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The Journals of Gerontology. Series B,... Oct 2017Several retrospective studies using informant report have shown that individuals with dementia demonstrate considerable personality change. Two prospective studies, also...
BACKGROUND
Several retrospective studies using informant report have shown that individuals with dementia demonstrate considerable personality change. Two prospective studies, also using informant report, have shown that individuals who develop dementia show some personality changes prior to diagnosis. The current study is the first to assess personality trait change prior to dementia diagnosis using self-report measures from longitudinal data.
METHOD
This study used data from the Swedish OCTO-Twin Study, a longitudinal panel of 702 twins aged 80 and older. Analysis was restricted to 86 individuals who completed the Eysenck Personality Inventory and received a dementia diagnosis during follow-up occasions. Latent growth curve analyses were used to examine trajectories of extraversion and neuroticism preceding dementia diagnosis.
RESULTS
Controlling for sex, age, education, depressive symptoms, and the interaction between age and education, growth curve analyses revealed a linear increase in neuroticism and stability in extraversion. Individuals who were eventually diagnosed with dementia showed a significant increase in neuroticism preceding diagnosis of dementia.
DISCUSSION
Personality change, specifically an increase in neuroticism, may be an early indicator of dementia. Identification of early indicators of dementia may facilitate development of screening assessments and aid in early care strategies and planning.
Topics: Aged, 80 and over; Alzheimer Disease; Anxiety Disorders; Character; Disease Progression; Diseases in Twins; Early Diagnosis; Extraversion, Psychological; Female; Humans; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Neuroticism; Personality Inventory; Psychometrics
PubMed: 26945005
DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbw006 -
Advances in Health Sciences Education :... Oct 2023Many medical schools incorporate assessments of personal characteristics, including personality traits, in their selection process. However, little is known about...
Many medical schools incorporate assessments of personal characteristics, including personality traits, in their selection process. However, little is known about whether changes in personality traits during medical training affect the predictive validity of personality assessments. The present study addressed this issue by examining the stability of personality traits and their predictive validity over a 6-year medical training course. Participants were two cohorts of Swiss medical students (N = 272, 72% of students admitted to Year 2) from whom we collected demographic data, Swiss medical studies aptitude test (EMS) scores, Big Five personality traits scores measured at three times and scores on the multiple-choice and objective structured clinical examination parts of the final medical examination. Our findings indicated that personality traits had medium-to-high rank-order stability (r > .60 over 3 years and r > .50 over 6 years). Mean-level changes were moderate for agreeableness (d = + 0.72) and small for neuroticism and conscientiousness (d = -0.29, d = -0.25, respectively). Individual reliable change indices ranged from 4.5% for openness to 23.8% for neuroticism. The predictive validity was similar to that of the first three years of follow-up. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate changes in personality across undergraduate curriculum. Medical students' personality traits were mostly stable across medical school and retain their predictive validity. Consequently, this study supports the use of tools measuring constructs underlying personality traits in selection. In addition, this study confirms that examination formats could favor students with certain personality traits.
Topics: Humans; Longitudinal Studies; Personality; Cohort Studies; Students, Medical; Aptitude Tests
PubMed: 36729195
DOI: 10.1007/s10459-023-10205-2 -
Journal of Personality Apr 2019Loneliness is an aversive response to a discrepancy between desired and actual social relationships and correlates with personality. We investigate the relationship of...
OBJECTIVE
Loneliness is an aversive response to a discrepancy between desired and actual social relationships and correlates with personality. We investigate the relationship of loneliness and personality in twin family and molecular genetic data.
METHOD
Phenotypic correlations between loneliness and the Big Five personality traits were estimated in 29,625 adults, and in a group with genome-wide genotype data (N = 4,222), genetic correlations were obtained. We explored whether genetic correlations may reflect causal relationships by investigating within monozygotic twin pair differences (N = 2,662), by longitudinal within-subject changes in personality and loneliness (N = 4,260-9,238 longitudinal comparisons), and by longitudinal cross-lagged panel analyses (N = 15,628). Finally, we tested whether genetic correlations were due to cross-trait assortative mating (N = 4,436).
RESULTS
The strongest correlations with loneliness were observed for Neuroticism (r = .55) and Extraversion (r = -.33). Only Neuroticism showed a high correlation with loneliness independent of other personality traits (r = .50), so follow-up analyses focused on Neuroticism. The genetic correlation between loneliness and Neuroticism from genotyped variants was .71; a significant reciprocal causal relationship and nonsignificant cross-trait assortative mating imply that this is at least partly due to mediated pleiotropy.
CONCLUSIONS
We show that the relationship between loneliness and personality is largely explained by its relationship with Neuroticism, which is substantially genetic in nature.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Female; Humans; Loneliness; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Middle Aged; Netherlands; Neuroticism; Personality; Phenotype; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; Registries; Young Adult
PubMed: 29752830
DOI: 10.1111/jopy.12397 -
Journal of Personality and Social... Dec 2011The current study used the Longitudinal Study of Personality Disorders data set (Lenzenweger, 1999) to examine the development of personality traits in the context of...
The current study used the Longitudinal Study of Personality Disorders data set (Lenzenweger, 1999) to examine the development of personality traits in the context of the remission and onset of personality disorder (PD) symptoms. Despite high levels of stability, past research on the development of basic personality traits has also found a mean trend toward increased maturity and that individuals vary in their trajectories of trait development. Research on PD change has shown a similar pattern. We employed individual growth curve modeling to examine the relationship between personality trait development and PD symptom course. We found that both are indeed related and that remission in PD symptoms is associated with patterns of trait development associated with more rapid maturity. In contrast, deviating from the mean of trait development either through no change (i.e., stagnation) or change in the opposite direction (i.e., regression) was associated with developing PD symptoms over the course of the study.
Topics: Adolescent; Female; Humans; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Personality; Personality Development; Personality Disorders; Personality Inventory; Remission, Spontaneous; Surveys and Questionnaires
PubMed: 21967009
DOI: 10.1037/a0025557 -
Psychiatria Danubina 2021Zuckerman-Kuhlman-Aluja Personality questionnaire (ZKA-PQ) measures five psychobiologically based personality factors (activity, aggression, extraversion, neuroticism,...
BACKGROUND
Zuckerman-Kuhlman-Aluja Personality questionnaire (ZKA-PQ) measures five psychobiologically based personality factors (activity, aggression, extraversion, neuroticism, and sensation seeking). The inner strength (from the ten perfections based on Theravada Buddhism) deems positive character, which includes truthfulness, perseverance, wisdom, generosity, morality (five precepts), mindfulness and meditation, patience and endurance, equanimity, determination, and loving kindness measured by the strength-based inventory (SBI). Our aim was to unfold the relationship between ZKA factors and SBI.
METHODS
642 Thai (age mean = 28.27, SD = 10.61) individuals (males 26.2%, females 73.8%) filled out our questionnaire battery: (1) Zuckerman-Kuhlman-Aluja Personality questionnaire - 200 items, 20 facets, five factors: Aggressiveness, Sensation Seeking, Activity, Extraversion, Neuroticism. (Cronbach alphas: 0.88, 0.81, 0.83, 0.89, 0.91 for AG, SS, AC, EX, NEU, respectively). (2) Strength-based inventory - 10 items, measuring 10 inner strength (Cronbach alpha: 0.68). Pearson correlation, neural network modelling and person-oriented methodology (model-based clustering) were conducted for analysis.
RESULTS
Our correlational results revealed that inner strengths are negatively related to Aggression (r=-0.44**), Neuroticism (r=-0.43**), Sensation seeking (r=-0.16**), whereas positively related to Extraversion (r=0.37**) and Activity (r=0.24**). Highest correlations were found between AG and patience (-0.43**) and NEU and perseverance (r=-0.40**), both with negative sign. According to neural network modelling Activity was most related to Perseverance, Aggression to lack of Patience, Neuroticism to lack of Perseverance and Equanimity, Sensation Seeking to lack of Morality. Extraversion was most weakly related to inner strengths, but it was related to all other personality dimensions. Model based clustering revealed four typical personality profiles: resilients (41.8%), extraverted undercontrollers (29.0%), introverted undercontrollers (10.6%) and overcontrolled (18.6%). Results showed that resilients had highest inner strength levels, whereas overcontrolled ones had the lowest.
CONCLUSION
Negative traits are, as expected, conversely related with strength, while positive traits (extraversion and activity) are positively related with strength. Our results confirm that resilient personality pattern can be linked to the inner strengths measured by SBI scale, which was based on 10 Buddhist perfections. Further results should be addressed how increase in inner strength can be related to changes in biologically based personality dimensinos towards the resilient pattern.
Topics: Extraversion, Psychological; Female; Humans; Male; Neuroticism; Personality; Personality Assessment; Personality Disorders; Personality Inventory
PubMed: 35026811
DOI: No ID Found -
NeuroImage Apr 2022The human mind wanders spontaneously and frequently, revisiting the past and imagining the future of self and of others. External and internal factors can influence...
The human mind wanders spontaneously and frequently, revisiting the past and imagining the future of self and of others. External and internal factors can influence wandering spontaneous thoughts, whose content predicts subsequent emotional states. We propose that social imitation, an action that increases well-being and closeness by poorly understood mechanisms, impacts behavioural states in part by modulating post-imitation mind-wandering. In 43 young subjects, we find that imitating the arm movements of an actor alters the dynamics and the content of subsequent resting-state spontaneous thoughts. Imitation-sensitive features of spontaneous thoughts correlate with behavioural states and personality traits. EEG microstate analysis reveals that global patterns of correlated neuronal activity predict imitation-induced changes in spontaneous thoughts. Exploratory analyses indicate a possible modulatory effect of social imitation via the endogenous release of oxytocin. Thus, social imitation can induce selective modulations of ongoing activity in specific neural networks to change spontaneous thought patterns as a function of personality traits, and to ultimately orchestrate behavioural states.
Topics: Adult; Cerebral Cortex; Electroencephalography; Female; Humans; Imitative Behavior; Male; Motor Activity; Nerve Net; Oxytocin; Personality; Thinking; Young Adult
PubMed: 34999201
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.118878 -
Psychology of Addictive Behaviors :... Dec 2015College students binge drink more frequently than the broader population, yet most individuals "mature out" of binge drinking. Impulsivity and sensation seeking traits...
College students binge drink more frequently than the broader population, yet most individuals "mature out" of binge drinking. Impulsivity and sensation seeking traits are important for understanding who is at risk for maintaining binge drinking across college and the transition to adult roles. We use latent class growth analysis (LCGA) to examine longitudinal binge-drinking trajectories spanning from the end of high school through 2 years after college (M ages = 18.4 to 23.8). Data were gathered over 10 waves from students at a large Southwestern university (N = 2,245). We use latent factor models to estimate changes in self-reported impulsive (IMP) and sensation-seeking (SS) personality traits across 2 time periods-(a) the end of high school to the end of college and (b) the 2-year transition out of college. LCGA suggested 7 binge-drinking trajectories: frequent, moderate, increasing, occasional, low increasing, decreasing, and rare. Models of personality showed that from high school through college, change in SS and IMP generally paralleled drinking trajectories, with increasing and decreasing individuals showing corresponding changes in SS. Across the transition out of college, only the increasing group demonstrated a developmentally deviant increase in IMP, whereas all other groups showed normative stability or decreases in both IMP and SS. These data indicate that "late bloomers," who begin binge drinking only in the later years of college, are a unique at-risk group for drinking associated with abnormal patterns of personality maturation during emerging adulthood. Our results indicate that personality targeted interventions may benefit college students.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Alcohol Drinking in College; Binge Drinking; Female; Humans; Impulsive Behavior; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Personality; Personality Development; Southwestern United States; Students; Universities; Young Adult
PubMed: 26348219
DOI: 10.1037/adb0000116 -
BMC Medical Education Mar 2018Personality influences an individual's adaptation to a specific job or organization. Little is known about personality trait differences between medical career and...
BACKGROUND
Personality influences an individual's adaptation to a specific job or organization. Little is known about personality trait differences between medical career and specialty choices after graduating from medical school when actually practicing different medical specialties. Moreover, whether personality traits contribute to important career choices such as choosing to work in the private or public sector or with clinical patient contact, as well as change of specialty, have remained largely unexplored. In a nationally representative sample of Finnish physicians (N = 2837) we examined how personality traits are associated with medical career choices after graduating from medical school, in terms of employment sector, patient contact, medical specialty and change of specialty.
METHODS
Personality was assessed using the shortened version of the Big Five Inventory (S-BFI). An analysis of covariance with posthoc tests for pairwise comparisons was conducted, adjusted for gender and age with confounders (employment sector, clinical patient contact and medical specialty).
RESULTS
Higher openness was associated with working in the private sector, specializing in psychiatry, changing specialty and not practicing with patients. Lower openness was associated with a high amount of patient contact and specializing in general practice as well as ophthalmology and otorhinolaryngology. Higher conscientiousness was associated with a high amount of patient contact and specializing in surgery and other internal medicine specialties. Lower conscientiousness was associated with specializing in psychiatry and hospital service specialties. Higher agreeableness was associated with working in the private sector and specializing in general practice and occupational health. Lower agreeableness and neuroticism were associated with specializing in surgery. Higher extraversion was associated with specializing in pediatrics and change of specialty. Lower extraversion was associated with not practicing with patients.
CONCLUSIONS
The results showed distinctive personality traits to be associated with physicians' career and specialty choices after medical school independent of known confounding factors. Openness was the most consistent personality trait associated with physicians' career choices in terms of employment sector, amount of clinical patient contact, specialty choice and change of specialty. Personality-conscious medical career counseling and career guidance during and after medical education might enhance the person-job fit among physicians.
Topics: Adult; Age Factors; Aged; Career Choice; Cross-Sectional Studies; Employment; Female; Finland; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Personality; Physicians; Retrospective Studies; Sex Factors; Specialization; Students, Medical
PubMed: 29587722
DOI: 10.1186/s12909-018-1155-9 -
The Journals of Gerontology. Series B,... Nov 2013Personality traits have been associated with chronic disease. Less is known about the longitudinal relation between personality and disease and whether chronic disease...
OBJECTIVE
Personality traits have been associated with chronic disease. Less is known about the longitudinal relation between personality and disease and whether chronic disease is associated with changes in personality. Method. Participants from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (N = 2,008) completed the Revised NEO Personality Inventory and a standard medical interview at regularly scheduled visits; the Charlson Comorbidity Index, a weighted sum of 19 serious diseases, was derived from this interview. Using data from 6,685 visits, we tested whether personality increased risk of disease and whether disease was associated with personality change.
RESULTS
Measured concurrently, neuroticism and conscientiousness were associated with greater disease burden. The impulsiveness facet of neuroticism was the strongest predictor of developing disease across the follow-up period: For every standard deviation increase in impulsiveness, there was a 26% increased risk of developing disease and a 36% increased risk of getting more ill. Personality traits changed only modestly with disease: As participants developed chronic illnesses, they became more conservative (decreased openness). Discussion. This research indicates that personality traits confer risk for disease, in part, through health-risk behaviors. These traits, however, were relatively resistant to the effect of serious disease.
Topics: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Aging; Chronic Disease; Comorbidity; Female; Health Status; Humans; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Middle Aged; Personality; Personality Development; Personality Inventory; Sex Factors; Young Adult
PubMed: 23685925
DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbt036 -
Journal of Personality Jun 2013Personality change is emerging as an important predictor of health and well-being. Extending previous research, we examined whether two types of personality change,...
Personality change is emerging as an important predictor of health and well-being. Extending previous research, we examined whether two types of personality change, directional and absolute, are associated with both subjective and objective indicators of health. Utilizing the longitudinal Midlife in the United States survey (MIDUS) data, we examined whether both types of change over 10 years were associated with psychological well-being, self-reported global health, and the presence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) components and diagnosis. Socially undesirable personality change (e.g., becoming less conscientious and more neurotic) and absolute personality change were independently associated with worse perceived health and well-being at Time 2. Notably, absolute personality change, regardless of the direction, was also associated with having a greater number of MetS components and a greater probability of diagnosis at Time 2. In sum, too much personality change may be bad for one's health: Socially undesirable and absolute personality change were both associated with worse psychological health and worse metabolic profiles over 10 years. These findings suggest that personality change may contribute to psychological and physical health, and provide initial insight into potential intermediate links between personality change and distal outcomes such as mortality.
Topics: Adult; Aged; Female; Health Status; Humans; Male; Mental Health; Metabolic Syndrome; Middle Aged; Personality; Personality Assessment; Self Concept; Self Report
PubMed: 22924900
DOI: 10.1111/jopy.12002