Reactance and personality: assessing psychological reactance using a biopsychosocial and person-centered approach

Parental psychological control and adolescent smartphone addiction: roles of reactance and resilience

BACKGROUND

Problematic smartphone use is a prevalent issue addressed in this study. The research delves into factors associated with problematic smartphone use, employing the self-determination theory. Specifically, the study analyzes the relationship between parental psychological control and problematic smartphone use and investigates psychological reactance as a mediating factor. Moreover, psychological resilience is considered a moderating factor in the relationship between parental psychological control and problematic smartphone use, based on the diathesis-stress model and cognitive model of resilience.

METHODS

A total of 1300 (M = 14.22, SD = 1.29) Chinese adolescents were surveyed in a cross-sectional study. They completed self-report questionnaires including the Parental Psychological Control Questionnaire, the Smartphone Addiction Scale, the Psychological Resistance Scale, and the Adolescent Resilience Scale. A moderated mediation model was examined to test predictions.

RESULTS

Correlation analysis reveals a positive correlation between parental psychological control, psychological reactance, and problematic smartphone use, and a negative correlation with psychological resilience. Moderation mediation analysis demonstrates that psychological resilience diminishes the direct association between parental psychological control, psychological reactance, and problematic smartphone use, thereby mitigating their relationship.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings support the moderation mediation model, indicating that psychological resilience plays a crucial role in safeguarding adolescents from the adverse effects of problematic smartphone use induced by parental psychological control.

Workplace violence, psychopathological symptoms, and deviant workplace behavior among nursing interns in China: a network analysis

BACKGROUND

Workplace violence in healthcare has become a global concern, and nursing interns are not immune to it in clinical settings. It is critical to understand the impact of workplace violence on the psychological and work status of nursing interns.

METHODS

Between April and May 2024, a total of 2213 nursing interns from 12 hospitals in China participated in the study. Data were collected with questionnaires on basic information, the Workplace Violence Scale, the Caregiver Occupational Deviant Behavior Scale, and the DSM-5 Level 1 Cross-Cutting Symptom Measure. The basic analysis was performed using SPSS 24.0 software, and the network structure analysis was constructed using R software to calculate the relationship between the nodes and the centrality index.

RESULTS

In nursing interns, the items with the highest prevalence of workplace violence were verbal assault (32.038%) and threats (10.303%); in psychopathological symptoms, the items with the highest prevalence were anxiety (38.500%), anger (35.337%), and depression (33.439%). The strongest edge within the cluster is "Verbal sexual harassment-Physical sexual harassment," and the strongest edge between clusters is "Verbal assault-Depression." The node with the highest strength, expected influence, and betweenness indices is "Anxiety," and the node with the highest closeness index is "Depression."

CONCLUSIONS

The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the network perspective in elucidating the complex relationships and interconnections between different symptoms. We identified the strongest relationships between nodes, "Depression" and "Anxiety" as the most important symptom. These findings may provide more precise targets for developing interventions for nursing interns.

How Perceived Child-Friendly Communities Alleviate Adolescents' Psychological Reactance

When children enter adolescence, their personality traits easily give rise to psychological reactance (PR). PR involves a desire for autonomy and independence, as well as an aversion to parental and social rules and restrictions. Factors that influence PR include physiological, familial, and social aspects. However, most studies on adolescent noncompliance have primarily focused on rebellious behavior. Little research has examined motivational state reactance, although its interaction with environmental perception can significantly affect adolescents' lives. This study aimed to explore the relationship between the perceived friendliness of the community environment and cognitive processing at different quality of life (QoL) levels in relation to PR among adolescents. Propensity score matching was performed on a sample of 3546 adolescents, collected in Sanya, China. The results show that child-friendly communities (CFCs) had a significantly negative impact on adolescents' PR levels. Additionally, QoL had a moderating effect, meaning that the higher the QoL, the stronger the role of a CFC in alleviating PR. In contrast to claims that PR is determined by temperament or character profiles, this study reveals the importance of environmental shaping through triadic reciprocal determinism and a focus on the key role of the community environment.

Exploring college students' resistance to mandatory use of sports apps: a psychological reactance theory perspective

Introduction

To improve the physical fitness of college students, numerous Chinese universities have mandated students to use sports apps for running on campus. However, this has led to widespread resistance among students.

Methods

To gain a deep understanding of the potential reasons for student resistance, we have developed a conceptual model based on psychological reactance theory. Specifically, we conducted a questionnaire survey involving 449 Chinese college students, using partial least squares structural equation modeling to test and analyze the research model and its related hypotheses.

Results

Our results reveal that: (1) Psychological reactance poses a potential reason for students' resistance to mandatory use of sports apps, and it has a significant negative impact on students' attitudes and behavioral intentions. (2) Students' perceived threat to freedom and reactance proneness are two important antecedents of psychological reactance, which can account for 51% (R 2 = 0.51) of the variance in psychological reactance. Furthermore, the results indicate that students' reactance proneness has a positive impact on perceived threats to freedom. (3) The mandatory use of sports apps leads students to have two different conditions: mandated-acceptance and mandated-rejection, both of which have a positive impact on the antecedents of psychological reactance.

Discussion

These findings provide insights into the psychological processes underlying students' resistance to mandatory use of sports apps, facilitating the application of sports apps in intervention measures that improve health and fitness. Furthermore, this study is the first to apply psychological reactance theory to mandatory exercise behavior, contributing to the reactance literature.

The moderating and mediating effects of personality on the association between morningness and well-being

Background

Morningness (morning-eveningness preference or chronotypes) and personality can be both associated with well-being, but few studies have directly compared these two constructs as correlates of well-being. Thus, the first purpose of this study was to test the effects of interactions between stable personality traits (temperaments) and morningness on well-being. Furthermore, personality factors are often composed of both stable biological factors (temperament) and socio-cultural factors (character), and little is known about personality interplay of temperament and character factors with respect to morningness and well-being. The second purpose of this study was therefore to examine the sequential mediating effects of temperament and character factors on the relationship between morningness and well-being.

Methods

The Composite Scale of Morningness, the Korean version of the Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised Short Version (TCI-RS), and the Satisfaction with Life Scale were used to measure morningness, personality dimensions, and well-being, respectively, in 287 Korean university students. Moderating and sequentially mediating effects of temperament and character traits were determined using Hayes' PROCESS macro in SPSS after controlling for sex and age.

Results

First, novelty-seeking (NS) and persistence (PS) temperaments have demonstrated the moderating effect in the association between morningness and well-being. The positive effects of morningness on life satisfaction increased with lower NS and PS, respectively. However, other temperaments such as harm avoidance (HA) and reward dependence (RD) have not shown the moderation in the relationship between morningness on well-being. Second, HA temperament and self-directedness (SD) character sequentially mediated the relationship between morningness and well-being. The combination of low scores of HA and high scores of SD have shown the positive effect on the relationship between morningness and well-being.

Discussion

This study demonstrated that both the interactions between temperaments and morningness, and combination of specific TCI-RS temperament and character traits play important roles in influencing the association between morningness and well-being. The significance of the mature SD character and its implications for well-being are discussed with limitation of the present study.

Three joint temperament-character configurations account for learning, personality and well-being: normative demographic findings in a representative national population

Introduction

A common practice in research and clinical practice is to use data considered representative of a target population to compare and understand the personality characteristics of specific groups or specific individuals. To this end, numerous studies have presented normative data for the temperament and character traits outlined in Cloninger's psychobiological model of personality. However, recent genomic evidence demonstrates that human personality is organized as a complex hierarchy that ascends beyond the individual traits to multi-trait profiles that regulate emotional reactivity (temperament profiles) or goals and values (character profiles), and then to three phenotypic networks, which integrate temperament profiles and character profiles, that regulate learning. Given this recent understanding, our aim was to provide a novel and more comprehensive description of personality features at a societal level (using a stratified sample representative of the Portuguese population) by considering personality at its higher levels of complexity.

Methods

Toward this goal, a stratified sample of 2,443 Portuguese adults responded to the Revised Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI-R).

Results

We summarize the prevalence of (a) temperament profiles, (b) character profiles, and (c) integrated temperament-character networks within the whole sample, as well as for men vs. women and different age groups separately. Independent of age and education, women were more likely to be capable of resourceful productivity and helpful cooperation combined with being more intuitive, meditative and creative than men. Independent of age and gender, individuals with a degree were also more likely to present these biopsychosocial features. We also found that the organized character profile was most typical of adults in their 40s. Finally, the distribution of personality profiles across age differed as a function of gender: for men the oldest individuals had the most coherent personalities while high personality integration was most prevalent for women in their 30s.

Discussion

These results have strong implications for research and intervention. In particular, these results are relevant for understanding the epidemiology of interactions between personality, mental health and well-being, including their expressions in a national population as a function of demographic characteristics.

Disentangling the personality pathways to well-being

Recent genomic, psychological, and developmental research shows that human personality is organized as a complex hierarchy that ascends from individual traits in many specific situations to multi-trait profiles in two domains that regulate emotional reactivity (temperament) or goals and values (character), and finally to three integrated temperament-character networks that regulate learning to maintain well-being in changing conditions. We carried out person-centered analyses of the components of subjective well-being (positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction) to personality in both adolescents (N = 1739) and adults (N = 897). Personality was considered at each level of its organization (trait, temperament or character profiles, and joint temperament-character networks). We show for the first time that negative affect and life satisfaction are dependent on the personality network for intentional self-control, whereas positive affect is dependent on the personality network for self-awareness that underlies the human capacities for healthy longevity, creativity, and prosocial values.

Qualitative analysis of topical corticosteroid concerns, topical steroid addiction and withdrawal in dermatological patients

OBJECTIVE

To explore the phenomenon of topical corticosteroid (TCS) phobia and comprehensively understand the factors driving TCS concerns, in particular pertaining to steroid addiction and withdrawal.

DESIGN

Prospective qualitative study using 1:1 in-depth semistructured interviews and analysed using grounded theory.

PARTICIPANTS

Patients with a prior experience of TCS use for a dermatological condition recruited from a tertiary academic dermatology clinic, or through word of mouth and online social media platforms.

RESULTS

26 participants encompassing those with positive, neutral and negative opinions towards TCS were interviewed. 13 reported having topical steroid addiction or withdrawal. The drivers of TCS concerns could be categorised into seven themes: attitudes towards TCS (comprising beliefs and knowledge about TCS), availability of alternatives, treatment inconvenience, personality, patient's ongoing evaluation of clinical response to TCS, doctor-patient relationship and healthcare-seeking behaviour. Of mention, patients placed high value and trust on their own experiences with TCS, such as their perceived experienced side effects. The doctor who failed to acknowledge the patient's opinions and instead emphasised the safety of TCS was often viewed as dismissive, resulting in a deteriorating patient-doctor relationship.

CONCLUSION

Provision of knowledge and education is important but may be ineffective if the basis for TCS concern regarding safety is reasonable, or when the patient has a firmly established belief supporting his/her concern. In such instances, failure to acknowledge and respect the patient's decision to avoid TCS could worsen the doctor-patient relationship.

Humor and Personality: Temperament and Character Have Different Roles

This study aimed to test how sense of humor is dependent on the complex and dynamic interactions between the emotional (temperament) and sociocognitive (character) components of personality. Specifically, we examined the relationship of temperament and/or character profiles to overall humor potential and comic style. In total, 665 adults responded to Cloninger’s Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) and the Comic Style Markers. Temperament profiles were associated with overall humor potential but not comic styles. People with positive development of all three character traits had the highest levels of fun, benevolent humor, and wit. Sense of humor depended on integrated profiles of both temperament and character. We conclude that temperament energizes overall humor potential while character shapes the comic styles. This study advances research by directing focus to the causal within-person psychobiological processes that underlie sense of humor.