Dimensions of personality: 16, 5 or 3?—Criteria for a taxonomic paradigm

Type D personality. A potential risk factor refined

OBJECTIVE

Acute and chronic psychological distress have been associated with coronary heart disease (CHD) but little is known about the determinants of distress as a coronary risk factor. Broad and stable personality traits may have much explanatory power; this article selectively focuses on negative affectivity (NA; tendency to experience negative emotions) and social inhibition (SI; tendency to inhibit self-expression in social interaction) in the context of CHD.

METHODS

The first part of this article reviews research on NA and SI in patients with CHD. The second part presents new findings on NA and SI in 734 patients with hypertension.

RESULTS

Accumulating evidence suggests that the combination of high NA and high SI designates a personality subtype ("distressed" type or type D) of coronary patients who are at risk for clustering of psychosocial risk factors and incidence of long-term cardiac events. Type D and its contributing low-order traits (dysphoria/tension and reticence/withdrawal) could also be reliably assessed in a community-based sample of patients with hypertension. This finding was replicated in men and women, and in Dutch- and French-speaking subjects. Type D hypertensives reported more depressive affect than their non type D counterparts.

CONCLUSIONS

There is an urgent need to adopt a personality approach in the identification of patients at risk for cardiac events. NA and SI are broad and stable personality traits that may be of special interest not only in CHD, but in other chronic medical conditions as well.

The composite scale of morningness: further psychometric properties and temporal stability

OBJECT

To assess the temporal stability of the French version of the Composite Scale of Morningness (CSM), and to replicate our previous findings in an independent sample in order to confirm the good internal properties of this instrument.

METHOD

Sixty nursing students (11 males and 49 females) filled out the Composite Scale of Morningness on two occasions over a 13-month period.

RESULTS

The scale's reliability is high: Cronbach's alpha = 0.874 in males and 0.904 in females. The CSM total scores are normally distributed and independent of gender. They do not differ between occasions, and are highly correlated: r = +0.885 in males and r = +0.930 in females.

CONCLUSION

The French version of the CSM is stable over time and psychometrically reliable. These are the characteristics of a personality trait. Further studies should explore its personality, biological and genetic correlates.

Phobic dimensions: IV. The structure of animal fears

Research designed to determine the number and kind of dimensions underlying self-reports of animal fears is relatively rare. To contribute further knowledge to this area of study, Davey's methodology [Davey, G. C. L. (1994a). Self-reported fears to common indigenous animals in an adult UK population: the role of disgust sensitivity. British Journal of Psychology, 85, 541-554.] was improved. Principal components analysis with Varimax rotation of the self-ratings to items of Davey's Animal Fears Questionnaire returned by Ss from a Dutch community sample (N = 214) revealed four reliable, relatively independent dimensions: (1) fear-relevant animals, (2) dry or non-slimy invertebrates, (3) slimy or wet looking animals and (4) farm animals. Replicating Davey (1994a), females, relative to males, reported higher levels on most fear items. Principal components analysis with Oblimin rotation involving animal fears scales (derived from the dimensions identified in the present study), dimensions of non-animal fears, disgust sensitivity, sex-role orientation and the major dimensions of personality from the Eysenckian system revealed 4 higher-order factors, namely specific animals fears, positive affectivity, toughmindedness and negative affectivity. At an even higher level, these 4 higher-order factors merged into two factors: (1) a bipolar positive affectivity versus neuroticism/general emotionality/negative affectivity factor and (2) a toughmindedness dimension. Studies such as these contribute in helping provide the elements of the hierarchical model of fears proposed by Taylor [Taylor, S. (1998). The hierarchic structure of fears. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 36, 205-214.]. Findings across different studies suggest that there are at least 5 first-order dimensions of animal fears, the above 4 and predatory (fierce) animals, that may be included in such a model.

Persönlichkeitspsychologie in interaktionistischer Sicht* * Ich bedanke mich bei Jens B. Asendorpf, Peter Bokenau, Karl-Heinz Reimer, Harald Schaub, Astrid Schütz und Caroline Spielhagen für die wertvollen Anregungen, die sich aus ihrer Durchsicht des Manuskripts ergaben

Zusammenfassung: Hauptziel des Beitrags ist es, zwei persönlichkeitspsychologische Grundpositionen, den Eigenschaftsansatz und den dynamisch-interaktionistischen Ansatz, aufeinander zu beziehen. Als Beispiel für die dominierende Eigenschaftsorientierung der deutschsprachigen Persönlichkeitspsychologie wird im ersten Abschnitt das Fünf-Faktoren Modell dargestellt und mit alternativen Ansätzen verglichen. Im zweiten Abschnitt wird die Position vertreten, daß Eigenschaftsmodelle mit der Konzeption des dynamischen Interaktionismus vereinbar sind. Dies wird am Beispiel der Selbstdarstellungsforschung, die sich auf Müller-Freienfels zurückführen läßt, veranschaulicht. Eigenschaften können nicht nur (1) als Prädiktoren von Selbstdarstellung, sondern auch (2) als Produkte von Selbstdarstellung aufgefaßt werden: Als Beispiel für den ersten Fall bietet sich die Persönlichkeitsdimension “Self-Monitoring” an. Außerdem wird “Persönlichkeitsdarstellung” als neuer Selbstdarstellungsstil eingeführt. Als Beispiele für Eigenschaften als Selbstdarstellungsprodukte dienen “situative Identitäten” sowie die “Big Five”, die als Stile der Selbstdarstellung interpretiert werden. Im dritten Abschnitt geht es um eine kritische Einschätzung des “Selbst als Beziehung” von Gergen . Seine Auffassung, daß grundlegende Annahmen von Eigenschaftsmodellen nicht länger gültig sind, konnte in einer explorativen Untersuchung nicht bestätigt werden. Um zu einer Lösung des Problems der Einheit in der Vielheit des Selbst beizutragen, wird schließlich das Sternsche Konzept einer zielbezogenen “unitas multiplex” vorgestellt.

Das bemerkenswerte Comeback der Differentiellen Psychologie

Zusammenfassung: Nach zum Teil krisenhaften Entwicklungen hat die Differentielle Psychologie heute ein ausgesprochen positives Selbstverständnis wiedererlangt und eine Vielzahl neuer substantieller Forschungserträge aufzuweisen. Im neuesten Handbook of Personality Psychology wird ihre «Wiedergeburt gefeiert». Die gegenwärtige Differentielle Psychologie erscheint aber auch wegen unzureichend gelöster Grundlagenprobleme in besonderem Maße gefährdet, Rückfälle zu erleiden und unfruchtbare Stagnation zu spät zu erkennen. Im vorliegenden Beitrag sollen zunächst die wichtigsten Krisen und Grundlagendebatten in Erinnerung gerufen werden. Dann wird gezeigt, daß wesentliche Probleme aus diesen Debatten nicht ausreichend gelöst erscheinen und die kontinuierliche Entwicklung der Differentiellen Psychologie erschweren. Für einige dieser Probleme werden Lösungsvorschläge und weiterführende Überlegungen zur Diskussion gestellt. Es wird ansatzweise gezeigt, daß das beachtliche Potential der gegenwärtigen Differentiellen Psychologie auf diese Weise wesentlich wirkungsvoller genutzt werden könnte.

P300 and personality: an investigation with the Cloninger's model

The relationships between P300 and personality have been explored mainly in reference to the model of personality described by Eysenck because of its biological bases. Recently, Cloninger and his colleagues have proposed a model of personality based on four temperaments and three characters. The Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) is a 226-item self-questionnaire developed to assess these seven dimensions of personality. In the present study, the relationships between these dimensions of personality and P300 have been investigated in 43 normal subjects. The results show that P300 amplitude is positively correlated with the novelty seeking dimension and negatively correlated with the harm avoidance dimension. In contrast, the other dimensions of the TCI were not related to P300 amplitude. Moreover, P300 latency and reaction time were not associated with the TCI dimensions of personality. This study confirms that personality is related to P300.

Temperament and character inventory (TCI) and depression

Although several studies have assessed the relationships between the temperament dimensions of the Cloninger model of personality and depression, little is known about the role played by the character dimensions proposed by the seven-factor model of Cloninger in depression. In this study, the relationships between the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) and depression were examined in a sample of 40 major depressive patients and 40 healthy controls. Depressed patients exhibit higher harm avoidance and self-transcendence scores as well as lower self-directedness and cooperativeness scores as compared to healthy controls. However, the three other dimensions do not differ between depressive patients and controls. Among the depressive group, harm avoidance, self-directedness and cooperativeness dimensions are related to the severity of depression as assessed by the Hamilton scale. This study confirms the state dependence of the harm avoidance dimension and suggests a relationship between the character dimensions of the Cloninger model and depression.

Personality structure of elderly drivers

This paper reports the factor structure of a 37-item personality questionnaire intended to be predictive of driving performance in elderly persons. Subjects were 191 persons 63 years of age of older, about half of whom also were given perceptual/cognitive tasks and drove on a closed driving course. Although the personality questionnaire did not predict driving skill, the factor structure of the questionnaire is of interest. Of several factor analyses, the most satisfactory was a 2-factor solution. We interpreted the approximately orthogonal factors as measuring what we labeled Competence and Emotionality.

Individuation and the Five Factor Model of Personality Traits1

Two studies have been conducted respectively to examine the validity of the Italian version of the Individuation scale ( Maslach, Stapp & Santee, 1985 ), and to investigate individuation within the frame of the Five Factor Model of personality (FFM). The Italian version of the scale showed psychometric characteristics fully comparable to those of the American normative sample. Although Italians scored lower, on average, than Americans in their willingness to individuate themselves, this effect was due largely to the lower scores of Italian women, rather than men. Individuation appeared to correlate with Extraversion and Openness to Experience in both the Italian and American samples.

Heritability of the big five personality dimensions and their facets: a twin study

The genetic and environmental etiology of the five-factor model of personality as measured by the revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) was assessed using 123 pairs of identical twins and 127 pairs of fraternal twins. Broad genetic influence on the five dimensions of Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness was estimated at 41%, 53%, 61%, 41%, and 44%, respectively. The facet scales also showed substantial heritability, although for several facets the genetic influence was largely nonadditive. The influence of the environment was consistent across all dimensions and facets. Shared environmental influences accounted for a negligible proportion of the variance in most scales, whereas nonshared environmental influences accounted for the majority of the environmental variance in all scales.

Anxiety sensitivity: confirmatory evidence for a multidimensional construct

Anxiety sensitivity is a promising psychological construct in understanding the development of clinical anxiety, particularly panic disorder, and it has received a significant amount of research attention. Since the development of the 16-item Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI), there has been considerable controversy in the literature about whether it should be conceptualized as a unidimensional or multidimensional measure. ASI responses were collected from 216 panic disorder patients and 365 undergraduate students. Various ASI models identified in previous exploratory factor analytic studies were tested using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with multiple goodness-of-fit indicators. Separate CFA results for both the patient and student data strongly supported the view that the ASI is a multidimensional measure and the four-factor model originally identified by Peterson and Heilbronner (1987, Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 1, 117-121) provided the best fit to the data. It is recommended that the ASI be expanded to better assess the multiple dimensions.

Construction and Validation of a Short Adjectives Checklist to Measure Big Five (SACBIF)

The aim of this contribution is to present a new short adjective-based measure of the Five Factor Model (FFM) of personality, the Short Adjectives Checklist of BIg Five (SACBIF). We present the various steps of the construction and the validation of this instrument. First, 50 adjectives were selected with a selection procedure, the “Lining Up Technique” (LUT), specifically used to identify the best factorial markers of the FFM. Then, the factorial structure and the psychometric properties of the SACBIF were investigated. Finally, the SACBIF factorial structure was correlated with some main measures of the FFM to establish its construct validity and with some other personality dimensions to investigate how well these dimensions could be represented in the SACBIF factorial space.

Personality and mortality after myocardial infarction

Previous research showed: a) emotional distress is a risk factor for mortality after myocardial infarction (MI) and b) emotional distress is linked to stable personality traits. In this study, we examined the role of these personality traits in mortality after MI. Subjects were 105 men, 45 to 60 years of age, who survived a recent MI. Baseline assessment included biomedical and psychosocial risk factors, as well as each patient's personality type. After 2 to 5 (mean, 3.8) years of follow-up, 15 patients (14%) had died. Rate of death for patients with a distressed personality type (11/28 = 39%) was significantly greater than that for patients with other personality types (4/77 = 5%) (p < .0001). Patients with this personality type tend simultaneously to experience distress and inhibit expression of emotions. Low exercise tolerance, previous MI (p < .005), anterior MI, smoking, and age (p < .05) were also associated with mortality. A logistic regression model including these biomedical factors had a sensitivity for mortality of only 27%. The addition of distressed personality type in this model more than doubled its sensitivity. Of note, among patients with poor physical health, those with a distressed personality type had a five-fold mortality risk (p < .005). Consistent with the findings of other investigators, depression (p < .005), life stress, use of benzodiazepines (p < .01), and somatization (p < .05) were also related to post-MI mortality. These psychosocial risk factors were more prevalent in the distressed personality type than in the other personality types (p < .001-.05). Multiple logistic regression indicated that these psychosocial factors did not add to the predictive value of the distressed personality type. Hence, an important personality effect was observed despite the low power. This suggests that personality traits may play a role in the detrimental effect of emotional distress in MI patients.

Subjective complaints versus neuropsychological test performance after cardiopulmonary bypass

The study by Newman et al. (Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 1989) compared subjective reports of cognition with assessed cognitive performance in patients one year after coronary artery bypass surgery. The current study reinvestigated this relation in a larger and more heterogeneous group--90 cardiac patients six months after cardiopulmonary bypass--using a more extensive checklist of subjective complaints and different neuropsychological tests. In agreement with previous research, the patients who reported complaints in specific cognitive areas were not found to have impaired cognitive functions as assessed with appropriate neuropsychological tests. The patients who reported deterioration in cognition after surgery were found to have higher levels of depression and state anxiety. These differences were significant for almost all evaluated cognitive functions. An alternative explanation of the relationship between mood and cognitive complaints based on personality traits, i.e., neuroticism, is offered.

Phobic dimensions--II. Cross-national confirmation of the multidimensional structure underlying the Mobility Inventory (MI)

In a previous study (Cox, Swinson, Kuch & Reichman, Behaviour Research and Therapy, 31, 427-431, 1993), factor analyses of the responses of 177 Canadian panic disorder with agoraphobia patients to the 'When Accompanied' and 'When Alone' scales of the Mobility Inventory (Chambless, Caputo, Jasin, Gracely & Williams, Behaviour Research and Therapy, 23, 35-44, 1985) revealed three factors in each case: Fears of (1) Public places; (2) Enclosed spaces; and (3) Open spaces. Using two distinct methods of factorial analysis, evidence was found for the cross-national generalizability of the factor model when the responses of Dutch members of a society for individuals suffering from an anxiety disorder (N = 213) were contrasted with the original Canadian findings. Inventory items were distributed in a non-overlapping fashion across the corresponding three subscales. Psychometric properties of the subscales were encouraging, although some difficulties emerged when attempts were made at distinguishing Fears of Enclosed spaces from Fears of Open spaces. This was because of their correlational configurations with other measures. Scores on all scales varied with socioeconomic status (SES); Ss in lower SES groups had significantly higher agoraphobic avoidance scores than their equivalents in higher SES groups. Results of higher-order analysis, which included several state and trait measures of psychological functioning in addition to the Mobility Inventory, revealed two orthogonal, second-order factors which were interpreted as Agoraphobia and Neuroticism/Negative Affect vs Positive Affect. Implications for further studies are briefly outlined.