Big Five personality domains and relationship satisfaction: Direct effects and correlated change over time

Trajectories of relationship and sexual satisfaction over 2 years in the Covid-19 pandemic: A latent class analysis

OBJECTIVE

Previous research on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on romantic relationships has mainly concentrated on short-term effects and average trends of change. This study aimed to explore different trajectories of relationship and sexual satisfaction from April 2020 to March 2022.

METHOD

Including a cross-national sample of 2859 individuals, a latent class approach was applied to identify subgroups of sexual and relationship satisfaction trajectories. Participants' satisfaction levels, attachment style, psychological symptoms, life satisfaction, and living arrangements were taken into account.

RESULTS

Three latent classes were identified for both relationship and sexual satisfaction: (1) a group with high satisfaction levels but a slightly declining trajectory, (2) a group with low satisfaction levels but an ascending trajectory, and (3) a fluctuating group. Living apart, having children, psychological symptoms, low life satisfaction, and avoidant attachment characterized the two groups with low or fluctuating trajectories.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggest that there were different trajectories of relationship and sexual satisfaction during the pandemic, which can be predicted by individual dispositions. Even 2 years after the pandemic, its effects had not disappeared.

The association between personality, relationship satisfaction, and psychopathology in a three-wave, longitudinal study

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this work was to better understand the role of personality as it relates to psychopathology, with satisfaction as a mediating variable.

BACKGROUND

Personality is an important determinant of many life outcomes including relationship satisfaction and psychopathology. Previous work has demonstrated that broad domains of normal personality have low-to-moderate associations with various forms of psychopathology. Research has primarily focused on mechanisms that might explain how common personality traits put one at risk for common forms of psychopathology; this work builds upon existing work in examining relationship satisfaction as one possible mechanism. No study to date has examined whether relationship satisfaction mediates the connection between personality and psychopathology.

METHOD

We utilized multilevel modeling in a longitudinal sample of 100 newlywed couples to test the hypothesis that major domains of personality (positive temperament, negative temperament, disinhibition) have a significant effect on relationship satisfaction which, in turn, is significantly associated with internalizing and externalizing forms of psychopathology.

RESULTS

We found no evidence for the mediating role of relationship satisfaction; however, in exploratory analyses, we did find evidence for both between-person and within-person effects of personality on psychopathology.

CONCLUSIONS

This study confirms the role of personality as an important factor in consideration of dyadic processes, though not entirely deterministic for downstream functioning. Thus, separate factors in addition to personality may be worth examining in consideration of how low relationship satisfaction may be associated with psychopathology.

Longitudinal associations of neuroticism with life satisfaction and social adaptation in a nationally representative adult sample

OBJECTIVE

Correlational studies have frequently linked neuroticism to lower well-being and poorer social adaptation. In this study, we examined the longitudinal associations of neuroticism with life satisfaction and aspects of social adaptation (i.e., loneliness, number of close friends, and interpersonal trust).

METHOD

Cross-lagged panel models (CLPMs) and random intercepts cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPMs) were used to analyze the prospective associations between variables in a nationally representative adult sample from Germany (N = 5,663 to 11,079 per analysis; 2-4 measurement waves with lags of 4-5 years).

RESULTS

CLPMs indicated that higher neuroticism was related to lower life satisfaction, higher loneliness, fewer friends, and lower interpersonal trust, but not vice versa. At the within-person level, RI-CLPMs revealed similar findings with increased neuroticism predicting decreases in life satisfaction, increases in loneliness, and decreases in interpersonal trust. Indices of social adaptation partially mediated the link between neuroticism and life satisfaction at the between-person but not at the within-person level. Exploratory multigroup analyses support the generalization of the cross-lagged effects of neuroticism on life satisfaction and social adaptation across age, gender, and geographical regions (East versus West Germany).

CONCLUSIONS

These findings highlight the role of neuroticism in shaping psychosocial outcomes over time.

The psychological mechanism underlying neuroticism on divorce proneness: The chain mediating roles of negative partner support and couple burnout and the moderating role of economic level

BACKGROUND

Previous studies have found that neuroticism is a significant predictor of divorce proneness. However, how neuroticism affects divorce proneness remains unclear. Based on the vulnerability-stress-adaptation (VSA) model of marriage, this study aimed to explore the psychological mechanism by which neuroticism affects divorce proneness.

METHODS

A total of 752 Chinese heterosexual married individuals were surveyed by the Neurotic Subscale of the NEO Five-Factor Inventory, the Negative Subscale of the Dyadic Coping Inventory, the Couple Burnout Measure, the Divorce Proneness Scale, and the Personal Monthly Income Survey.

RESULTS

(1) Negative partner support and couple burnout played chain mediating roles in the relationship between neuroticism and divorce proneness, which constructed a chain mediating model. (2) Economic level played a moderating role in the relationship between couple burnout and divorce proneness, which was the latter part of the chain mediating model.

CONCLUSIONS

Divorce proneness can be decreased by perfecting personality traits, reducing negative partner support and couple burnout, and improving the economic level.

Mental health trajectories after juridical divorce: Does personality matter?

INTRODUCTION

This study investigated whether the Big Five personality dimensions were associated with mental health trajectories and/or intervention effects of a digital divorce intervention from juridical divorce to 12 months following juridical divorce. The study utilized a randomized controlled trial study design (N = 676) and measured mental health outcomes (anxiety, depression, somatization, and stress) at study inclusion (i.e., at juridical divorce) and 3-, 6-, and 12 months after juridical divorce. Big Five personality dimensions were measured 1 month post study inclusion.

RESULTS

The study found that neuroticism is the personality dimension most predictive of post-divorce mental health outcomes. Specifically, divorcees with higher neuroticism scores indicated worse mental health immediately following divorce, but their symptom levels decreased more rapidly over a 12 months period after juridical divorce compared with lower neuroticism divorcees. It is also notable that their mean scores for the mental health outcomes remained higher at all time points (3, 6, and 12 months post baseline), relative to those lower in neuroticism.

CONCLUSION

Findings are discussed in light of divorce-adjustment-theory and the stress-buffering model.

Comparing associations between personality and loneliness at midlife across three cultural groups

OBJECTIVE

Loneliness represents a public health threat given its central role in predicting adverse mental and physical health outcomes. Prior research has established four of the Big Five personality traits as consistent cross-sectional predictors of loneliness in largely western, White samples. However, it is not clear if the personality predictors of loneliness vary across cultures.

METHOD

The present study estimates associations between the Big Five traits and loneliness across distinct samples of White American, Black American, and Japanese adults (n = 6051 at T1). Confirmatory factor analysis and exploratory structural equation modeling were used to examine measurement invariance properties of the Big Five and loneliness across these groups. The factor structures were then carried forward to estimate associations between personality and loneliness across two assessments waves using structural equation modeling.

RESULTS

While Neuroticism was a strong predictor across groups, low Extraversion was more predictive of loneliness in Japan than in the U.S., and low Conscientiousness was only a significant predictor in the U.S.

CONCLUSIONS

Previous literature offers a framework for interpreting these findings in that loneliness may be shaped comparatively more through interconnectedness in Japanese culture, while, in the U.S., individual goals and personal romantic expectations are more salient.

Exploring Factor Structures Using Variational Autoencoder in Personality Research

An accurate personality model is crucial to many research fields. Most personality models have been constructed using linear factor analysis (LFA). In this paper, we investigate if an effective deep learning tool for factor extraction, the Variational Autoencoder (VAE), can be applied to explore the factor structure of a set of personality variables. To compare VAE with LFA, we applied VAE to an International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) Big 5 dataset and an IPIP HEXACO (Humility-Honesty, Emotionality, Extroversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Openness) dataset. We found that LFA tends to break factors into ever smaller, yet still significant fractions, when the number of assumed latent factors increases, leading to the need to organize personality variables at the factor level and then the facet level. On the other hand, the factor structure returned by VAE is very stable and VAE only adds noise-like factors after significant factors are found as the number of assumed latent factors increases. VAE reported more stable factors by elevating some facets in the HEXACO scale to the factor level. Since this is a data-driven process that exhausts all stable and significant factors that can be found, it is not necessary to further conduct facet level analysis and it is anticipated that VAE will have broad applications in exploratory factor analysis in personality research.

Dispositional causes of burnout, satisfaction, and performance through the fear of COVID-19 during times of pandemic

Rooted in research into personality, we propose that the Big Five traits would be related to fear of COVID-19 (FOC), which in turn would lead to heightened job burnout, reduced job satisfaction, and decreased performance. Utilizing a three-wave time-lagged design, we collected our data from employees working in the United States and Canada (N = 300 × 3). We found good support for our hypotheses. Extraversion, neuroticism, and conscientiousness had significant direct effects on FOC. Fear of COVID-19 was positively related to job burnout and negatively related to job satisfaction and performance. Extraversion, neuroticism, and conscientiousness had significant indirect effects on burnout, job satisfaction, and job performance via FOC. Hence, this study identifies a key mechanism, an individual's worry about losing their valuable resources (e.g. their health, and that of their family members and friends, etc.), through which selected dimensions of personality might affect employees' work outcomes. We discuss our findings and provide suggestions for future research in this domain.

The moderating effect of personality traits on acute tinnitus sensation in idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss

BACKGROUND

People may experience tinnitus after sudden hearing impairment. The details of the relationship between tinnitus improvement and hearing recovery are still unclear. Personality traits may play a role in the modulation of tinnitus sensation. We investigated the moderating effect of personality traits on pretreatment and posttreatment tinnitus sensation in patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSHL).

METHODS

This prospective longitudinal study enrolled 33 patients diagnosed with unilateral ISSHL and acute tinnitus in 2018-2019 at one institute. Clinical data were collected before and after treatment, including results of pure-tone audiometry (PTA), the Clinical Tinnitus Questionnaire (CTQ), the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI), tinnitus loudness and annoyance (Visual Analog Scale; VAS), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and the Big Five Inventory (BFI)-44.

RESULTS

Eighteen men and 15 women with an average age of 48.3 ± 15.8 years were enrolled. The pretreatment hearing threshold and THI score were 58.0 ± 27.4 dB HL and 42.9 ± 26.2 (range: 0-88), respectively; the posttreatment values were 39.8 ± 22.4 dB HL and 20.7 ± 22.5 (range: 0-64), respectively. There were significant differences between pretreatment and posttreatment hearing thresholds as well as THI, VAS, and HADS scores (p < 0.001) but not BFI-44 results. Neuroticism and openness had significant positive and negative correlations, respectively, with acute tinnitus stress before treatment (r = 0.561, p = 0.001; r = -0.359, p = 0.040). After 3 months of follow-up, all patients were analyzed separately by dividing them into recovery (n = 16) and nonrecovery groups (n = 14) according to their hearing improvement status by Siegel's criteria. Neuroticism showed a significant moderating effect on acute tinnitus sensation in the ISSHL recovery group (p < 0.001) but not in the nonrecovery group (p = 0.106).

CONCLUSION

Neuroticism and openness may affect acute tinnitus stress in ISSHL patients. Practitioners should consider personality traits when managing ISSHL patients with bothersome tinnitus.

Individual psychological distance: a leadership task to assess and cope with invisible change

Purpose

The current research review aims to provide a conceptual framework for future research on individual psychological distance in leadership tasks.

Design/methodology/approach

Through literature review, the authors developed an intended research framework.

Findings

The need of intended framework from theoretical perspective, meta-analysis and situational analysis is presented in this paper. The discussion on a present study about the various aspects of individual perspective, strategic leadership and its link with organizational outcomes are hypothetically aligned in the framework.

Originality/value

Strategic change management is the process of managing change in an organization. Change is critical to measure existing structures in the thoughtful way. Mapping individual behavior change is a difficult task, and organizational goals, objectives and missions are an important element of the learning process. Through this framework, the authors attempt to reach the model.

Pathology in Relationships

Committed, long-term romantic relationships are ubiquitous among modern society. They are one of the most important contexts for the development, maintenance, and treatment of psychopathology. In this review, I first place psychopathology within the most commonly cited theoretical model of marital satisfaction and stability and then discuss how relationship satisfaction is conceptualized and assessed in this literature. In the second half of the review, I describe the theories regarding how romantic relationships may be connected to psychopathology. Relationship distress is easily incorporated into a diathesis-stress model as an important trigger for psychopathology. Next, I review cross-sectional research, longitudinal research, and treatment efficacy research linking relationship quality and psychopathology. I provide evidence for the robustness of these effects and areas where research must expand. I finish with a summary section that synthesizes what is known about the mechanisms linking relationship distress and psychopathology.

Reciprocal effects of neuroticism and life stress in adolescence

BACKGROUND

Stressful life experiences and personality can influence one another. Personality may contribute to the amount and type of stress individuals experience, which is referred to as a selection effect. Life stress may also impact one's personality, which is referred to as a socialization effect. It was hypothesized that neuroticism would predict increased chronic and episodic stress (selection effect) and that chronic and episodic stress would predict increased neuroticism (socialization effect).

METHODS

The current study investigated selection and socialization effects of neuroticism and life stress over a three-year period in 627 adolescents. Life stress data were examined in terms of duration (chronic versus episodic) and type (interpersonal versus non-interpersonal). Episodic stress data were examined as dependent or independent.

RESULTS

The results from ten cross-lagged panel models provided some evidence for significant selection and socialization effects depending on stress type. Over three years, we observed that neuroticism increases interpersonal chronic stress and non-interpersonal stressful events (selection effects) and that dependent non-interpersonal stressful events and chronic stress increase neuroticism (socialization effects).

LIMITATIONS

Study limitations include a lack of a lifespan perspective and a statistical approach that does not differentiate between- from within-person variance.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings suggest the value of attending to stress response as well as targeting neuroticism in prevention and intervention approaches in adolescents.

The demography of swiping right. An overview of couples who met through dating apps in Switzerland

Within the span of almost ten years, phone dating apps have transformed the dating scene by normalizing and, according to some voices, gamifying the digital quest for a partner. Despite amplified discussion on how swipe-based apps damage the fabric of intimate ties, scientific accounts on whether they have led to different relationship patterns are missing. Using 2018 survey data from Switzerland, this study provides a rich overview of couples who met through dating apps by addressing three main themes: 1) family formation intentions, 2) relationship satisfaction and individual well-being, and 3) assortative mating. The data indicate that in Switzerland, dating apps have recently taken over as main online dating context. Results further show that couples formed through mobile dating have stronger cohabiting intentions than those formed in non-digital settings. Women who found their partner through a dating app also have stronger fertility desires and intentions than those who found their partner offline. Generally, there are no differences between couples initiated through dating apps and those initiated elsewhere regarding relationship and life satisfaction. Though more data are needed to capture the full range of users' romantic and sexual experiences, current results mitigate some of the concerns regarding the short-term orientation or the poor quality of relationships formed through mobile dating. Findings finally suggest that dating apps play an important role in altering couple composition by allowing for more educationally diverse and geographically distant couples.

Longitudinal associations between prenatal testosterone and postpartum outcomes in a sample of first-time expectant lesbian couples

Although increasing numbers of gay and lesbian individuals ultimately become parents, the vast majority of research on the transition to parenthood focuses exclusively on heterosexual samples. Even less is known about the physiological implications of this major life transition among those who identify as sexual minorities. The present study begins to redress these gaps in the literature by assessing prospective links between prenatal testosterone, a steroid hormone that is negatively associated with nurturance and caregiving, and postpartum outcomes in a sample of 25 first-time expectant lesbian couples (N = 50 individuals). Consistent with prior work in heterosexual samples, which suggests that lower testosterone promotes both partnering and parenting, we found that, in both partners, lower testosterone during the prenatal period predicted better romantic relationship and parenting outcomes at three-months postpartum (e.g., higher relationship quality, more time spent doing baby care). There was also evidence for dyadic associations; for instance, birth mothers reported more overprotective behavior, and non-birth mothers reported greater commitment, when their female partners had lower testosterone. Together, our findings contribute important new knowledge about the functionality of testosterone in close relationships contexts, including some of the first evidence among sexual minorities.