associated with the decreased use of avoidant coping and increased use of the emotion-focused coping methods. High reward dependence was associated with seeking of both instrumental and emotional social support and emotion-focused coping methods. Persistence was associated with decreased use of the problem-focused coping methods. The results of this study should be confirmed and repeated with the use of larger and more representative sample of classroom teachers. Also the future research should study if coping methods work as mediating factors between teachers' personality traits and well-being at work and associations of Cloninger's personality theory's character traits and different personality profiles to coping methods.