Big five personality traits and problematic mobile phone use: A meta-analytic review

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms in Adults Diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis: Prevalence and Correlates

Background: The relationship between adult ADHD symptoms in People with Multiple Sclerosis (PwMS) is understudied. This study aimed to answer two questions: are PwMS more likely to experience higher ADHD symptoms versus healthy subjects? And what are the correlates of severe ADHD symptoms in PwMS? Methods: This study followed a cross-sectional design with predefined inclusion criteria. The Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale-V1.1 (ASRS) was used to assess the ADHD symptoms severity. Results: Data were analyzed from 171 PwMS and 200 controls. Regression analysis revealed that PwMS were at a significantly (B = 3.05, t = 2.24, 95% CI = 0.37-5.73, p = 0.02) higher risk to report higher ADHD scores versus controls. In addition, PwMS with relapses in the last 6 months and PwMS reporting smartphone addiction were at a significantly higher risk for severe ADHD (B = 7.19, t = 269, 95% CI = 1.91-12.48, p = 0.008) and (B = 9.18, t = 3.47, 95% CI = 3.97-14.41, p = 0.001), respectively. In conclusion, diagnosis with MS in our study was identified as a risk for higher ADHD symptoms. Conclusions: Further research is required to establish this relationship, and holistic medical and psychological interventions are required to improve the cognitive status of PwMS.

The mediating effect of perceived stress on the relationship between big five personality traits and suboptimal health status in Chinese population: a nationwide survey in the framework of predictive, preventive, and personalized medicine

Background

The effects of psychological factors on suboptimal health status (SHS) have been widely described; however, mechanisms behind the complex relationships among the Big Five personality traits and SHS are unclear. Identifying people with specific traits who are susceptible to SHS will help improve life quality and reduce the chronic disease burden under the framework of predictive, preventive, and personalized medicine (PPPM / 3PM). This study investigated the relationships among personality traits and SHS. It also explored whether perceived stress plays a mediating role in SHS development.

Method

A nationwide cross-sectional survey based on multistage random sampling was conducted in 148 cities in China between June 20 and August 31, 2022. Personality traits, perceived stress, and SHS were evaluated using the Big Five Inventory-10 (BFI-10), the 4-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-4), and the Short-Form Suboptimal Health Status Questionnaire (SHSQ-SF), respectively. Pearson's correlation analysis was employed to examine the associations between personality traits, perceived stress, and SHS. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to discern the mediating role of perceived stress in the relationships among personality traits and SHS.

Result

A total of 22,897 participants were enrolled in this study, among whom the prevalence of SHS was 52.9%. SHS was negatively correlated with three trait dimensions (i.e., extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) but positively correlated with neuroticism. Meanwhile, stress was negatively correlated with extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness, whereas it was positively correlated with neuroticism. The SEM results showed that, when adjusting for covariates (i.e., gender, age, BMI, educational level, current residence, marital status, and occupational status), higher agreeableness (β =  - 0.049, P < 0.001) and conscientiousness (β =  - 0.103, P < 0.001) led to lower SHS prevalence, higher neuroticism (β = 0.130, P < 0.001), and openness (β = 0.026, P < 0.001) caused SHS to be more prevalent. Perceived stress played a partial mediating role in the relationships among personality traits and SHS, respectively, contributing 41.3%, 35.9%, and 32.5% to the total effects of agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism on SHS. Additionally, the mediating impact of stress was significant even though extraversion had no direct effect on SHS.

Conclusion

This study revealed a high prevalence of SHS in Chinese residents. Personality traits significantly influenced SHS rates, which perceived stress tended to mediate. From a PPPM perspective, early screening and targeted intervention for people with neuroticism (as well as stress alleviation) might contribute to health enhancement and chronic disease prevention.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13167-023-00349-x.

Doomscrolling Scale: its Association with Personality Traits, Psychological Distress, Social Media Use, and Wellbeing

Doomscrolling is a fairly new concept in mental health research which has attracted significant attention in recent years. This paper consists of three separate studies examining doomscrolling. In Study I (N = 378), both 15-item and 4-item forms of Doomscrolling Scale (DS) were confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis. Item Response Analysis demonstrated that all items had strong discriminative power. Different reliability coefficients supported the high reliability of DS. In Study II (N = 419), both correlation and network analysis indicated that doomscrolling was significantly associated with big five personality traits, social media addiction, fear of missing out, and some features of social media usage. In Study III (N = 460), the relationship of doomscrolling with psychological distress and wellbeing indicators -life satisfaction, mental well-being and harmony in life- were investigated. Structural equation modeling indicated that the relationship between doomscrolling and wellbeing indicators were mediated by psychological distress. This comprehensive and pioneering study on doomscrolling has highlighted the individual and social impacts of doomscrolling.

Exploring Depression among the Elderly during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Effects of the Big Five, Media Use, and Perceived Social Support

The mental health of the elderly is vulnerable during public health emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and the risks of depression is increased. The study aimed to explore the effects of physical health, the Big Five personality traits, media use, and different kinds of perceived social support as predictors of levels of depression among the elderly during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in more than 120 cities in China with a sample of 1147 older adults, and hierarchical regression was established to examine the predictors of the level of depression. The results showed that almost half of the elderly (48%) had a status of mild or much more severe depression during the COVID-19 pandemic. The level of depression was negatively associated with physical health, extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and family support, while it was positively associated with neuroticism and media use. The study emphasized the effects of physical health, the Big Five personality traits, media use, and perceived social support from family as the predictors of levels of depression, providing further measures to help the elderly better react to a public health emergency.

The relationship between neuroticism and mobile phone use among college students in love: The masking effect of self-emotional assessment

The relationship between neuroticism and mobile phone use is a hot research topic in the academic community. The purpose of this study was to investigate the roles of self-emotional assessment and love status in the mechanism through which college students’ neuroticism influences mobile phone use.We construct a moderated mediation model, and taking 869 Chinese college students as the research object and testing the mediating role of self-emotional assessment and the moderating role of love status. The results show that: (1) neuroticism was significantly positively related to mobile phone use and significantly negatively related to self-emotional assessment; self-emotional assessment was significantly positively related to mobile phone use; (2) self-emotional assessment had a masking effect on the relationship between neuroticism and mobile phone use; (3) love status not only moderated the relationship between self-emotional assessment and mobile phone use but also moderated the process through which self-emotional assessment masked the effect of neuroticism on mobile phone use. Our research expands the literature on the mechanisms underlying the effects of neuroticism on mobile phone use, enriches the understanding of the pertinent boundary conditions, and provides a better explanatory basis for the mobile phone use of college students.

Rich Get Richer: Extraversion Statistically Predicts Reduced Internet Addiction through Less Online Anonymity Preference and Extraversion Compensation

Internet addiction may arise from multiple factors and personality tendencies have been previously implicated. Prior studies have found that extraversion may be a protective factor mitigating against internet addiction, yielding a "rich-get-richer" effect. However, few studies have explored how extraversion may influence internet addiction from the perspective of online-offline integration. Drawing on a sample of 428 college students, the current study examined a serial mediation model exploring the underlying mechanisms of how extraversion may statistically predict internet addiction through online-offline integration and antecedent factors. The serial mediation model analyses indicated that extraverted internet users exhibited a weaker preference for online anonymity and less online extraversion compensation, thus formulating a higher level of online-offline integration than introverted individuals, which, in turn, appeared to reduce the risk of internet addiction. In contrast, with regard to specific components of online-offline integration, introverted internet users preferred online anonymity, which reduced their relationship integration and increased their likelihood of internet addiction; similarly, the introverted individuals were also more likely to exhibit an extraversion compensation effect. That is, they were more extraverted on the internet than in general; hence, they had a lower level of self-identity integration, resulting in a greater likelihood of experiencing internet addiction. These results highlight the importance of online-offline integration that may account for personality variations in social and psychological outcomes related to internet use, and suggest a role for online anonymity preference and extraversion compensation in influencing specific components of integration.

A Network Analysis of the Relationships Between Behavioral Inhibition/Activation Systems and Problematic Mobile Phone Use

Background

It is of great concern to society that individuals can be vulnerable to problematic mobile phone use (PMPU). However, there are a few studies in the field evaluating associations between behavioral inhibition/activation systems (BIS/BAS) and PMPU, and the results have been inconsistent. This study aimed to explore the relationships between BIS/BAS and PMPU by network analysis.

Methods

A total of 891 young adults participated in the study. BIS/BAS and PMPU were assessed by using the behavioral inhibition and activation systems scale and smartphone application-based addiction scale, respectively. The structure of the BIS/BAS-PMPU network was characterized using "strength," "closeness" and "betweenness" as centrality indices. Edge-weight accuracy and centrality stability were tested using a bootstrap procedure.

Results

The network analysis showed that "mood modification," "tolerance" and "withdrawal symptoms" had high centrality. In addition, the positive connection between BIS and "mood modification" or "tolerance" and between BAS-fun seeking and "mood modification" or "conflict" were also shown in the BIS/BAS-PMPU network.

Conclusion

These findings shed light on the central and bridge components between the BIS/BAS and PMPU communities, providing new evidence relevant to potential mechanisms that account for how high-BIS or high-BAS individuals develop PMPU, and inspiring component-based PMPU prevention or interventions.

Smartphone Addiction and Eysenck's Personality Traits Among Chinese Adolescents: A Meta-Analysis

With the quickly rising popularity of smartphone among adolescents over the past decade, studies have begun to investigate the relationship between smartphone addiction and Eysenck's personality traits. Despite numerous studies on this topic, however, findings have been mixed and there is a lack of consensus regarding this relationship. Thus, this meta-analysis aimed to explore the relationship between smartphone addiction and Eysenck's personality traits in Chinese adolescents, as well as its possible moderators. Through literature search and screening, 33 studies were included, comprising 79 independent effect sizes with a total of 17, 737 subjects. A random effects model was selected, and it was found that smartphone addiction was positively associated with psychoticism (r = 0.16, p < 0.001) and neuroticism (r = 0.32, p < 0.001), but not significantly associated with extroversion (r = -0.06, p = 0.079). The moderating effect test showed that sex and year of study publication had significant influences on the relationship between smartphone addiction and psychoticism, and the year of study publication had a significant influence on the relationship between smartphone addiction and neuroticism. This study is the first meta-analysis on the relationship between smartphone addiction and Eysenck's personality traits among adolescents in China, and the results have helped to clarify the controversy of previous studies regarding this relationship.

Substance Use Disorder Status Moderates the Association between Personality Traits and Problematic Mobile Phone/Internet Use

BACKGROUND

Associations between personality traits and problematic smartphone use (PSU) among individuals with substance use disorder (SUD) have not been widely investigated. The current study aims to assess whether SUD status moderates the association between personality traits and PSU.

METHODS

The study group included 151 individuals with SUD and a normative sample (NS) comprised of 554 non-SUD students. The following self-report questionnaires were used: the Mobile Phone Problem Use Scale (MPPUS-10) to assess problematic smartphone use (PSU), the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) to assess intensity of internet use, and the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) to assess Personality traits.

RESULTS

SUD status moderated the association between neuroticism and openness to new experiences on PSU. That is, greater neuroticism and openness were significantly associated with more excessive PSU among the NS. In the SUD group, greater openness was a significant protective factor against PSU. Moderation results were similar when using the IAT (which was significantly correlated with MPPUS) as an outcome.

CONCLUSIONS

The presence of SUD may influence how personality traits are associated with problematic mobile phone/internet use. Given that this is among one of the first studies examining this topic, findings should be replicated with additional studies.