Exploring the persome: The power of the item in understanding personality structure

Scaling a common assessment of associative ability: Development and validation of a multiple-choice compound remote associates task

The assessment of creativity as an individual difference has historically focused on divergent thinking, which is increasingly viewed as involving the associative processes that are also understood to be a key component of creative potential. Research on associative processes has proliferated in many sub-fields, often using Compound Remote Associates (CRA) tasks with an open response format and relatively small participant samples. In the present work, we introduce a new format that is more amenable to large-scale data collection in survey designs, and present evidence for the reliability and validity of CRA measures in general using multiple large samples. Study 1 uses a large, representative dataset (N = 1,323,480) to demonstrate strong unidimensionality and internal consistency (α = .97; ωt = .87), as well as links to individual differences in temperament, cognitive ability, occupation, and job characteristics. Study 2 uses an undergraduate sample (N = 685) to validate the use of a multiple-choice format relative to the traditional approach. Study 3 uses a crowdsourced sample (N = 357) to demonstrate high test-retest reliability of the items (r =.74). Finally, Study 4 uses a sample that overlaps with Study 1 (N = 1,502,922) to provide item response theory (IRT) parameters for a large set of high-quality CRA items that use a multiple-choice response mode, thus facilitating their use in future research on creativity, insight, and related topics.

Development of the Hogan Personality Content Single-Items Inventory

The Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI) and Hogan Developmental Survey (HDS) are among the most widely used and extensively well-validated personality inventories for organizational applications; however, they are rarely used in basic research. We describe the Hogan Personality Content Single-Items (HPCS) inventory, an inventory designed to measure the 74 content subscales of the HPI and HDS via a single-item each. We provide evidence of the reliability and validity of the HPCS, including item-level retest reliability estimates, both self-other agreement and other-other (or observer) agreement, convergent correlations with the corresponding scales from the full HPI/HDS instruments, and analyze how similarly the HPCS and full HPI/HDS instruments relate to other variables. We discuss situations where administering the HPCS may have certain advantages and disadvantages relative to the full HPI and HDS. We also discuss how the current findings contribute to an emerging picture of best practices for the development and use of inventories consisting of single-item scales.

Nuanced HEXACO: A Meta-Analysis of HEXACO Cross-Rater Agreement, Heritability, and Rank-Order Stability

Most Five-Factor Model (FFM) questionnaire items contain unique variance that is partly heritable, stable, and consensually observable, demonstrates consistent associations with age and sex, and predicts life outcomes beyond higher order factors. Extending these findings to the HEXACO model, we meta-analyzed single-item cross-rater agreement, heritability, and 2-year stability using samples from six countries. We analyzed raw item scores and their residual variance and adjusted the estimates for measurement unreliability. The median cross-rater agreement, heritability, and stability estimates were, respectively, .30, .30, and .57, for raw items and .10, .16, and .39, for item residuals. Adjusted for reliability, the respective medians were .46 and .25 for cross-rater agreement, .46 and .39 for heritability, and .87 and .94 for stability. These results are strikingly consistent with FFM-based findings, providing nondismissible evidence that single items index a partly unique level of the trait hierarchy-personality nuances-with trait properties comparable to those of higher-order traits.

A bottom-up approach dramatically increases the predictability of body mass from personality traits

Personality traits consistently relate to and allow predicting body mass index (BMI), but these associations may not be adequately captured with existing inventories' domains or facets. Here, we aimed to test the limits of how accurately BMI can be predicted from and described with personality traits. We used three large datasets (combined N ≈ 100,000) with nearly 700 personality assessment items to (a) empirically identify clusters of personality traits linked to BMI and (b) identify relatively small sets of items that predict BMI as accurately as possible. Factor analysis revealed 14 trait clusters showing well-established personality trait-BMI associations (disorganization, anger) and lesser-known or novel ones (altruism, obedience). Most of items' predictive accuracy (up to r = .24 here but plausibly much higher) was captured by relatively few items. Brief scales that predict BMI have potential clinical applications-for instance, screening for risk of excessive weight gain or related complications.

Social expectations as a possible mechanism for adult personality change: Limited empirical evidence for the social investment principle

OBJECTIVE

Personality traits change in both mean levels and variance across the life span but the mechanisms underlying these developmental trends remain unclear. Social Investment Principle (SIP) suggests that social expectations drive personality changes in adulthood. Accordingly, we tested whether differences between personality traits in social expectations for them can explain their different change trajectories in young adulthood.

METHODS

A pool of 257 personality items was used to measure personality traits' means and variances (N = 1096), and levels expected by friends, partners and bosses/supervisors (N = 121).

RESULTS

Raters were consistent in their expectations for how young adults should think, feel and behave. Traits under stronger expectations had higher mean levels and lower variances than traits under lower expectations; trait means and variances increased with age, but inconsistently with the SIP, these increases were unrelated to the traits' expected levels.

CONCLUSION

Our results are only partially consistent with the SIP.

Beyond the brain localization of complex traits: Distributed white matter markers of personality

OBJECTIVE

Extensive work in personality neuroscience has shown mixed results in the ability to localize reliable relationships between personality traits and neuroimaging measures. However, recent work in translational neuroimaging has recognized that multifaceted psychological dispositions are not represented in discrete, highly localized brain areas. As such, standard univariate neuroimaging analyses may not be well-suited for capturing broad personality traits supported by distributed networks.

METHOD

The present study uses an out-of-sample predictive modeling approach to identify multivariate signatures of Big Five personality traits within the structural integrity of white matter pathways using diffusion magnetic resonance imaging. In Study 1 (N = 491), we trained a ridge regression model to predict each of the Big Five traits and tested these models in an independent hold-out subsample.

RESULTS

We found that models for both Neuroticism and Openness were significantly related to predictive accuracy in the hold-out sample. Study 2 (N = 108) applied Study 1's predictive models to an independent set of data collected on a different scanner and using a different Big Five scale. Here, we found that the model for Neuroticism remained a significant predictor of individual difference.

CONCLUSION

Our findings provide evidence that this white matter signature of Neuroticism generalizes across differences in measurement and samples.

Inhibitory control and mood in relation to psychological resilience: an ecological momentary assessment study

Psychological resilience, the ability to adapt to adversity, is theorized to rely on intact inhibitory control (IC) mechanisms, which underlie one's ability to maintain goal-directed behavior by inhibiting prepotent responses. However, no study to date has explored daily fluctuations of IC performance in relation to resilience. Here, we examined the association between IC and mood measured daily in relation to psychological resilience in young adults in a stressful situation. Baseline resilience was obtained from 144 female and male soldiers during their basic combat training. Then, participants completed an ecological momentary assessment protocol, in which they reported their momentary mood and completed a short IC assessment twice/day for 2 weeks. A hierarchical linear modeling analysis revealed that psychological resilience moderated the relationship between momentary IC and momentary mood, such that better IC was associated with better mood only for those with higher, but not lower, self-reported psychological resilience at baseline. These results show that psychological resilience is manifested in the everyday association between IC and mood. Furthermore, they lend important support to cognitive models of resilience and may have significant contribution to our understanding of resilient behavior in real life.Trial Registration: MOH_2018-0-13_002451.

Investigating general and specific psychopathology factors with nuance-level personality traits

Mental health disorders share substantial variance, prompting researchers to develop structural models that can capture both generalised psychopathology risk and disorder/symptom-specific variation. This study investigated the associations of the general and specific psychopathology factors with multiple personality trait hierarchy levels: broad domains, their facets and nuances (N = 1839 Estonian adults). A bi-factor model with a general 'p' factor and specific factors for internalising problems, thought disorders and substance use best represented psychopathology structure. Although traits' predictive accuracy varied across psychopathology factors, nuances (the lowest level personality units) provided higher predictive accuracy and higher discriminant validity than domains. For example, traits related to high vulnerability, depression and immoderation and low friendliness and achievement striving were most strongly associated with the p factor. Nuances may prove useful for predicting and understanding general and specific psychopathology forms.

Convergence and Psychometric Properties of Character Strengths Measures: The VIA-IS and the VIA-IS-R

This study compares the German versions of the original measure of character strengths (VIA-IS) with its latest revision (VIA-IS-R) regarding reliability and convergent, discriminant, and criterion-related validity. A sample of 499 German-speaking adults (79% women, mean age: 33.3 years) provided self-reports of character strengths (VIA-IS, VIA-IS-R) and several criteria: Core virtues, thriving, and moral behaviors. Results suggested that both measures showed satisfactory internal consistency and converged well in a multitrait-multimethod analysis. Further, both measures were comparable regarding their relationships with the criteria. Overall, the results of the current study suggest that both questionnaires are reliable and valid, and that findings based on these instruments can be considered highly comparable.

Age of Acquisition of Personality Terms: Implications for Personality Theory

Analysis of the age of acquisition (AoA) of personality terms represents a genetic method for the study of the individual personality lexicon and offers a potential alternative to correlational analysis for identifying the fundamental personality descriptors among the thousands of terms that appear in language. In the present study, the relationship between AoA, word frequency, word desirability, and factor loading in the Big Five and Hexaco models of 274 and 408 personality adjectives was analyzed. It was found that young children (2nd graders or younger) acquire personality terms that represent traits at the core of the broad personality factors in the Big Five and Hexaco models slightly earlier than words that represent more peripheral traits. In older children beyond second grade, the correlation between factor loading and AoA is weak. Words that describe the broad openness and stability/emotionality aspects of personality are learned later than words for the other broad factors. Word frequency (in book texts) and desirability have a weak negative correlation with AoA. It is hypothesized that the AoA of a personality term reflects the importance of the corresponding trait for children and may be used as one criterion for ranking facet level traits independent of the broad factors.

Beyond BMI: Personality traits' associations with adiposity and metabolic rate

Various personality traits are known to correlate with body mass index (BMI). However, this index of adiposity conflates fat mass with lean body mass and may therefore lead to biased estimates of correlations. Yet, rarely have studies looked beyond BMI to understand how adiposity and other physiological characteristics relate to these psychological traits. Using previously validated formulas, we calculated an improved measure of adiposity (relative fat mass, RFM), as well as basal metabolic rate (BMR); explored their associations with various personality traits; and assessed how personality traits' associations with RFM differ from their associations with BMI. In a subsample of the Estonian Biobank (N = 3535), we compared how the five domains and 30 facets of NEO Personality Inventory-3 correlated with RFM, BMI, and BMR. Various traits, notably Openness to Experience and its facets, were associated with RFM above and beyond BMI; these traits may relate to lower adiposity through eating habits. Assertiveness, a facet of Extraversion, correlated more strongly with BMI than with RFM and also correlated with BMR. These correlations mirror associations of metabolic rate with conceptually similar traits in non-human animals and are consistent with Assertiveness being based on biological processes. Finally, BMI-personality trait correlations appeared to conflate personality traits' associations with fat mass and lean mass; the use of BMI as an indicator of adiposity can lead to both attenuated and inflated estimates of personality trait-adiposity associations.

Alterations in Emotional Diversity Correspond With Increased Severity of Attenuated Positive and Negative Symptoms in the Clinical High-Risk Syndrome

Background: Alterations in emotional functioning are a key feature of psychosis and are present in individuals with a clinical high-risk (CHR) syndrome. However, little is known about alterations in emotional diversity (i.e., the variety and relative abundance of emotions that humans experience) and clinical correlates in this population. Methods: Individuals meeting criteria for a CHR syndrome (N = 47) and matched healthy controls (HC) (N = 58) completed the modified Differential Emotions Scale (used to derive scores of total, positive, and negative emotional diversity) and clinical interviews (i.e., Structured Interview for Psychosis-Risk Syndromes). Results: Findings showed that the CHR group experienced lower levels of positive emotional diversity compared to HCs. Among the CHR individuals, lower levels of positive and higher levels of negative emotional diversity were associated with more severe attenuated positive and negative symptoms. Analyses controlled for mean levels of emotion and current antipsychotic medication use. Discussion: Results demonstrate that altered emotional diversity (in particular lower levels of positive and higher levels of negative emotional diversity) is a clinically relevant marker in CHR individuals, above and beyond alterations in mean levels of emotional experiences. Future studies may probe sources, downstream consequences, and potential modifiability of decreased emotional diversity in individuals at CHR.

Validity of the Personal Suicide Stigma Questionnaire in a Community Sample

Abstract. The Personal Suicide Stigma Questionnaire (PSSQ) is a new scale assessing the experience of stigma in those who have been suicidal. This study examined the construct validity of the scale using a sample of participants from the general community who reported being suicidal at some point in their lives ( N = 3,947). The Distress Questionnaire – 5 and the Suicidal Ideation Attributes Scale were used to assess the severity of distress and suicidality. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed a three-factor model (Rejection, Minimization, Self-Blame) with one general Personal Stigma factor influencing the three first-order factors, which best fit the data. Scalar invariance was reached for both age and gender. The same factor structure was maintained when the format of the scale was altered for a subsample to provide a “not applicable” option for each item. PSSQ total score remained a significant predictor of distress after suicidality and demographic variables were accounted for. The PSSQ and its subscales can be used for the assessment of personal suicide stigma.

Psychosocial factors associated with preventive pediatric care during the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND

Identifying the factors that predict non-adherence to recommended preventive pediatric care is necessary for the development of successful interventions to improve compliance.

PURPOSE

Given the substantial decline in well-child visits and influenza vaccinations, we sought to examine sociodemographic (i.e., parent age, education, employment status, child age, insurance coverage, household size, race and ethnicity, income, COVID-19 incidence in state) and psychosocial (i.e., child temperament, parent mental health, parent personality traits) factors associated with preventative pediatric care (well-child visits, influenza vaccines) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

As part of a larger, ongoing study, 1875 parents (96% mothers, 65% age 35 or younger, 58% with a college degree) reported whether they had missed any recommended or scheduled well-child visits since the pandemic and whether they had vaccinated their child against the flu. Using data collected during fall 2020, we examine differences in these health outcomes across social/demographic factors and psychological profiles. In addition, we use lasso logistic regression models to (1) estimate the accuracy with which we can predict adherence from these characteristics and (2) identify factors most strongly, independently associated with adherence.

RESULTS

Parent psychological factors were associated with outcomes above and beyond known demographic and social factors. For example, parent industriousness and orderliness were associated with greater likelihoods of attending well-child visits and vaccinating children, while parent conservatism and creativity were associated with lower rates. We also replicate prior work documenting that health insurance, income, and household size are major factors in receiving adequate pediatric care.

CONCLUSIONS

Adherence to preventive pediatric care varies as a function of psychological factors, suggesting that the current system of pediatric care favors some psychological profiles over others. However, the specific traits associated with non-adherence point to potentially fruitful interventions, specifically around increasing functional proximity.

The finer details? The predictability of life outcomes from Big Five domains, facets, and nuances

Associations between personality traits and life outcomes are usually studied using the Big Five domains and, occasionally, their facets. But recent research suggests these associations may be driven by the items (reflecting personality nuances) chosen to measure these traits. Using a large dataset (N = 6126), we examined associations with 53 self-reported outcomes using domains, facets and items (markers for nuances), training and validating models in different sample partitions. Facets better predicted outcomes than domains (on average, 18.0% versus 16.6% of variance explained), but items provided the most accurate predictions (on average 20.9%). Removing domain and facet variance from items had no effect on their predictive validity, suggesting that outcome-related information was often in items' unique variances (i.e., nuance-specific). Item-based prediction also showed the highest discriminant validity. These observations, replicating previous findings, suggest that personality traits' valid associations with outcomes are often driven by narrow personality nuances.

On the Comparability of Basic Personality Models: Meta-Analytic Correspondence, Scope, and Orthogonality of the Big Five and HEXACO Dimensions

Models of basic personality structure are among the most widely used frameworks in psychology and beyond, and they have considerably advanced the understanding of individual differences in a plethora of consequential outcomes. Over the past decades, two such models have become most widely used: the Five Factor Model (FFM) or Big Five, respectively, and the HEXACO Model of Personality. However, there is no large-scale empirical evidence on the general comparability of these models. Here, we provide the first comprehensive meta-analysis on (a) the correspondence of the FFM/Big Five and HEXACO dimensions, (b) the scope of trait content the models cover, and (c) the orthogonality (i.e., degree of independence) of dimensions within the models. Results based on 152 (published and unpublished) samples and 6,828 unique effects showed that the HEXACO dimensions incorporate notable conceptual differences compared to the FFM/Big Five dimensions, resulting in a broader coverage of the personality space and less redundancy between dimensions. Moreover, moderator analyses revealed substantial differences between operationalizations of the FFM/Big Five. Taken together, these findings have important theoretical and practical implications for the understanding of basic personality dimensions and their assessment.

Planned Missingness: How to and How Much?

Planned missingness (PM) can be implemented for survey studies to reduce study length and respondent fatigue. Based on a large sample of Big Five personality data, the present study simulates how factors including PM design (three-form and random percentage [RP]), amount of missingness, and sample size affect the ability of full-information maximum likelihood (FIML) estimation to treat missing data. Results show that although the effectiveness of FIML for treating missing data decreases as sample size decreases and amount of missing data increases, estimates only deviate substantially from truth in extreme conditions. Furthermore, the specific PM design, whether it be a three-form or RP design, makes little difference although the RP design should be easier to implement for computer-based surveys. The examination of specific boundary conditions for the application of PM as paired with FIML techniques has important implications for both the research methods literature and practitioners regularly conducting survey research

Co-occurrence Patterns of Character Strengths and Measured Core Virtues in German-Speaking Adults

The VIA Classification on character strengths and virtues suggests 24 character strengths clustered into six core virtues (wisdom and knowledge, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence). Three recent studies employed different methods for testing the assignment of character strengths to virtues (e.g., expert and layperson ratings), and generally supported the VIA classification. However, the co-occurrence of character strengths and virtues within individuals has not been examined yet. Another untested assumption is that an individual's composition of character strengths is related to being considered of "good character." Thus, the present study addresses three research questions: (1) How do character strengths and measured virtues co-occur within individuals? (2.1) How does the number of character strengths an individual possesses within a virtue cluster relate to their level of the respective virtue? (2.2) How does the composition of an individual's character strengths relate to being considered of "good character"? We combined data from different studies to obtain a sample of N = 1,241 participants (n = 897 self-raters, n = 344 informant-raters, 70.1% female) aged 18 to 92 years (M = 30.64). All participants completed assessments of character strengths and virtues. Regarding (1), we found a high convergence of the correlations between strengths and virtues and the VIA Classification: 22 out of 24 character strengths correlated with the assigned virtue (exceptions were hope, which correlated highest with courage, and humor, which correlated highest with humanity). Also, 15 character strengths showed the numerically highest correlation with their assigned virtue. Regarding (2.1), overall, we found a linear trend between the number of strengths within one cluster and the virtue level. Regarding (2.2), we found higher levels of reported "good character" in those who possessed either (a) at least one character strength in each virtue cluster or (b) all character strengths in at least one virtue compared to those who did not. The present results contribute to the discussion regarding the structure of character: individuals' character strengths relate to differences in virtues, across different measures and data sources. Relationships were mostly as expected, and deviations were consistent with results obtained using other approaches.