Neuroticism and emotional risk during the COVID-19 pandemic

The role of perseverative cognition in the job strain-health outcome relationship

Objective.

Job strain has been implicated in a variety of adverse health outcomes, particularly cardiometabolic and inflammatory diseases. However, the mechanisms underlying these effects remain largely unknown. One possibility is that the maladaptive coping response to stress, (perseverative cognition (PC); the cognitive representation of past stressful events (rumination) or feared future events (worry)), either in work or more generally, mediates the relationship between job strain and physical disease. The aim of this study was thus to test the potential role of both general, and work- related PC as a mediating, or potentially moderating, mechanism between job strain and ill- health outcomes.

Design & Measures.

Using an online cross- sectional design, 650 full- time employees completed measures of job strain, general and work- related PC (rumination & worry) and health outcomes (burnout, somatization, health behaviours & sleep quality).

Results.

General and work- related worry and rumination significantly mediated, often independently, the relationship between job strain and burnout, somatization, and sleep quality. No significant mediation effects were observed for health behaviours and no type of PC (general or work- related) moderated job strain- health outcome relations.

Conclusion.

Both general and work- related worry and rumination are likely to play important, and partly independent, roles in understanding the adverse relationships between job strain and various health outcomes.

A study on optimism as a psychological strength in nurses through a prospective study from the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic to two years later

Aims and objectives

This study analyzes, in nurses, the influence of openness to experience and hardiness (assessed at baseline and one year after the COVID-19 pandemic respectively) on the development of optimism (assessed two years after the COVID-19 pandemic). Concerns about self-contagion were included as a moderating variable, given their relevance as a risk factor.

Background

Nurses have been among the healthcare professionals most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Most previous studies have focused on the variables contributing to psychological symptoms, whilst the attention given to the variables adding to the well-being of these professionals has been much scarcer.

Design

A prospective study was carried out.

Methods

This study was carried out using three data collection periods: Period 1 (From May to June 2020), Period 2 (From January 2021 to April 2021), and Period 3 (From April 2022 to July 2022), with the participation of 151 Spanish nurses, using online self-reporting questionnaires. The study followed the STROBE statement.

Results

The results showed that the proposed model was statistically significant. There was a positive effect of openness to experience (year 2020) on hardiness assessed one year later (year 2021). Similarly, hardiness had a positive effect on optimism assessed another year on (year 2022).

Conclusions

Concerns about self-contagion behaved as a moderator in the relationship between openness to experience and hardiness (the relationship between openness and hardiness was statistically significant when contagion concern was higher). Relevance to clinical practice: In-depth understanding of the psychological processes that trigger psychological strengths (i.e. optimism) as a result of adverse situations (i.e. COVID-19 pandemic) is essential in promoting the mental health of healthcare professionals. Interventions targeting resilient personality traits and cognitive flexibility are key to this goal. No Patient or Public Contribution: The participants contributed exclusively to the collection of the sample.

Evaluation of Internet Addiction and Relational Variables Among Nursing Students in Turkey During the COVID-19 Pandemic

It is known that individuals use the internet more to escape from the psychological problems they encounter in daily life during the pandemic. Besides, it is also known that individuals with personality traits such as neuroticism and extraversion might be prone to internet addiction due to poor communication skills. It is important to determine the relationship between the internet usage characteristics and the mental state of nursing students so that students can provide better quality health services in their education and professional processes. The present study aimed to determine the relationship between internet addiction and personality traits, stress, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms among nursing students during the pandemic. This study includes 528 nursing students. The Young's Internet Addiction Test (YIAT), the Vancouver Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory (VOCI), the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI), and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) were used for data collection between August and October 2021. It was found that there was a statistically significant and positive correlation between the students' YIAT mean scores and the EPI neuroticism sub-dimension, VOCI all sub-dimensions, and PSS mean scores (p < .05). In addition, the mean scores of the PSS and EPI were predictors of the YIAT total score (R = .550, R2 = .233, p < .05). Considering these results, it is necessary to prevent the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the psychosocial health of individuals. Psychological counseling can be offered to provide protective factors during the pandemic period.

Patients' and Parents' Concerns over Orthodontic Treatment during the COVID - 19 Pandemic

Objective

We aimed to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the concern of adolescents in orthodontic treatment, and to determine whether personality traits and parental perception were predictors of adolescent patients' concerns.

Participants and methods

The sample consisted of 229 adolescent patients (57.2% female) and 223 parents (65.1% female). Questionnaires included items about the importance of infection control and concern about treatment duration and results. Their latent structure was determined using exploratory factor analysis. The Big Five Inventory was used for assessing personality traits. Predictors of patients' and parental orthodontic concern and awareness of the importance of infection control measures were tested by the hierarchical multiple regression analysis.

Results

Two factors were revealed for the patient questionnaire, Treatment concern (TC) and Awareness of the importance of measures (AM), and four factors for the parent questionnaire, Parents' treatment concern (PTC), Parents' awareness of the importance of measures (PAM), Parents' concern about the pandemic (PCP) and Parents' concern about their child with regards to the pandemic (PCC). Adolescents' personality traits were not predictors of either TC or AM. PTC was a predictor of TC (p<0.001), accounting for 28% of the variance. PAM and the patient's following of the news were predictors of AM (p≤0.022), accounting for 24% and 2% of the variance, respectively.

Conclusion

Parental concern and awareness of measures had an important role in attitudes of adolescent orthodontic patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, while personality traits did not. The clinician should put additional emphasis on communication with the parent.

Media exposure related to COVID-19 is associated with worse mental health consequences in the United States compared to Italy

BACKGROUND

Prolonged media exposure after collective crises is widely shown to have adverse effects on people's mental health. Do these effects show variation across different countries? In the present study, we compared the link between media exposure related to COVID-19 and mental health-related outcomes in the United States and Italy, two countries with high levels of early COVID-19 prevalence.

METHOD

Participants matched on age and gender in the United States (n = 415) and Italy (n = 442) completed assessments of media exposure, stress, anxiety, COVID-19 worry, and other variables shortly after the first wave of infections in 2020.

RESULTS

COVID-19 related media exposure predicted higher levels of stress, anxiety, and COVID-19 worry, net of the effects of neuroticism, political identification, and demographics. Moreover, COVID-19 related media exposure interacted with country to predict more stress and COVID-19 worry in the United States than in Italy.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings are among the first to document cross-national differences in the association of media exposure with mental health outcomes.

COVID-19 stressful life events and mental health: Personality and coping styles as moderators

OBJECTIVE

To examine the role of COVID-19-specific stressful life events (SLE) in predicting depression, anxiety, and life satisfaction, and if personality traits (extraversion and neuroticism), and coping styles (problem-focused coping and avoidance coping) moderated these relations.

PARTICIPANTS

Data were collected from 371 college students (Mage = 20.59; SDage = 2.58) from one large university of the Mid-Atlantic region in the U.S.

METHODS

Participants completed an online survey measuring COVID-19 related stressful life events (adapted from a tool developed to measure stressful life events during the SARS pandemic; Costa et al., 2001; Main et al., 2011), personality (the Mini-Markers; Saucier, 1994), coping styles (by using a measure developed by Aldrige-Gerry et al., 2011), depression (PHQ-9; Kroenke et al., 2011), anxiety (GAD-7; Spitzer et al., 2006), and life satisfaction (Student's Life Satisfaction Scale, Huebner, 1996) between March 27th and April 27th, 2020.

RESULTS

Path analysis results showed that extraversion and avoidance coping style moderated the effects of SLE on depression and anxiety symptoms; neuroticism and avoidance coping style moderated the relation between SLE and life satisfaction. The moderation results also differed by gender.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic had deleterious effects on college students' mental health, where extraversion emerged as a protective factor, while neuroticism and avoidance coping style were risk factors. These findings underscore the importance of paying special attention to college students' mental health needs and promoting appropriate coping strategies in the light of the current pandemic.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of neuroticism and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction

In response to the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns about mental health, particularly anxiety levels, have become prominent. This study aims to explore the relationship between neuroticism, a personality trait associated with emotional instability, and anxiety during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Methods

A comprehensive literature search was conducted using the Cochrane Library, HINARI, Google Scholar, and PUBMED, resulting in the identification of 26 relevant papers. The study protocol has been registered with PROSPERO under the number CRD42023452418. Thorough meta-analysis was performed using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis V4 software.

Results

Meta-analysis revealed a significant positive relationship between anxiety and neuroticism, with 26 studies supporting this association (OR = 3.213, 95% CI 2.352 to 4.391). The findings underscore the importance of considering personality traits, particularly neuroticism, in understanding psychological responses to major global crises such as the COVID-19 epidemic.

Discussion

The observed connection between neuroticism and heightened anxiety levels emphasizes the need for targeted interventions, especially for individuals with high levels of neuroticism. Further research into potential therapeutic approaches for mitigating anxiety consequences in the context of a significant global catastrophe is warranted.

Systematic Review Registration

https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/#CRD42023452418.

Finding Silver Linings in the Covid-19 Pandemic: A 2-Wave Study in the UK

The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in widespread anxiety, fear and depression, yet focussing only on these negative issues may obscure the opportunity to promote positivity and resilience. Traumatic events can often result in positive life changes (adversarial growth) though there is little evidence in the context of pandemics, and no previous studies in Covid-19 with the general public. The present research investigated whether adversarial growth was perceived in Covid-19 and whether this could account for variance in wellbeing, over and above effects of personality traits. Participants recruited from the UK public (N = 183) completed the Big Five Personality Inventory, the WHO-5 Wellbeing Scale and the Silver Lining Questionnaire (SLQ) measure of adversarial growth. Questionnaires were completed online, at two timepoints, nine months apart. At Time 1, wellbeing was negatively associated with trait Neuroticism and positively associated with Openness to experience. Both associations were positively mediated by SLQ score. At Time 2, SLQ score again mediated the effects of Openness on wellbeing, and also the influence of wellbeing at Time 1 on that at Time 2. Reported Silver Linings included strengthened personal relationships at Time 1, and improved ability to handle life events at Time 2. This suggests a shift from an appreciation of relationships to an awareness of personal development once life returned to some semblance of normality. Overall, results suggest that perceived adversarial growth supported wellbeing during the pandemic and highlight a focus for therapeutic intervention.

Effects of acute stress on risky decision-making are related to neuroticism: An fMRI study of the Balloon Analogue Risk Task

BACKGROUND

Decision making under acute stress is frequent in daily life. While evidence suggests for a modulatory role of neuroticism on risky decision-making behaviors, the neural correlates underlying the association between neuroticism and risky decision-making under acute stress remain to be elucidated.

METHODS

Based on a modified Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) with concurrent functional magnetic resonance imaging, we evaluated the effect of acute stress on risk-taking behavior in 27 healthy male adults, and further assessed stress-induced changes in brain activation according to the individual differences in neuroticism.

RESULTS

Higher trait neuroticism levels positively correlated with increased stress-modulated activation of the right dorsal anterior cingulate cortex during risk-taking, and negatively correlated with decreased stress-modulated activation of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during cash-outs.

LIMITATIONS

Only male participants were recruited.

CONCLUSIONS

We found a positive correlation between neuroticism and greater risk-taking behavior under acute stress. These results extend our understanding of the increased risk-taking propensity in high neurotic individuals under acute stress.

The mental condition of Polish adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic and war in Ukraine

Recently, the experience of the COVID-19 global pandemic has significantly affected the mental condition of entire societies by increasing anxiety and stress resulting from its sudden and completely unexpected nature. In Poland, apart from the pandemic, there is an ongoing threat of an armed conflict just across the border, which can constitute direct and indirect threats to physical and mental health. Each of these situations is unusual and difficult. It is also in sharp contrast to the developmental needs of children and adolescents. It especially violates the principal need of this developmental period, which is to grow up in a predictable as well as physically and emotionally safe environment. The purpose of the conducted research was to assess the psychological condition of Polish adolescents, whose social situation is difficult, in order to take appropriate preventive measures based on this assessment. The study was conducted using the "Who are You?" Scale of Transparency Anxiety and the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS), as well as a researcher-made survey containing questions about well-being in relation to the pandemic, distance learning and the ongoing war in a neighbouring country. Approval was obtained from the Bioethics Committee to conduct the projected research. The study included 945 adolescents aged 11 to 15 (M = 13.10; SD = 1.11) making a representative sample of adolescents from 14 regions in Poland. The results of the research and analyses show that the adolescents under study have a medium level of intensity of neuroticism, with the highest levels occurring in adolescents aged 14. Moreover, the adolescents manifest relatively lower symptoms of anxiety and depression as well as concern about the pandemic and the war in Ukraine than expected.

The role of maladaptive personality traits on psychological stress the mediating effects of COVID-19-related worries and emotional dysregulation

There is increasing evidence that dysfunctional personality traits, related to psychological maladjustment and psychopathology, can play an important role in a person's ability to cope with major stressful events. Relatively little is known about the specific effect of the emotional component on the relationship between maladaptive personality traits and psychological stress. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between the maladaptive personality traits of psychoticism, detachment, and negative affect, and psychological stress, considering the effects of COVID-19-related worries and emotional dysregulation. An online survey was administered to 1172 adult participants. A series of path analysis models showed that maladaptive personality traits (psychoticism, detachment, and negative affect) are related to psychological stress. COVID-19-related worries and emotional dysregulation partially explained this association. The results suggest that in the early months of 2022, during the reduction of government restrictions, although the world population was no longer in nationwide lockdown, the COVID-19-related emotional component could still explain, at least in part, the association between maladaptive personality traits and psychological stress.

Predicting attitudes toward mitigation interventions and social distancing behaviors at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States

Aim

The goal of this research was to assess the influence of adult attachment, personality, and cultural orientation on social distancing and attitudes toward COVID-19 mitigation interventions.

Methods

Survey data was collected across two samples (NMTurk = 201, Nsnowball = 242) in the US from April 29 to May 11, 2020. Adult attachment was assessed via the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale-Short Form (ECR-S; Wei, M., Russell, D. W., Mallinckrodt, B., & Vogel, D. L. (2007). The experiences in close relationship scale (ECR)-short form: Reliability, validity, and factor structure. Journal of Personality Assessment, 88(2), 187-204), personality was assessed via the Ten Item Personality Inventory (TIPI; Gosling, S. D., Rentfrow, P. J., & Swann, W. B. (2003). A very brief measure of the Big-Five personality domains. Journal of Research in Personality, 37(6), 504-528), cultural orientation was assessed via the Horizontal and Vertical Individualism and Collectivism Scale (Triandis, H. C., & Galfand, M. J. (1998). Converging measurement of horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(1), 118-128), and social distancing and attitudes toward mitigation interventions were assessed via self-report measures developed for this assessment.

Results

In the MTurk sample, agreeableness (β = .19) and conscientiousness (β = .26) predicted positive mitigation intervention attitudes. Agreeableness (β = .24) and vertical collectivism (β = .25) positively predicted social distancing, while attachment anxiety (β = -.32) and vertical individualism (β = -.32) negatively predicted social distancing. In our snowball sample, residing primarily in New York, openness (β = .18) and horizontal collectivism (β = .16) predicted positive intervention attitudes, while horizontal individualism (β = -.20) predicted negative attitudes. Social contact in this sample was low and not associated with predictor variables. In both samples, mitigation attitudes and social distancing were only moderately correlated.

Implications

Our findings highlight the inherent inconsistency between attitudes and behaviors as well as the potential impact of mandated interventions on both attitudes and behavior.

COVID-19 experiences and psychopathology symptoms in college students at the onset of the pandemic

Objective: The present study examined what specific aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to psychopathology symptoms among college students during the initial stages of the pandemic. Participants: One thousand and eighty-nine college students (M_age = 20.73, SD_age = 2.93) enrolled at a university in New York participated in the study between March and May 2020. Methods: Participants completed self-report measures assessing pandemic-related experiences and psychopathology symptoms. Results: Results indicated that greater COVID-19-related life changes were uniquely associated with greater depression and post-traumatic stress symptoms. Greater concerns about school, home confinement, and basic needs were uniquely associated with greater depression symptoms. Finally, greater COVID-19 infection concerns were uniquely associated with greater generalized anxiety and post-traumatic stress symptoms. Conclusion: The present study indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic had a multifaceted impact on undergraduate students and that specific COVID-19 experiences contributed to higher rates of psychopathology symptoms.

Impact of individual factors and personality trait on psychological problems of family members living with staff of a COVID-19 frontline hospital: A cross-sectional self-administered anonymous questionnaire survey

Aim

This study aims to evaluate the association between individual factors/personality traits and depression and anxiety in family members living with staff working on the frontline of COVID-19 care.

Methods

The subjects were family members over the age of 15 years living with staff members of a COVID-19 frontline hospital. Between March 27 and April 11, 2021, 204 self-administered anonymous questionnaires were distributed, and 149 responses were received. Symptoms of depression and anxiety were assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Personality trait was assessed using the Big Five personality traits, and fear of COVID-19 was assessed using the Fear of COVID-19 Scale. We examined associations between HADS depression or anxiety scores with individual background factors, scores of Big Five personality traits, and Fear of COVID-19 Scale.

Results

The participants with anxiety had significantly higher scores for neuroticism and for the Fear of COVID-19 Scale. The participants with depression had significantly lower scores for extraversion and higher scores for the Fear of COVID-19 Scale. No individual background factors were significantly associated with HADS depression or anxiety scores.

Conclusion

Among family members of staff of a COVID-19 frontline hospital, lower extraversion, higher neuroticism, and fear of COVID-19 were associated with anxiety and depression. This questionnaire survey was conducted before wide-spread rollout of COVID-19 vaccination, so the findings of this study are expected to be applicable to other future novel infectious outbreaks.

Mediator role of resilience in the relationship between neuroticism and psychological symptoms: COVID-19 Pandemic and supermarket employees

The current research aimed to examine the relationship between personality traits, resilience, and psychological symptom levels of front-line supermarket employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. Three-hundred and ten (310) supermarket employees participated in the research between March and May 2021. Participants filled out the questionnaire sets online The Demographic Information Form, Symptom Checklist, Five Factor Inventory and Resilience Scale for Adults were presented as questionnaire sets. Pearson Correlation Analyses were conducted to determine the relationships between variables, Multiple Regression and mediation analyses were conducted to discover the predictors of symptom level. It was found that personality traits, resilience and psychological symptom levels are related to each other. Conscientiousness, neuroticism, openness and resilience are significant predictors of psychological symptom level. In addition, resilience plays a mediating role in the relationship between neuroticism and psychological symptom levels. The findings were discussed within the framework of the relevant literature and COVID-19 research findings.

COVID-19 Pandemic and Lockdown: Associations With Personality and Stress Components

The present study examines the role of personality traits, interpersonal relationships, and sociodemographic factors on perceived stress, related to COVID-19, and compliance with measures to mitigate its spread. Data were collected in the midst of the 'first wave' lockdown, with the survey completed in full by 963 participants. We measured stress, directly related to the pandemic, rather than general stress, and were able to distinguish between symptoms of emotional, behavioural, cognitive, physical stress, and alienation with high concordance. We included personality scoring with standardized T-scores, allowing for cross-study comparison, and a broader questionnaire on the participants' support for COVID-19 mitigation measures. Results of the multiple regression models indicated that low emotional stability and introversion, and high conscientiousness, common conflicts with loved ones, and some demographics (female gender, middle age, chronic health problems) correspond to elevated stress. Conscientiousness was positively associated with total stress and some of its components, whereas opposite results were found for emotional stability. Extraversion was negatively correlated to total stress, its emotional and physical components, and alienation. Surprisingly, increased stress was not related to greater measure adherence. The present results shed light on how personality, interpersonal relationships, and sociodemographic factors influence people's stress response during a pandemic.

Direct and Interactive Effects of Personality and Experiencing Changes in Relationships on Symptoms of Internalizing Psychopathology During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Purpose

The present study examined the prospective direct and interactive effects of personality (neuroticism, extraversion) and experiencing changes in friendships during the pandemic on symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression.

Methods

A sample of patients (N = 77) at an outpatient treatment clinic who had received a diagnostic assessment in the 6 months prior to the COVID-19 lockdown was re-contacted during the pandemic (May-June 2020) and completed a survey assessing stressors and symptoms of internalizing psychopathology.

Results

Neuroticism had main effects on anxiety, whereas experiencing changes in friendships had main effects on stress and depression. Extraversion did not have main effects on stress, depression, or anxiety. The relationship between experiencing changes in friendships and stress and anxiety was moderated by extraversion, such that the strength of the relationship between changes in friendships and stress and anxiety waned as the level of extraversion increased. Neuroticism was not a moderator of the association between changes in friendships and emotional disorder symptoms.

Conclusion

These results suggest that higher levels of extraversion may protect against symptoms of stress reactivity and anxiety that are associated with COVID-related changes in friendships, while neuroticism may have limited prospective associations with symptoms during the pandemic.

Supplementary Information

The online version of this article contains supplementary material available 10.1007/s10608-023-10364-x.

Profile identification and characterization of risk perceptions and preventive behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic: A latent profile analysis

In a public health crisis, communication plays a vital role in making sure policies and recommendations from the government level get disseminated accurately to its people and is only considered as effective when the public accepts, supports, complies to, and engages in policies or behaves as per governments' recommendations. Adopting the multivariate audience segmentation strategy for health communication, this study uses a data-driven analytical method to (1) identify audience segments of public health crisis communication in Singapore based on knowledge, risk perception, emotional responses, and preventive behaviors; and (2) characterize each audience segment according to demographic factors, personality traits, information processing styles, and health information preferences. Results (N = 2033) from a web-based questionnaire executed in August 2021 have identified three audience segments: the less-concerned (n = 650), the risk-anxious (n = 142), and the risk-majority (n = 1,241). This study offers insights to how audiences of public health crisis communication perceive, process, and respond to information directed to them during the pandemic, thereby informing policy makers to tailor more targeted public health communication interventions in promoting positive attitude and behavior change.

The personality profile of IPS employment specialists, and how it relates to job satisfaction: A longitudinal cohort study

The role of the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) employment specialist is a new type of occupation within mental healthcare. High turnover among employment specialists necessitates improvement in their recruitment and retention. One element that impacts retention is job satisfaction. We assessed the personality of 38 employment specialists (Big 5 Inventory-2) and measured job satisfaction over three time periods. Compared to norm data, employment specialists were significantly higher on Extraversion (ΔT = 8.0, CI: 5.59-10.42), Agreeableness (ΔT = 7.8, CI: 5.56-10.12), Conscientiousness (ΔT = 3.3, CI: 0.8-5.84), Open-mindedness (ΔT = 3.5, CI: 0.97-6.07), while lower on Negative emotionality (ΔT = -3.5, CI: -6.5 to -0.42). Extraversion had a substantial longitudinal positive effect on job satisfaction (β at T1 = 0.39; CI: 0.10-0.73) (β at T2 = 0.40; CI: 0.03-0.80), while Negative emotionality - a substantial negative effect (β at T1 = -0.60; CI: -0.90 to -0.30) (β at T2 = -0.50; CI: -0.90 to -0.12). Male gender was significantly associated with higher job satisfaction at the time point 1 (β = -0.46; CI: -0.80 to -0.14). Age, length of employment in the role, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness and Open-mindedness were not found to have substantial significant effects on job satisfaction of employment specialists. Recruiting employment specialists who score high on Extraversion and low on Negative emotionality may be a good fit for the role and job satisfaction.

Daily affect intensity and variability of adolescents and their parents before and during a COVID-19 lockdown

INTRODUCTION

The corona virus (COVID-19) pandemic may have a prolonged impact on people's lives, with multiple waves of infections and lockdowns, but how a lockdown may alter emotional functioning is still hardly understood.

METHODS

In this 100-daily diaries study, we examined how to affect intensity and variability of adolescents (N = 159, M_age  = 13.3, 61.6% female) and parents (N = 159, M_age  = 45.3, 79.9% female) changed after the onset and during (>50 days) the second COVID-19 lockdown in the Netherlands, using preregistered piecewise growth models.

RESULTS

We found only an unexpected increase in parents' positive affect intensity after the lockdown onset, but no immediate changes in negative affect intensity or variability. However, both adolescents and parents reported gradual increases in negative affect intensity and variability as the lockdown prolonged. Lockdown effects did not differ between adolescents and parents. However, within groups, individuals differed. The individual differences in the effects were partly explained by life satisfaction, depressive symptoms, and self-reported lockdown impact.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, these findings suggests that a lockdown triggers changes in daily affective well-being especially as the lockdown prolongs. Individual differences in the effects indicate heterogeneity in the impact of the lockdown on daily affect that was partly explained by baseline life satisfaction and depressive symptoms. However, more knowledge on the causes of this heterogeneity is needed to be able to increase resilience to lockdown effects in the population.

Awake and Sleep Bruxism Prevalence and Their Associated Psychological Factors in First-Year University Students: A Pre-Mid-Post COVID-19 Pandemic Comparison

There is a broad consensus accepting that psychological variables such as stress, anxiety, or depression play an important role in bruxism. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in stress, anxiety, and depression levels. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on possible awake and sleep bruxism prevalence and on the psychological factors associated with bruxism, comparing pre-pandemic, pandemic/lockdown, and post-pandemic samples of first-year students. A total of 274 dentistry students from the Complutense University of Madrid participated in the study: 92 from 2018/2019 (pre-pandemic), 90 from 2020/2021 (pandemic), and 92 students from 2021/2022 (post-pandemic) academic years. The participants filled out a thorough battery of validated questionnaires evaluating bruxism and different psychological characteristics, such as anxiety, depression, somatization, personality, and stress coping styles. While sleep bruxism prevalence was significantly higher for the pandemic group, awake bruxism was smaller in comparison to pre-pandemic and post-pandemic groups. The post-pandemic group also presented higher levels of neuroticism and agreeableness personality traits, and positive reappraisal than the pre-pandemic group, with the pandemic group somewhere in between. Additionally, both the pandemic and post-pandemic group showed higher levels of depression and acceptance/resignation coping styles than the pre-pandemic group. Thus, among the three groups of students, the post-pandemic group was the one that showed a larger effect of the pandemic situation in their psychological variables, presenting higher levels of anxiety (state and trait), depression, acceptation/resignation coping style, higher neuroticism (emotional instability trait), and lower agreeableness trait. Nonetheless, the increase of positive reappraisal in the post-pandemic group (an adaptive coping stress style) might be also a sign of recovery. The higher sleep bruxism for the pandemic group might be related to the pandemic situation and lockdown, passively suffered, possibly promoting feelings of impotency, increased levels of depression and acceptance/resignation (normally considered a passive/maladaptive coping style), while acute stressful situations derived from daily personal social interactions might have increased anxiety levels and induced higher levels of awake bruxism observed in both the pre-pandemic and post-pandemic groups. However, further research, including larger and more representative samples, is needed to confirm this possible relationship.

Neuroticism predicts national vaccination rates across 56 countries

Quite strikingly, there is significant variation in Covid-19 vaccine coverage around the world. Some countries do not progress from around 2-3% while others are close to 100% coverage. In addition to some already known economic, health and sociodemographic predictors, the present research is interested in emotional factors that may predict a significant part of this cross-country variation. We examined the personality factor Neuroticism, which corresponds to the relatively stable tendency to experience negative emotions, anxiety and low tolerance for stress. Results confirm that gross domestic product represents around 50 percent of cross-country variation. Neuroticism added 6 to 9 percent of inter-country variation in vaccination coverage. The results are discussed in relation to the associations between Neuroticism, increased worry, greater attention to Covid-19 related information and confidence, as well as lower vaccine hesitancy.

How did the beginnings of the global COVID-19 pandemic affect mental well-being?

The present study aims to investigate longitudinal changes in mental well-being as well as the role of individual differences in personality traits (Big Five) and the level of Personality Organisation during the first lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. Overall, 272 adults (Mage= 36.94, SDage= 16.46; 68.62% female, 23.45% male, 0.69% non-binary) took part in our study with four weekly surveys during the lockdown as well as a follow-up one month after restrictions were lifted. To analyse the development of mental well-being during and shortly after the first lockdown in Germany latent growth curve models (LGCM) were calculated. The considered facets of well-being differ by their trajectory. Additionally, results suggest that the lockdown did not affect all facets to the same extent. While Life Satisfaction decreases in the short term as a reaction to the lockdown, Stress and Psychological Strain were reduced after the second week of contact restrictions. When adding personality characteristics, our results showed that Neuroticism and Conscientiousness were the two dimensions associated most strongly with SWB during the first month of the pandemic. Thus, our research suggests that personality traits should be considered when analysing mental well-being.

News media exposure and life satisfaction in the COVID-19 pandemic: a moderated mediation model of COVID-19 fear and worries and gender

BACKGROUND

Research has found that news media exposure may have both positive and negative consequences for well-being in times of crisis. However, the internal mechanisms underlying that relationship need further investigation. The purpose of the research presented in the paper was to explore the role of COVID-19 fear and worries and users' gender in the relationship between news media exposure and life satisfaction.

PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE

Three hundred seventy-one media users aged 19 to 65 (M = 28.88, SD = 10.25) were surveyed with news media exposure, COVID-19 fear and worries, and life satisfaction scales. Correlation analyses and moderated mediation analyses were performed.

RESULTS

The study demonstrated a significant positive association between news media exposure and life satisfaction, and an indirect effect of news exposure on life satisfaction via COVID-19 fear moderated by gender: elevated COVID-19 fear decreases the positive association between news exposure and life satisfaction, and this effect is stronger for women.

CONCLUSIONS

The present study expands our understanding of the role that news media can play in shaping the user's well-being in a time of a health crisis. It demonstrates that the effects of exposure to news media during a crisis are twofold. On the one hand, the use of news media is associated with a more positive evaluation of one's life, which may indicate that media use is a way to cope with a crisis. On the other hand, frequent use of news media leads to an elevated level of fear related to COVID-19, which, in turn, lowers the user's well-being.

Determinants of the Attitude to COVID-19 Vaccine in Lima-Peru: Path Analysis and Structural Regression

Introduction

Research on the effects of COVID-19 has shown that a favorable attitude toward the COVID-19 vaccine would help reduce the pandemic's sequelae and avoid lethal variants.

Objective

A theoretical model was tested through the strategy of path analysis and structural equation modeling, seeking to evaluate the direct effect of neuroticism and the indirect effects of risk-avoidance and rule-following behaviors, mediated by attitudes toward science.

Methods

A total of 459 adults, mostly women (61%), mean age 28.51 (SD = 10.36), living in Lima (Peru), participated. The scales of neuroticism, risk avoidance behavior (RAB), norm following (NF), attitudes toward science, and attitudes toward vaccination were administered.

Results

The path analysis explained 36% of the variance in vaccine attitude, whereas the latent structural regression model achieved a 54% explanation; according to this model attitude toward science (β=.70, p < .01) and neuroticism (β=-.16, p < .01) are significant predictors of vaccine attitude. Likewise, risk avoidance behavior and rule-following have indirect effects on attitudes toward vaccination.

Conclusion

Low neuroticism and a positive attitude toward the science that mediates the effects of RAB and NF directly condition the possibility of vaccination against COVID-19 in the adult population.

Good Personality and Subjective Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Three-Wave Longitudinal Study in Chinese Contexts

Numerous studies have emphasized the importance of examining psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is important to identify the factors that affect the influence of COVID-19 on people's mental health. The present research was a three-wave longitudinal study (N = 1495) examining the concurrent and prospective relations of good personality with subjective well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results showed that good personality positively predicted the subsequent well-being after controlling for the respective autoregressive effects and Big Five personality traits. Specifically, individuals who scored higher on measures of good personality tended to maintain higher well-being in the face of COVID-19. However, subjective well-being could positively predict subsequent personality only at the first time point. In addition, the prospective effect of good personality on subjective well-being was greater than the reverse effect. These findings support the opinion that as a positive value orientation in personality, good personality has a significant positive impact on the response to the pandemic situation.

Neuroticism and fear of COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic: Testing the mediating role of intolerance of uncertainty and sense of control among Chinese high school students

Since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in 2019, neuroticism has been proven a predictor of fear of COVID-19 infection. However, only few studies have been conducted on the factors affecting the relationship between neuroticism and this kind of fear. The present study is aimed at analyzing the role intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and sense of control (SOC) play in relation to neuroticism and the fear of COVID-19. We conducted a cross-sectional study in Guangdong and Guangxi provinces, China, and we collected complete datasets from 792 high school students. The main results can be described as follows: (a) individuals with high neuroticism tended to have higher intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and a lower sense of control (SOC); (b) IU and SOC played a mediating role between neuroticism and fear of COVID-19, and a serial mediation effect was found between these factors; (c) after controlling for both IU and SOC, the effect of neuroticism on fear was no longer significant. The results suggested a critical role of IU and sense of control in the causal relationship between neuroticism and fear.

A Model for Predicting Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder due to Exposure to Chronic Political Violence: Big Five Personality Traits, Ego-Resiliency, and Coping

Research on psychological effects of exposure to political violence has focused mainly on the effect of environmental factors whereas the effect of individual differences is understudied. The present study offers an integrative model of the contribution of personality traits, ego-resiliency, and coping styles to post-traumatic stress (PTS) symptomatology of civilians exposed to chronic political violence. Three-hundred and thirty-two Israeli citizens living in the south region of Israel were asked to report their experience with different types of political violence incidents, their coping strategies, and PTS symptoms. The participants were also asked to complete the Big Five personality Inventory and Ego-Resiliency Scale. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis indicated that ego-resiliency and emotion-focused coping mediate the relationship between big five personality traits and levels of stress symptoms. It is suggested that neurotic people are more vulnerable to PTS due to low levels of ego-resiliency and a preference to use emotion-focused coping strategies.

Impact of resilience, social support, and personality traits in patients with neuroinflammatory diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

The COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted the well-being of persons with neuroinflammatory diseases (pwNID). Identifying factors that influence the response to challenging conditions could guide supportive care.

METHODS

2185 pwNID and 1079 healthy controls (HCs) from five US centers completed an online survey regarding the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on physical and psychological well-being. Survey instruments included resilience (Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, CD-RISC), loneliness (UCLA Loneliness Scale), social support (modified social support survey, MSSS-5), personality traits (NEO-Five Factor Inventory, NEO-FFI), and disability (Patient-Determined Disability Steps (PDDS). Step-wise regression models and mediation analyses assessed whether the level of self-reported resilience, size of the social support, and specific personality traits (study predictors) were associated with self-reported disability and/or loneliness (study outcomes).

RESULTS

The response rate varied significantly between the questionnaires. While, all pwNID completed the demographic questionnaire, 78.8% completed the loneliness questionnaire and 49.7% completed the NEO-FFI. Based on 787 responses, greater neuroticism (standardized β = 0.312, p < 0.001), less social support (standardized β = -0.242, p < 0.001), lower extraversion (standardized β = -0.083, p=0.017), lower agreeableness (standardized β = -0.119, p < 0.001), and lower resilience (standardized β = -0.125, p = 0.002) were associated with the feeling of loneliness. Social support and resilience modestly but significantly mediated the association between personality traits and loneliness. Older age (standardized β = 0.165, p < 0.001) and lower conscientiousness (standardized β = -0.094, p = 0.007) were associated with worse disability (higher PDDS scores). There were no differences in outcomes between pwNID and HCs.

CONCLUSION

Greater social support potentially attenuates the association between neuroticism and the feeling of loneliness in pwNID during the COVID-19 pandemic. Assessment of personality traits may identify pwNID that are in greater need of social support and guide targeted interventions.

Trait Versus State Predictors of Emotional Distress Symptoms: The Role of the Big-5 Personality Traits, Metacognitive Beliefs, and Strategies

To enhance formulation and interventions for emotional distress symptoms, research should aim to identify factors that contribute to distress and disorder. One way to formulate emotional distress symptoms is to view them as state manifestations of underlying personality traits. However, the metacognitive model suggests that emotional distress is maintained by metacognitive strategies directed by underlying metacognitive beliefs. The aim of the present study was therefore to evaluate the role of these factors as predictors of anxiety and depression symptoms in a cross-sectional sample of 4936 participants collected during the COVID-19 pandemic. Personality traits (especially neuroticism) were linked to anxiety and depression, but metacognitive beliefs and strategies accounted for additional variance. Among the predictors, metacognitive strategies accounted for the most variance in symptoms. Furthermore, we evaluated two statistical models based on personality traits versus metacognitions and found that the latter provided the best fit. Thus, these findings indicate that emotional distress symptoms are maintained by metacognitive strategies that are better accounted for by metacognitions compared with personality traits. Theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

Is Anxiety Sensitivity Associated with COVID-19 Related Distress and Adherence among Emerging Adults?

We investigated whether anxiety sensitivity (AS) is associated with increased distress and adherence to public health guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic among undergraduates, and whether increased distress mediates the relationship between AS and increased adherence. An online cross-sectional survey was conducted with 1318 first- and second-year undergraduates (mean age of 19.2 years; 79.5% females) from five Canadian universities. Relevant subscales of the Substance Use Risk Profile Scale (SURPS) and the Big Five Inventory-10 (BFI-10) were used to assess AS and neuroticism. Three measures tapped distress: the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) for depressive symptoms, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) for anxiety symptoms, and the Brief COVID-19 Stress Scales (CSS-B) for COVID-19-specific distress. The COVID-19 Adherence scale (CAD) assessed adherence to COVID-19 containment measures. AS was significantly independently associated with higher general distress (both anxiety and depressive symptoms) and higher COVID-19-specific distress, after controlling age, sex, study site, and neuroticism. Moreover, AS indirectly predicted greater adherence to COVID-19 preventive measures through higher COVID-19-specific distress. Interventions targeting higher AS might be helpful for decreasing both general and COVID-19-specific distress, whereas interventions targeting lower AS might be helpful for increasing adherence to public health containment strategies, in undergraduates.

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on depression and anxiety symptoms: Findings from the United Arab Emirates Healthy Future (UAEHFS) cohort study

BACKGROUND

Significant concerns about mental health were raised during the COVID-19 pandemic. We investigated the prevalence of depression and anxiety symptoms among the participants of the United Arab Emirates Healthy Future Study (UAEHFS); a national cohort study. We further explored the change in the prevalence of depression symptoms among those with comparable pre-pandemic data.

METHODS

A sample of UAEHFS participants were invited to complete a COVID-19 online questionnaire during the first wave of the pandemic. Depression and anxiety symptoms were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire Depression Scale (PHQ-8) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 Scale (GAD-7) respectively. Unpaired analyses were done to examine the effect of COVID-19 on depression and anxiety symptoms during the pandemic. Paired analysis was conducted to examine the change in depression symptoms.

RESULTS

During the pandemic, we reported a prevalence of 32.8% (95% CI: 27.0, 39.1) for depression and 26.4% (95% CI: 21.0, 32.6) for anxiety symptoms. Younger people reported higher levels of depression (40.4%) and anxiety (34.5%) symptoms. Females reported higher levels of depression (36.5%) and anxiety (32.7%) symptoms. In paired analysis, the prevalence of depression symptoms during the pandemic was 34% (95% CI: 26.5, 42.4) compared to 29.9% (95% CI: 22.7, 38.1) before the pandemic. No statistically significant difference was observed, p-value = 0.440. Adjusted multivariate logistic regression models for PHQ-8 and GAD-7 during the pandemic showed that participants, who were experiencing flu-like symptoms, had higher odds of reporting depression symptoms compared to those without symptoms. Additionally, age was significantly negatively associated with anxiety symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, we found that depression and anxiety symptoms were more prevalent among young people and females. However, we did not find a significant change in the prevalence of depression symptoms among those with comparable pre-pandemic data. Identifying vulnerable groups and understanding trajectories through longitudinal studies would help with planning for effective mental health interventions for the current and future pandemics.

Impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on lifestyle behaviors and their association with personality among adults in Qatar: A cross-sectional study

The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) resulted in lockdowns and social distancing measures enforced by governments around the world. This study aimed to identify changes in adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD) and physical activity (PA) and associations with personality during lockdown. Using a cross-sectional design, a convenient sample of 543 adults in Qatar completed an online questionnaire consisting of validated tools to measure adherence to MD (MEDAS questionnaire, score ranges 0–13), PA (IPAQ, assessing light, moderate high intensity PA) and personality (BFI-10, categorizing individuals’ personalities). The majority of the participants were female (89%), aged between 21 and 29 years (45%). The overall MD adherence decreased during lockdown (5.9 vs. 6.1, p < 0.001). There was an increase in olive oil (9% vs. 12%; p < 0.001), vegetables (54.3% vs. 58.7%; p = 0.005), legumes (11.8% vs. 15.3%; p = 0.007), sofrito (70.9% vs. 77.3%; p < 0.001) and fat (45.9% vs. 53.8%; p < 0.001) consumption and a decrease in fresh fruit (39.4% vs. 15.8%; p < 0.001) and fish/seafood (5.9% vs. 3.9%; p = 0.0035) consumption during lockdown. Met-min/week values of total PA (1330.5 vs. 1836.7), vigorous activity (711.5 vs. 867.4), moderate activity (208.3 vs. 301.3), and walking (410.7 vs. 668.0) all decreased during lockdown (p < 0.001, p = 0.010, p = 0.010 p < 0.001, respectively), while sitting increased (3837.3 vs. 2896.4 p < 0.001). The extraversion personality dimension had a higher MD adherence (p = 0.039) compared to agreeableness before lockdown. No changes in MEDAS scores were observed during lockdown in those with high levels of openness. Openness was positively associated with all PA (p = 0.027), including walking (p = 0.026), and negatively associated with sitting (p = 0.038) before lockdown, while participants with high scores for neuroticism were less likely to be sitting during lockdown (p = 0.042). The findings can be used to guide the development of appropriate personality-tailored lifestyle interventions.

Personality and oral health-related quality of life. Results from an online survey

BACKGROUND

To investigate the association between personality factors and oral health-related quality of life.

METHODS

Data were taken from an online survey (representative for the general adult population in Germany in terms of region, sex and age group; n = 3,075) performed in late summer 2021. The well-established Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-G5) was used to measure oral health-related quality of life. Moreover, the established 10 Item Big Five Inventory (BFI-10) was used to quantify personality factors (in terms of agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, and openness to experience). Sex, age, family status, educational level, smoking status, alcohol consumption, sports activities, presence of chronic diseases and self-rated health were adjusted for in multiple linear regression analysis.

RESULTS

Pearson correlations between oral health-related quality of life and personality factors ranged from r =- 0.17 (conscientiousness) to r = 0.17 (neuroticism). Regressions revealed that low oral health-related quality of life is associated with higher neuroticism (β = 0.39, p < 0.001) and lower conscientiousness (β=-0.51, p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

This study revealed an association between personality factors (higher neuroticism and lower conscientiousness) and low oral health-related quality of life. Before dental treatment, it may be helpful to measure personality traits of patients in order to predict the expectations of patients, as well as their responses to intended treatments. This may support the identification of the most appropriate method of treatment.

The Relationship between Personality Traits and Compliance with the COVID-19 Preventive Measures in Kosovo

The COVID-19 pandemic urged systematic restrictive measures in order to avoid the spread of the virus. Different countries applied different restrictive measures; however, their efficacy was vastly dependent on the willingness of the people to comply with them. How people perceived the pandemic yielded different adaptive behavior to preventative measures. In this direction, individual characteristics (i.e., personality) seem very important. The current study aimed to map a relationship between personality structure as postulated within the five-factor model of personality with the tendency to comply with preventive measures, as mediated by perceived stress and concerns over coronavirus. In a sample of 3252 adults, we found that the traits of openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness directly and positively predicted compliance. However, concerns over coronavirus partially but positively mediated the relationship between agreeableness and conscientiousness on compliance. Perceived stress, on the other hand, was not a significant mediator, although it was significantly and positively predicted by neuroticism but negatively by extraversion. These findings showed that different personality traits have different direct effects on compliance with preventative measures.

The role of healthy emotionality in the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and mental health problems: a cross-sectional study

Understanding pandemic-related psychopathology development is limited due to numerous individual and contextual factors. It is widely accepted that individual differences to endure or cope with distress predict psychopathology development. The present study investigated the influence of individual differences in neuroticism and healthy emotionality concerning the association between fear of COVID-19 and mental health problems. It was hypothesized that healthy emotionality would moderate the mediated link between fear of COVID-19 and mental health problems. A sample of 752 participants (351 males and 401 females) completed an online survey including the Emotional Style Questionnaire, Fear of COVID-19 Scale, the Neuroticism subscale of the Big Five Inventory, and General Health Questionnaire. The results showed that the fear of COVID-19 positively predicted mental health problems (β = .43, SE = .05, p < .001, Cohen's f 2 = .24). Neuroticism also showed a significant mediation effect on the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and mental health problems. Fear of COVID-19 indirectly predicted psychopathology through neuroticism (β = - .16, SE = .04, p < .001, t = 4.53, 95% CI [0.11, 0.23]). Moreover, healthy emotionality had a moderating effect on the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and mental health problems, β = - .21, SE = .03, p < .001, t = 5.91, 95% CI [- 0.26, - 0.14]. The study's findings are expected to contribute to a better understanding of the roles of both individual differences in personality traits and healthy emotionality in psychopathology development during the current pandemic.

Pandemic stressors and depressive symptoms: Examining within- and between-person effects of neuroticism

Experiencing stressors related to the COVID-19 pandemic such as health-related concern, social isolation, occupational disruption, financial insecurity, and resource scarcity can adversely impact mental health; however, the extent of the impact varies greatly between individuals. In this study, we examined the role of neuroticism as an individual-level risk factor that exacerbates the association between pandemic stressors and depressive symptoms. With repeated assessments of pandemic stressors and depressive symptoms collected from 3181 participants over the course of the pandemic, we used multilevel modeling to test if neuroticism moderated the association between pandemic stressors and depressive symptoms at both between- and within-person levels. At the between-person level, we found that participants who reported more pandemic stressors on average had higher levels of depressive symptoms and that this association was stronger among those high in neuroticism. At the within-person level, reporting more pandemic stressors relative to one's average on any given occasion was also associated with heightened depressive symptoms and this effect was similarly exacerbated by neuroticism. The findings point to pandemic stressor exposure and neuroticism as risk factors for depressive symptoms and, in demonstrating their synergistic impact, may help identify individuals at greatest risk for adverse psychological responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Personality traits, perceived stress and perception of COVID-19 among Arab Population: A cross-sectional survey

Background

Coronavirus disease-2019 is a worldwide pandemic. Political authorities are working hard to fight the disease transmission through corresponding interventions that may be influenced by individual perception, perceived stress, and personality traits that act as predictors of healthy behaviors and comply with protective measures especially with different cultures.

Aim

This study aimed to assess personality traits, perceived stress, and perception among the Arab population.

Methods

A cross-sectional online survey was fulfilled by 948 adults from different Arabic nationalities from 24th June to 15th July 2020. The Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI), the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and Perception toward COVID-19 Questionnaire were used in this study.

Results

More than three quarters (76.1%) believed that COVID 19 is a dangerous disease and the vast majority (93.1%) disagreed that infection with the virus is associated with stigma. Agreeableness was high among the Egyptians, extroversion and openness to experience were high among Saudi Arabians, while emotional stability was high among Sudanese participants.

Conclusion

Individuals with high conscientiousness, extraversion, and emotional stability demonstrated lower levels of perceived stress during the pandemic. This highlights that for the development of stress management interventions during epidemics; it is crucial to take personality traits into consideration.

The direct and indirect effect of neuroticism on work engagement of nurses during COVID-19: A temporal analysis

Healthcare professionals such as nurses faced a tough time during the pandemic. Despite the personal and professional challenges, they contributed immensely during the pandemic. However, there were variations in nurses' work engagement during the pandemic. One reason could be their personality, especially neuroticism. Neuroticism represents individuals' proneness to distress in stressful situations, such as COVID-19. Hence, understanding how and in which conditions neuroticism influences work engagement is crucial. We used the Job Demand-Resource (JD-R) model to test the association between neuroticism and work engagement. As neuroticism represents the stress-proneness of an individual, we further investigated if stress mediates the neuroticism-work engagement link. For the nurses, patient interaction is an integral part of their job. Based on the data collected from the nurses, we tested if contact with patients (i.e., beneficiary contact) alleviates the adverse effect of neuroticism on work engagement. During COVID-19, there was an intense need for nursing support. Hence, avoiding duty when society is looking for support might induce a fear of stigmatization among the nurses. We examined if the perceived stigma of duty avoidance would affect the neuroticism-engagement relationship. Our results indicated that higher patient contact alleviated the adverse effect of neuroticism on work engagement. On the other hand, higher fear of stigma exacerbated the adverse effect of neuroticism on work engagement. We further checked the combined effect of beneficiary contact and fear of stigma on neuroticism-work engagement relationships. The findings highlighted the importance of societal factors and policymakers in enhancing nurses' work engagement.

Personalidade, Ansiedade Social e Adaptação às Medidas de Distanciamento Durante a Pandemia

Resumo O impacto da pandemia de COVID-19 está mudando drasticamente a vida das pessoas. O distanciamento social representa evitar o contato durante o surto de uma doença para minimizar a exposição. Essa condição também pode contribuir para o agravamento de determinados transtornos mentais. O presente estudo teve como objetivo avaliar em que medida características de personalidade e ansiedade social podem contribuir para uma maior dificuldade em lidar com o distanciamento social. Foram avaliados 1.120 indivíduos por meio da Escala de Ansiedade Social de Liebowitz (LSAS), marcadores da personalidade. A análise de regressão logística mostrou que neuroticismo, ansiedade social e as horas adicionais em casa revelaram-se preditores significativos de uma maior dificuldade. Conclui-se que o transtorno de ansiedade social apresenta especificidades em sua manifestação durante a pandemia.

Predictors of mental health deterioration from pre- to post-COVID-19 outbreak

BACKGROUND

Mental health was only modestly affected in adults during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic on the group level, but interpersonal variation was large.

AIMS

We aim to investigate potential predictors of the differences in changes in mental health.

METHOD

Data were aggregated from three Dutch ongoing prospective cohorts with similar methodology for data collection. We included participants with pre-pandemic data gathered during 2006-2016, and who completed online questionnaires at least once during lockdown in The Netherlands between 1 April and 15 May 2020. Sociodemographic, clinical (number of mental health disorders and personality factors) and COVID-19-related variables were analysed as predictors of relative changes in four mental health outcomes (depressive symptoms, anxiety and worry symptoms, and loneliness), using multivariate linear regression analyses.

RESULTS

We included 1517 participants with (n = 1181) and without (n = 336) mental health disorders. Mean age was 56.1 years (s.d. 13.2), and 64.3% were women. Higher neuroticism predicted increases in all four mental health outcomes, especially for worry (β = 0.172, P = 0.003). Living alone and female gender predicted increases in depressive symptoms and loneliness (β = 0.05-0.08), whereas quarantine and strict adherence with COVID-19 restrictions predicted increases in anxiety and worry symptoms (β = 0.07-0.11).Teleworking predicted a decrease in anxiety symptoms (β = -0.07) and higher age predicted a decrease in anxiety (β = -0.08) and worry symptoms (β = -0.10).

CONCLUSIONS

Our study showed neuroticism as a robust predictor of adverse changes in mental health, and identified additional sociodemographic and COVID-19-related predictors that explain longitudinal variability in mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fear of COVID-19 and emotional dysfunction problems: Intrusive, avoidance and hyperarousal stress as key mediators

BACKGROUND

There is mounting empirical evidence of the detrimental effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak on mental health. Previous research has underscored the effects of similar destabilizing situations such as war, natural disasters or other pandemics on acute stress levels which have been shown to exacerbate current and future psychopathological symptoms.

AIM

To explore the role of acute stress responses (intrusive, avoidance and hyperarousal) as mediators in the association between fear of COVID-19 and emotional dysfunction-related problems: Depression, agoraphobia, panic, obsessive-compulsive, generalized anxiety, social anxiety and health anxiety symptoms.

METHODS

A sample of 439 participants from a university community in Spain (age: mean ± SD: 36.64 ± 13.37; 73.1% females) completed several measures assessing their fear of COVID-19, acute stress responses and emotional dysfunction syndromes through an online survey. Data collection was carried out from the start of home confinement in Spain until May 4, 2020, coinciding with initial de-escalation measures. Processing of the dataset included descriptive and frequency analyses, Mann-Whitney U Test of intergroup comparisons and path analysis for direct and indirect effects. This is an observational, descriptive-correlational and cross-sectional study.

RESULTS

The prevalence of clinical symptoms in our sample, reported since the beginning of the pandemic, reached 31.44%. The female group presented higher scores although the effect size was small. Overall, the participants who exceeded the clinical cut-off points in emotional problems showed higher levels of fear of COVID-19 and of cognitive, motor and psychophysiological responses of acute stress, unlike the group with normative scores. In addition, the results show significant mediated effects of hyperarousal stress among fear of COVID-19 and emotional dysfunction psychopathology. However, the clinical syndromes most related to the consequences of the pandemic (e.g., social contact avoidance or frequent hand washing), such as agoraphobia and obsessive-compulsive symptoms, were in fact predicted directly by fear of COVID-19 and/or the acute stress response associated with the pandemic and had a greater predictive power.

CONCLUSION

The present study illustrates a clearer picture of the role of acute stress on several forms of psychopathology during the COVID-19 crisis and home confinement.

Mental Health of People Under Isolation During the covid-19 Outbreak: An Exploratory Study

We conducted an exploratory study using a survey inquiring on seven topics on how people were reacting to the covid-19 pandemic of 2020 aiming to trace a map of symptoms and feelings related to mental health and isolation. 1785 people participated in the survey. Additionally, we applied two psychological scales to analyze depression and stress (prevalent in previous studies). We found that people in isolation during the pandemic presented symptoms related to dissociative disorders, negative affect, and anxiety syndrome. Also, depression and stress had a high prevalence compared to the average rates indicated by the World Health Organisation and the Colombian Ministry of Health. The results indicated an association between depression and stress and being previously diagnosed with a mental health problem, and job and financial situation. Our results highlight the need to design prevention and intervention programmes to reduce the negative consequences of isolation.

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.

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on household financial decisions: A consumer vulnerability perspective

This study joins a rapidly growing body of research that investigates the multi-faceted impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on consumers' behavior. Specifically, we examine how the pandemic-induced state of vulnerability impacts consumers' saving, investing, and spending decisions. Using survey data from four different countries (i.e., USA, UK, South Africa, and Mexico), we examine the role of personality on consumer vulnerability, create an index of consumer vulnerability, and establish the role of vulnerability in impacting important financial decisions. We report evidence that perceptions of vulnerability and the pandemic-induced changes in financial and consumption behaviors vary across residents of developed and developing countries. The results indicate that vulnerability is experienced and reflected through a multitude of fears and concerns and is influenced by personality traits (agreeableness, neuroticism, conscientiousness, need for material resources, and need for body resources) and can result in increased spending on products/services that are not normally perceived as necessities. Our findings carry important theoretical and managerial implications.

Impulsive and Compulsive Buying Tendencies and Consumer Resistance to Digital Innovations: The Moderating Role of Perceived Threat of COVID-19

Based on the theory of reasoned action and innovation resistance theory, this study aims to explore the tendencies of consumer resistance to digital innovation and the moderating role of a perceived threat of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Data were collected using a cross-sectional online survey of 1,000 consumers of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) in Pakistan. The results revealed several significant relationships between tendencies (impulsive and compulsive) of consumer resistance to digital innovation and the perceived threat of COVID-19. This study brings several key insights for consumers of FMCG products from Pakistan, and many theoretical and practical implications and future research directions are suggested.

The psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal: The role of personality traits and emotion regulation strategies

Recent evidence suggests that both personality traits (PT) and emotion regulation (ER) strategies play an important role in the way people cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this study was two folded. First, to longitudinally investigate the psychological distress (depression, anxiety, and stress levels) taking in consideration PT and ER strategies in 3 different moments: during the first lockdown period (April/20), at the first deconfinement (May/20) and 1-month after the first deconfinement (Jun/20)-Experiment I. Second, to cross-sectionally evaluate the impact of the pandemic in psychological distress and the correlates with PT and ER 6-months after the first deconfinement November/20 to February/21 -Experiment II. A total of 722 volunteers (Experiment I = 180; Experiment II = 542) aged 18 years or older participated in this online survey. The findings from Experiment I show that psychological distress decreased after the lockdown period, however, neuroticism traits predicted higher levels of depression, anxiety and stress symptoms, while difficulties in ER strategies were identified as a risk factor for depression and stress. For experiment II, neuroticism traits and being infected with COVID-19 were associated to higher levels of symptomatology, while unemployment and the use of emotional suppression strategies to cope with emotional situations were associated to depressive and anxiety symptoms. Although the psychological impact of the COVID-19 outbreak decreased over time in our sample, the current findings suggest that difficulties in emotional regulation and high levels of neuroticism traits might be potential risk factors for psychiatric symptomatology during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, people with difficulties in ER and neuroticism traits would benefit from psychological interventions that provide personality-appropriate support and promote emotion regulation skills during stressful events, such as the case of the global pandemic.

Psychological distress among hospital caregivers during and after the first wave of COVID-19: Individual factors involved in the severity of symptoms expression

Coronavirus disease 2019 has spread rapidly over the globe and has put an unprecedent psychological pressure on health care workers (HCWs). The present study aimed at quantifying the psychological consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on HCWs during and after the first wave and identify sociodemographic, situational, and psychological risk/protective factors for symptoms severity. An online survey was sent by e-mail to all nurses and physicians employed by a teaching hospital in Brussels, Belgium. 542 (20,62%) completed the survey. 47%, 55%, 32% and 52% of participants reported posttraumatic stress, anxiety, depression and insomnia symptoms, respectively, during the peak. Two to three months later, posttraumatic symptoms emerged de novo in 54% of HCWs. It persisted in 89% of those presenting severe symptoms initially. Neuroticism was the strongest predictor of posttraumatic stress, anxiety, and insomnia. Work overload was the strongest predictor of depression and second predictor of posttraumatic stress, anxiety, and insomnia. Other significant predictors included being a nurse, the number of past traumatic experiences, avoidant coping style, and expressive suppression of emotions.

Stress in emergency telephone number operators during the COVID-19 pandemic: the role of self-efficacy and Big Five personality traits

Background

Emergency telephone number operators experience many challenges in their work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their personality traits and self-efficacy may act as important factors in their level of perceived stress. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between Big Five personality traits, self-efficacy and perceived stress among emergency tele-phone number operators during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Participants and procedure

One hundred emergency telephone number operators participated in the study. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), Ten Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) and Generalized Self Efficacy Scale (GSES) were used.

Results

Emergency telephone number operators experienced a moderate level of perceived stress. The level of perceived stress was associated with all Big Five personality traits and self-efficacy. Stepwise regression showed that self-efficacy and emotional stability were significant predictors of perceived stress in a tested sample of emergency telephone number operators. Self-efficacy acted as a mediator between the 4 Big Five personality traits (except extraversion) and perceived stress.

Conclusions

Self-efficacy can be a very important resource during the struggle of emergency telephone number operators with the suc-cessive waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. Operators with a high level of this resource can more effectively cope with the changes and perceive stress as lower. Individuals’ personality traits may affect the level of self-efficacy that determines how stress is perceived. It is important to strengthen the self-efficacy of those involved in the fight against the COVID-19 pan-demic.

The Impact of COVID-19 Related Social Distancing on Mental Health Outcomes: A Transdiagnostic Account

The COVID-19 pandemic, and the social distancing practices that followed, have been associated with increased prevalence of emotional disorders. However, not all individuals affected by COVID-19-related social distancing experienced elevations in emotional disorder symptoms. Understanding this phenomenon is of crucial public health significance given the burden of emotional disorders on individuals and systems. In this narrative review, we consider the differential impact of COVID-19-related social distancing on mental health outcomes from a transdiagnostic perspective. We argue that individuals high in negative affect and aversive reactivity to emotion, that is, neuroticism, and who respond to such emotional experiences with emotion-motivated avoidant coping, are most likely to experience emotional disorders in the context of COVID-19 social distancing. We acknowledge the pro-social and adaptive function of some types of avoidance during the pandemic, which may have initially buffered against negative mental health outcomes. Implications of this conceptualization for treatment of emotional disorders in the present sociocultural context are discussed.