Three genetic-environmental networks for human personality

The role of temperament and character in the anxiety-depression spectrum among Korean adults

BACKGROUND

Temperament and character are useful in risk assessment and therapy of individuals in the anxiety-depression spectrum but understudied in South Korea.

OBJECTIVE

The study aimed to identify the temperament and character features associated with anxiety and/or depression in individuals with clinical disorders and in the general population.

METHODS

A representative sample of 1384 Korean adults over 18 years old (58 % female) were assessed with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). Multivariate analyses, including structural equation modeling and complex systems analysis, evaluated how personality influenced risk and resilience for anxiety and/or depression.

RESULTS

The three groups with anxiety and/or depression were strongly distinguished by temperament and character: (i) In AD (n = 58), Harm Avoidance and Reward Dependence were higher than in DD, and Self-directedness was higher than in AD+DD; (ii) In DD (n = 90), Persistence, Self-Directedness and Cooperativeness were higher than in AD+DD; and (iii) In AD+DD (n = 101), Harm Avoidance was highest and Persistence and Self-directedness were lowest (i.e., they were lowest in Resilience). Structural equation models confirmed these risk relations with strong character development reducing the adverse effects of emotional hyperreactivity from extreme temperaments.

LIMITATIONS

Self-reports were measured only at one point in time, requiring collateral experimental data to support causal interpretation.

CONCLUSIONS

Interactions of temperament and character are strongly predictive of risk and resilience to anxiety and/or depression by regulating both positive and negative affect. Character mediates the adverse effects of extreme temperaments on affect.

Agentive steadfastness as trait marker in relation to temperament and character

BACKGROUND

Agentive steadfastness was identified as a potential trait marker with which to anticipate prognostically that a patient will persevere steadfastly and take congruent action in facing the demands of living. Taken as an enduring expression of personality, this study investigated agentive steadfastness among adult social media respondents (n = 511) in relation to temperament and character as captured in Cloninger's psychobiological model of personality.

METHODS

Participants recruited though snowball sampling on social media platforms, applied the 27-item Agentive Steadfastness Index (ASI) and the 240-item Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI-R-240).

RESULTS

Agentive steadfastness was statistically predicted by the Self-directedness (β = 0.634), Self-transcendence (β = 0.119), Harm Avoidance (β = -0.142) and the Reward Dependence (β = 0.071) scales, accounting for 63.3 % of the variance in one stepwise regression model. In another stepwise model for the TCI-R-240 subscales, the Purposeful (β = 0.359), Anticipatory Worry (β = -0.353), and the Responsibility (β = 0.259) subscales accounted for respectively 56.8 %, 11.2 % and 2.8 % of the variance in ASI scores.

LIMITATIONS

Results are limited to adult social media respondents who were willing to participate.

CONCLUSIONS

Agentive steadfastness may serve as a trait marker of well-being and the good prognostic associations that have been established for high self-directedness, low harm avoidance, as well as resilience, and character strengths. It may be assessed clinically to anticipate prognostically the extent to which a patient will persevere steadfastly and take congruent action in facing the demands of living and adversity.

Nursing students' personality (Temperament and Character), burnout symptoms, and health and well-being

Background

About 9 million nurses will be needed by 2030. To face these unprecedented times, governments/institutions focus on educating as many nursing students as possible. This strategy is clouded by burnout and lack of both health and well-being among students and by the fact that personality is one of the major determinants of these health outcomes. Nevertheless, recent findings show that personality is a complex adaptive system (i,e., nonlinear) and that combinations of people's temperament and character traits (i.e., joint personality networks) might provide further information to understand its development, academic burnout, and lack of health and well-being.

Aims

Our aims were to investigate the linear relationship between nursing students' personality, burnout, health, and well-being; investigate the linear mediational effects of personality and burnout on health and well-being; and investigate differences in these health outcomes between/within students with distinct joint personality networks (i.e., nonlinear relationships).

Method

Swedish nursing students (189 women, 29 men) responded to the Temperament and Character Inventory, The Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey for Students, and the Public Health Surveillance Well-Being Scale. We conducted correlation analyses and Structural Equation Modeling and, for the nonlinear relationships, Latent Profile Analysis and Latent Class Analysis for clustering and then Analyses of Variance for differences in health outcomes between/within students with distinct personality networks. This study was not pre-registered.

Results

High levels of health and well-being and low burnout symptoms (low Emotional Exhaustion, low Cynicism, and high Academic Efficacy) were associated with low Harm Avoidance and high Self-Directedness. Some personality traits were associated with specific health outcomes (e.g., high Self-Transcendence-high Emotional Exhaustion and high Persistence-high Academic Efficacy) and their effects on health and well-being were mediated by specific burnout symptoms. Cynicism and Emotional Exhaustion predicted low levels of health and well-being, Academic Efficacy predicted high levels, and Cynicism lead both directly and indirectly to low levels of health and well-being through Emotional Exhaustion. We found two joint personality networks: students with an Organized/Reliable combination who reported being less emotionally exhausted by their studies, less cynical towards education, higher self-efficacy regarding their academic work/skills, and better health and well-being compared to nursing students with an Emotional/Unreliable combination.

Conclusions

The coherence of temperament-character, rather than single traits, seems to determine students' health outcomes. Thus, nursing education might need to focus on helping students to develop professional skills and health-related abilities (e.g., self-acceptance and spiritual-acceptance), by supporting self-awareness.

Discriminant analysis of ecological factors influencing sarcopenia in older people in South Korea

This study aimed to investigate the ecological system factors that influence discrimination of sarcopenia among older individuals living in contemporary society. Data analysis included information from 618 older adults individuals aged 65 years or older residing in South Korea. To assess variations in ecological system factors related to SARC-F scores, we conducted correlation analysis and t-tests. Discriminant analysis was used to identify factors contributing to group discrimination. The key findings are summarized as follows. First, significant differences at the p < 0.001 level were observed between the SARC-F score groups in various aspects, including attitudes toward life, wisdom in life, health management, social support, media availability, sports environment, collectivist values, and values associated with death. Further, service environment differences were significant at p < 0.01 level, while social belonging and social activities exhibited significance at p < 0.05. Second, factors influencing group discrimination based on the SARC-F scores were ranked in the following order: health management, attitudes toward life, fear of own death, wisdom in life, physical environment, sports environment, media availability, social support, fear of the own dying, collectivist values, service environment, social activities, and social belonging. Notably, the SARC-F tool, which is used for sarcopenia discrimination, primarily concentrates on physical functioning and demonstrates relatively low sensitivity. Therefore, to enhance the precision of sarcopenia discrimination within a score-based group discrimination process, it is imperative to incorporate ecological system factors that exert a significant influence. These modifications aimed to enhance the clarity and precision of the text in an academic context.

Gene expression networks regulated by human personality

Genome-wide association studies of human personality have been carried out, but transcription of the whole genome has not been studied in relation to personality in humans. We collected genome-wide expression profiles of adults to characterize the regulation of expression and function in genes related to human personality. We devised an innovative multi-omic approach to network analysis to identify the key control elements and interactions in multi-modular networks. We identified sets of transcribed genes that were co-expressed in specific brain regions with genes known to be associated with personality. Then we identified the minimum networks for the co-localized genes using bioinformatic resources. Subjects were 459 adults from the Young Finns Study who completed the Temperament and Character Inventory and provided peripheral blood for genomic and transcriptomic analysis. We identified an extrinsic network of 45 regulatory genes from seed genes in brain regions involved in self-regulation of emotional reactivity to extracellular stimuli (e.g., self-regulation of anxiety) and an intrinsic network of 43 regulatory genes from seed genes in brain regions involved in self-regulation of interpretations of meaning (e.g., production of concepts and language). We discovered that interactions between the two networks were coordinated by a control hub of 3 miRNAs and 3 protein-coding genes shared by both. Interactions of the control hub with proteins and ncRNAs identified more than 100 genes that overlap directly with known personality-related genes and more than another 4000 genes that interact indirectly. We conclude that the six-gene hub is the crux of an integrative network that orchestrates information-transfer throughout a multi-modular system of over 4000 genes enriched in liquid-liquid-phase-separation (LLPS)-related RNAs, diverse transcription factors, and hominid-specific miRNAs and lncRNAs. Gene expression networks associated with human personality regulate neuronal plasticity, epigenesis, and adaptive functioning by the interactions of salience and meaning in self-awareness.

"Surrounded, detached": the relationship between defensive peripersonal space and personality

Introduction

Personality shapes the cognitive, affective, and behavioral interactions between individuals and the environment. Defensive peripersonal space (DPPS) is the projected interface between the body and the world with a protective function for the body. Previous studies suggest that DPPS displays inter-individual variability that is associated with psychiatric symptoms, such as anxiety. However, DPPS may share a link with personality traits.

Methods

Fifty-five healthy participants were assessed with the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5)-Adult to evaluate personality dimensions. Subjects underwent the Hand Blink Reflex (HBR) task that estimates the DPPS limits by assessing the modulation of blink intensity in response to the median nerve stimulation. Data of the HBR was analyzed with Bayesian multilevel models, while the relationship between DPPS and personality traits was explored using network analysis.

Results

HBR was best modeled using a piecewise linear regression model, with two distinct slope parameters for electromyographic data. Network analyzes showed a positive correlation between the proximal slope and detachment personality trait, suggesting that individuals with higher scores in the detachment trait had an increased modulation of HBR, resulting in a larger extension of the DPPS.

Discussion

Features of the detachment personality trait include avoidance of interpersonal experiences, restricted affectivity, and suspiciousness, which affect interpersonal functioning. We suggest that DPPS may represent a characteristic feature of maladaptive personality traits, thus constitute a biomarker or a target for rehabilitative interventions.

Construct and criterion validity of the HiTOP spectra to predict dimensional and categorical somatization in a large non-western sample

The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) is a phenotypic data-driven framework for the classification of psychopathology. We tested the construct and criterion validity of the HiTOP spectra measured by the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5) using exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) and hierarchical regressions both to predict somatic symptom and related disorders (SSRD) and a somatization factor. The case-control study used hierarchical logistic regressions to distinguish 257 cases with SSRD from 1007 healthy controls by both the maladaptive and the temperament factors. The extracted factors were also used in hierarchical linear regressions to predict the dimensional somatization factor. The seven temperament factors explained more variance above and beyond the five maladaptive factors when predicting SSRD (pseudo R2 = 0.169 to 0.266 versus 0.125 to 0.196; change in pseudo R2 = 0.055 to 0.087 versus 0.011 to 0.017). The temperament factors also explained more variance above and beyond the maladaptive factors when predicting the somatization factor (R2 = 0.392 versus 0.269; change in R2 = 0.146 versus 0.023). Although the HiTOP spectra measured by PID-5 are significant structures related to the categorical and dimensional measurements of somatoform, our findings highlight potential problems with both the construct and criterion validity of the HiTOP spectra.

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

Introduction

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

Methods

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

Results

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

Discussion

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

Temperament & Character account for brain functional connectivity at rest: A diathesis-stress model of functional dysregulation in psychosis

The human brain's resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) provides stable trait-like measures of differences in the perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social functioning of individuals. The rsFC of the prefrontal cortex is hypothesized to mediate a person's rational self-government, as is also measured by personality, so we tested whether its connectivity networks account for vulnerability to psychosis and related personality configurations. Young adults were recruited as outpatients or controls from the same communities around psychiatric clinics. Healthy controls (n = 30) and clinically stable outpatients with bipolar disorder (n = 35) or schizophrenia (n = 27) were diagnosed by structured interviews, and then were assessed with standardized protocols of the Human Connectome Project. Data-driven clustering identified five groups of patients with distinct patterns of rsFC regardless of diagnosis. These groups were distinguished by rsFC networks that regulate specific biopsychosocial aspects of psychosis: sensory hypersensitivity, negative emotional balance, impaired attentional control, avolition, and social mistrust. The rsFc group differences were validated by independent measures of white matter microstructure, personality, and clinical features not used to identify the subjects. We confirmed that each connectivity group was organized by differential collaborative interactions among six prefrontal and eight other automatically-coactivated networks. The temperament and character traits of the members of these groups strongly accounted for the differences in rsFC between groups, indicating that configurations of rsFC are internal representations of personality organization. These representations involve weakly self-regulated emotional drives of fear, irrational desire, and mistrust, which predispose to psychopathology. However, stable outpatients with different diagnoses (bipolar or schizophrenic psychoses) were highly similar in rsFC and personality. This supports a diathesis-stress model in which different complex adaptive systems regulate predisposition (which is similar in stable outpatients despite diagnosis) and stress-induced clinical dysfunction (which differs by diagnosis).

Neural Correlates of Antisocial Behavior: The Victim’s Perspective

Antisocial behavior involves actions that disregard the basic rights of others and may represent a threat to the social system. The neural processes associated with being subject to antisocial behavior, including social victimization, are still unknown. In this study, we used a social interaction task during functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the neural bases of social victimization. Brain activation and functional connectivity (FC) were estimated and correlated with the Big 5 Questionnaire, Temperament Evaluation in Memphis, Pisa and San Diego (TEMPS-M), and a Questionnaire of Daily Frustration scores. During social victimization, the right occipital and temporal cortex showed increased activation. The temporal cortex also had reduced FC with homotopic areas. Compared to the prosocial interaction, social victimization showed hyperactivation of the dorsomedial and lateral prefrontal cortex, putamen, and thalamus and increased FC of the medial-frontal–striatal–thalamic areas with the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, insula, dorsal cingulate, and postcentral gyrus. Lastly, neuroticism, irritable temperament, and frustration scores were correlated with the magnitude of neural responses to social victimization. Our findings suggest that social victimization engages a set of regions associated with salience, emotional processing, and regulation, and these responses can be modulated by temperamental and personality traits.

Disentangling the personality pathways to well-being

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

Premorbid temperament as predictor of onset of depression: 23-year follow-up

BACKGROUND

Previously Cloninger's temperament traits have been researched as a risk factor for depression mostly in cross-sectional studies. In these studies, especially high harm avoidance has been associated with an increased risk of depression. The main objective of this study was to investigate how temperament traits affect the risk of the onset of depression in a previously mentally healthy adult population.

METHODS

This study includes a follow-up period of 23 years from the age of 31 until 54 in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 Study. Temperament was measured at the 31-year follow-up using Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). The outcome of the study was depressive disorder diagnosis during the follow-up in both sexes. To be able to take correlations between temperament traits we also did an analysis using temperament clusters.

RESULTS

Our sample size was 3999 individuals, out of which 240 were diagnosed with depression. For women an increase in the TCI score for novelty seeking (NS), harm avoidance (HA) or persistence (P) increased the risk of depression during the follow-up. For men only HA was a significant predictor of depression. An increase in reward dependence (RD) was found to reduce the risk of psychotic depression. In the analysis using the temperament clusters, the cluster including shy and pessimistic individuals was associated with risk for depression diagnosis in men.

CONCLUSIONS

This prospective general population-based cohort study added to previous knowledge of high HA being a risk factor for depression, but it also found new associations such as higher P and NS.

The relationship between parenting behavior and the personality of kindergarten children

According to Cloninger's biosocial model of personality touching upon temperament and character, personality development is a lifelong adaptive process that begins in early childhood. Similarly, theories of parenting behavior and attachment predict that associations between personality and parenting behavior should be found in young children. The present study therefore had the goal to investigate, whether associations between parenting behavior and personality in terms of Cloninger's temperament and character dimensions previously found in adolescence and adults can already be observed in kindergarten children. This study assessed personality in a sample of 324 kindergarten children (169 girls/155 boys) aged 3-6 years (M _age = 4.59, SD = 0.90). Parents rated their children's temperament and character using the JTCI 3-6 R questionnaire, which has been specifically developed to measure personality dimensions in three to six-year-olds according to Cloninger's model. Character traits (especially Self-Transcendence), which reach mature levels in adults, may not be reliably assessed in three-year-old children. Parenting behavior was documented using the DEAPQ-EL-GS self-report questionnaire measuring the parenting behavior dimensions Responsiveness and Demandingness. Correlation analyses revealed that responsive parenting behavior was positively related to the personality dimensions Reward Dependence, Self-Directedness, and Self-Transcendence. Demanding parenting behavior was positively related to the personality dimension Novelty Seeking, but negatively related to the personality dimensions Persistence, Self-Directedness and Cooperativeness. Although the cross-sectional design of our study prevents unequivocal conclusions about the causal direction of these associations, our results highlight possible differential consequences of responsive vs. demanding parenting behavior for personality development in children in line with theories of parenting behavior and attachment. Our results thus advance earlier work in adolescents and adults, by showing that parenting behavior influences the development of the child's personality according to Cloninger's biosocial model already in three to six-year-olds.

Coherence of character and temperament drives personality change toward well being in person-centered therapy

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

People and communities around the world face many crises, including increasing burdens from disease, psychopathology, burn-out, social distrust, and acts of hate and terrorism. Personality disorder is arguably both a root cause and a consequence of these problems, creating a vicious cycle of suffering caused by fears, immoderate desires, and social distrust that are inconsistent with rational goals and prosocial values. Fortunately, recent advances in understanding the biopsychosocial basis and dynamics of development in personality and its disorders offer insights to address these problems in effective person-centered ways.

RECENT FINDINGS

Fundamental advances have been made recently in the understanding of the psychobiology and sociology of personality in relationship to health, and in basic mechanisms of personality change as a complex process of learning and memory. Promotion of self-awareness and intentional self-control releases a strong tendency for people to seek coherence of their emotions and habits with what gives their life meaning and value.

SUMMARY

People have a strong drive to cultivate personalities in which their emotions and habits are reliably in accord with reasonable goals and prosocial values. Person-centered therapeutics provide practical ways to promote a virtuous cycle of increasing well being for individuals and their communities and habitats.

Disease patterns of coronary heart disease and type 2 diabetes harbored distinct and shared genetic architecture

BACKGROUND

Coronary heart disease (CHD) and type 2 diabetes (T2D) are two complex diseases with complex interrelationships. However, the genetic architecture of the two diseases is often studied independently by the individual single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) approach. Here, we presented a genotypic-phenotypic framework for deciphering the genetic architecture underlying the disease patterns of CHD and T2D.

METHOD

A data-driven SNP-set approach was performed in a genome-wide association study consisting of subpopulations with different disease patterns of CHD and T2D (comorbidity, CHD without T2D, T2D without CHD and all none). We applied nonsmooth nonnegative matrix factorization (nsNMF) clustering to generate SNP sets interacting the information of SNP and subject. Relationships between SNP sets and phenotype sets harboring different disease patterns were then assessed, and we further co-clustered the SNP sets into a genetic network to topologically elucidate the genetic architecture composed of SNP sets.

RESULTS

We identified 23 non-identical SNP sets with significant association with CHD or T2D (SNP-set based association test, P < 3.70 × [Formula: see text]). Among them, disease patterns involving CHD and T2D were related to distinct SNP sets (Hypergeometric test, P < 2.17 × [Formula: see text]). Accordingly, numerous genes (e.g., KLKs, GRM8, SHANK2) and pathways (e.g., fatty acid metabolism) were diversely implicated in different subtypes and related pathophysiological processes. Finally, we showed that the genetic architecture for disease patterns of CHD and T2D was composed of disjoint genetic networks (heterogeneity), with common genes contributing to it (pleiotropy).

CONCLUSION

The SNP-set approach deciphered the complexity of both genotype and phenotype as well as their complex relationships. Different disease patterns of CHD and T2D share distinct genetic architectures, for which lipid metabolism related to fibrosis may be an atherogenic pathway that is specifically activated by diabetes. Our findings provide new insights for exploring new biological pathways.

The personality of newly graduated and employed nurses: Temperament and character profiles of Swedish nurses

Background

One of the challenges of the 21st century is the high turnover rate in the nursing profession due to burnout and mental illness. From a biopsychosocial perspective, an individual's personality is an important vulnerability-resilience factor that comprises four temperament traits (i.e., a person's emotional reactions) and three character traits (i.e., self-regulation systems). Indeed, different personality profiles are associated to different coping strategies and health outcomes.

Objective

We investigated and mapped the temperament and character of Swedish newly graduated and employed nurses' in relation to the Swedish general population and an age-matched sub-sample.

Design

In this cross-sectional study, nurses self-reported their personality (Temperament and Character Inventory) at the beginning of their employment.

Setting

The data collection was conducted at a hospital in the South of Sweden.

Participants

A total of 118 newly graduated and employed nurses (Mage = 25.95±5.58) and 1,564 individuals from the Swedish general population participated in the study.

Methods

We calculated T-scores and percentiles for all seven personality dimensions using the Swedish norms (N = 1,564). The profiles were calculated by combining high/low percentiles scores in three temperament dimensions (Novelty Seeking: N/n, Harm Avoidance: H/h, and Reward Dependence: R/r) and in the three character dimensions (Self-Directedness: S/s, Cooperativeness: C/c and Self-Transcendence: T/t).

Results

Regarding T-scores, the nurses reported moderately lower Novelty Seeking (> 0.5 SD), slightly higher Harm-Avoidance (about 0.5 SD), moderately higher Persistence (> 0.5 SD) and Reward Dependence (> 0.5 SD), and extremely lower Self-Directedness (> 1 SD). The prevalence of the most common temperament profiles among the nurses (Swedish general population in brackets) were: 39.80% [10.90%] Cautious (nHR), 21.20% [10.90] Reliable (nhR), and 15.30% [16.50%] Methodical (nHr). The prevalence of the most common character profiles among the nurses were: 31.40% [4.90%] Dependent (sCt), 25.40% [14.40%] Apathetic (sct), and 19.50% [8.80%] Moody (sCT).

Conclusions

The analyses of the personality profiles showed that Low Novelty Seeking (79%), high Harm Avoidance (65%) high Reward Dependence (80%), low Self-Directedness (95%), and low Self-Transcendence (60%) were more prevalent among the newly graduated and employed nurses. This may partially explain newly graduated nurses' difficulties at work and high turnover rate. After all, a well-developed character is of special importance when working with patients with serious and terminal illness or under large global crises, such as the current pandemic. Hence, both education at universities and development at work need to be person-centered to reduce stress levels and promote positive self-regulation strategies.

Association between personality profiles and symptomatology patterns based on TCI and MMPI-2-RF in a transdiagnostic psychiatric sample: A person-centered approach

BACKGROUND

The temperament and character dimensions of personality appear to be networking structures that interact nonlinearly. Previous studies have attempted to classify temperament and character subtypes using a person-centered approach but have been unable to explore the relationship between the combination of temperament and character and psychopathology patterns in a transdiagnostic sample. The purpose of this study was to examine how symptomatology patterns differ according to individuals' personality profiles, employing a psychobiological model in a transdiagnostic psychiatric sample.

METHODS

Participants were 1881 patients who visited the psychiatry department of a major medical hospital in Seoul, Korea, and completed both the Temperament Character Inventory (TCI) and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructed Form (MMPI-2-RF) as part of their psychological evaluation. We performed two separate latent profile analyses using four temperament and four character indicators of the TCI to identify personality profiles and nine restructured clinical scales of the MMPI-2-RF to identify symptom patterns.

RESULTS

Five personality classes emerged: "vulnerable-maladaptive," "stable-adaptive," "average," "inhibited-neurotic," and "impulsive-irrational." Moreover, six symptom classes emerged: "non-distressed," "depressed," "emotionally-distressed," "average," "dysfunctional thoughts," and "confused." The personality profiles comprising a combination of rigid temperament and immature character were related to patterns of more severe subjective pain and symptoms. However, profiles with less rigid temperament and less immature character exhibited more diverse symptom patterns.

CONCLUSIONS

This study examined the relationship between personality profiles and symptomatology patterns, suggesting that understanding patients' personality profiles may be helpful in predicting symptom manifestation and establishing treatment plans.

The Big Five personality traits and the fear of COVID-19 in predicting depression and anxiety among Japanese nurses caring for COVID-19 patients: A cross-sectional study in Wakayama prefecture

Recent studies have found a relationship between fear of COVID-19 and mental health problems. Medical workers caring for COVID-19 patients tend to suffer from mental health problems; however, the impact of their personality traits, in the form of mental problems like depression and anxiety in Japan is unclear. In this study, we investigated the risk of nurses' depression and anxiety, predicted by the fear of COVID-19 and the Big Five personality traits. A total of 417 nurses working in hospitals providing care to COVID-19 patients in Wakayama prefecture of the Kansai region participated in this study. The questionnaires comprised items on nurses' basic characteristics and three scales: the Fear of COVID-19 Scale 2020, the Big-Five Scale, and the Japanese version of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Depression and anxiety in the HADS were set as dependent variables, and basic attributes, fear, and personality traits as independent variables; multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted. The questionnaire, with no missing items was distributed from February to March 2021. Neuroticism (OR = 1.06, 95%CI = 1.03-1.09) was the only significant factor associated with the depression symptom, and both FCV-19S scores (OR = 1.16, 95%CI = 1.09-1.23) and neuroticism (OR = 1.09, 95%CI = 1.06-1.13) were the significant factors associated with anxiety. The Nagelkerke's R squared was 0.171 in the depression model and 0.366 in the anxiety model. Thus, it was found that it is necessary to support nurses' mental health by developing methods suitable to their personalities.

Latent class analysis of behavior across dog breeds reveal underlying temperament profiles

Latent class analysis (LCA) is a type of modeling analysis approach that has been used to identify unobserved groups or subgroups within multivariate categorical data. LCA has been used for a wide array of psychological evaluations in humans, including the identification of depression subtypes or PTSD comorbidity patterns. However, it has never been used for the assessment of animal behavior. Our objective here is to identify behavioral profile-types of dogs using LCA. The LCA was performed on a C-BARQ behavioral questionnaire dataset from 57,454 participants representing over 350 pure breeds and mixed breed dogs. Two, three, and four class LCA models were developed using C-BARQ trait scores and environmental covariates. In our study, LCA is shown as an effective and flexible tool to classify behavioral assessments. By evaluating the traits that carry the strongest relevance, it was possible to define the basis of these grouping differences. Groupings can be ranked and used as levels for simplified comparisons of complex constructs, such as temperament, that could be further exploited in downstream applications such as genomic association analyses. We propose this approach will facilitate dissection of physiological and environmental factors associated with psychopathology in dogs, humans, and mammals in general.

Differences in subjective well-being between individuals with distinct Joint Personality (temperament-character) networks in a Bulgarian sample

Background

Personality is the major predictor of people's subjective well-being (i.e., positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction). Recent research in countries with high-income and strong self-transcendent values shows that well-being depends on multidimensional configurations of temperament and character traits (i.e., Joint Personality Networks) that regulate the way people learn to adapt their habits to be in accord with their goals and values, rather than individual traits. To evaluate the prevalence and the associations of different Joint Personality (temperament-character) Networks with well-being in a low-income country with weak self-transcendent values, we tested their association in Bulgarian adults, a population known to have strong secular-rationalist values but weak self-transcendent values.

Method

The sample consisted of 443 individuals from Bulgaria (68.70% females) with a mean age of 34 years (SD = 15.05). Participants self-reported personality (Temperament and Character Inventory), affect (Positive Affect Negative Affect Schedule), and life satisfaction (Satisfaction with Life Scale). The personality scores were used for profiling through latent profile analysis and latent class analysis based on temperament configurations (i.e., Temperament Profiles) of high/low scores of Novelty Seeking (N/n), Harm Avoidance (H/h), Reward Dependence (R/r), and Persistence (P/s); and character configurations (i.e., Character Profiles) of high/low scores of Self-Directedness (S/s), Cooperativeness (C/c), and Self-Transcendence (T/t).

Results

We found two Temperament Profiles and two Character Profiles that clustered into two distinctive Joint Personality Networks. All individuals in Joint Personality Network 1 had a Reliable (nhRP) Temperament Profile in combination with an Organized (SCt) Character Profile (i.e., a stable temperament and a healthy character configuration). About 71.9% in Joint Personality Network 2 had an Apathetic (sct) Character Profile in combination with Methodical (nHrp) or Reliable (nhRP) Temperament Profiles, while 28.1% had a Methodical (nHrp) Temperament Profile in combination with an Organized (SCt) Character Profile. Few people with high self-expressive values (i.e., high in all three character traits; SCT) were found. Individuals with a Joint Personality Network 1 with strong secular-rationalist values reported higher levels of positive affect and life satisfaction (p < .001), while individuals with a Joint Personality Network 2 reported higher levels of negative affect (p < .001).

Conclusions

Although a stable temperament and a healthy character were separately important for well-being, it was clear that it was the interaction between such temperament and character configuration that yielded greater levels of subjective well-being. Nevertheless, future research needs to investigate this interaction further to evaluate other cultures with variable configurations of personality traits and values.

Androgens and male sexual function

Sexual symptoms are the most specific determinants of low testosterone (T) observed during adulthood. In this narrative review, we summarize the most important evidence supporting the positive relationships between endogenous T levels and sexual activity in the adult male, by using preclinical and clinical observations. In addition, we also report an update of our previous meta-analysis evaluating the effects of T treatment (TRT) on sexual functioning in subjects with T deficiency. Available data indicate that TRT of symptomatic hypogonadal men can improve several aspects of sexual life, including erection. However, the effect is rather modest and lower in subjects with associated metabolic conditions. The specific observed effects are similar to those derived from lifestyle intervention. Since TRT might result in body composition improvement, it is reasonable to suppose that an initial treatment with T can improve the willingness of hypogonadal subjects to perform physical exercise and to adhere to a healthier behavior. Similar data were derived from animal models. However, it should be important to recognize that lifestyle modifications should be the first step to promote weigh reduction. TRT can be combined with lifestyle interventions only in symptomatic hypogonadal subjects especially in the presence of comorbid metabolic conditions.

Phenotypic and genetic analysis of a wellbeing factor score in the UK Biobank and the impact of childhood maltreatment and psychiatric illness

Wellbeing is an important aspect of mental health that is moderately heritable. Specific wellbeing-related variants have been identified via GWAS meta-analysis of individual questionnaire items. However, a multi-item within-subject index score has potential to capture greater heritability, enabling improved delineation of genetic and phenotypic relationships across traits and exposures that are not possible on aggregate-data. This research employed data from the UK Biobank resource, and a wellbeing index score was derived from indices of happiness and satisfaction with family/friendship/finances/health, using principal component analysis. GWAS was performed in Caucasian participants (N = 129,237) using the derived wellbeing index, followed by polygenic profiling (independent sample; N = 23,703). The wellbeing index, its subcomponents, and negative indicators of mental health were compared via phenotypic and genetic correlations, and relationships with psychiatric disorders examined. Lastly, the impact of childhood maltreatment on wellbeing was investigated. Five independent genome-wide significant loci for wellbeing were identified. The wellbeing index had SNP-heritability of ~8.6%, and stronger phenotypic and genetic correlations with its subcomponents (0.55-0.77) than mental health phenotypes (-0.21 to -0.39). The wellbeing score was lower in participants reporting various psychiatric disorders compared to the total sample. Childhood maltreatment exposure was also associated with reduced wellbeing, and a moderate genetic correlation (r_g = ~-0.56) suggests an overlap in heritability of maltreatment with wellbeing. Thus, wellbeing is negatively associated with both psychiatric disorders and childhood maltreatment. Although notable limitations, biases and assumptions are discussed, this within-cohort study aids the delineation of relationships between a quantitative wellbeing index and indices of mental health and early maltreatment.

A Psychological Profile of Elite Polish Short Track Athletes: An Analysis of Temperamental Traits and Impulsiveness

The aim of this study was to determine the temperament and impulsiveness profile of short track athletes. Professional athletes (juniors and seniors), under training in the Polish National Team (N_female = 21, N_male = 19, M_age = 20), completed The Temperament and Character Inventory- Revised (TCI-R (56)) and a shortened version of the Urgency, Premeditation, Perseverance, Sensation-Seeking, Positive Urgency, Impulsive Behavior Scale (S-UPPS-P). The results proved that skaters obtain higher scores than the general population on the temperamental scales i.e., persistence, harm avoidance and novelty seeking and impulsivity scales i.e., sensation seeking and positive urgency. After the cluster analysis, two homogeneous profiles of short track athletes were determined. The first profile includes athletes with high scores on the reward dependence, persistence, self-directedness, cooperativeness, temperamental and sensation-seeking impulsiveness scales coupled with low scores on the temperamental scale, harm avoidance and impulsiveness scales: positive urgency, negative urgency and the lack of perseverance. The second profile is the reverse of the first profile for the short track athletes.

Humor and Personality: Temperament and Character Have Different Roles

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

Evolution of genetic networks for human creativity

The genetic basis for the emergence of creativity in modern humans remains a mystery despite sequencing the genomes of chimpanzees and Neanderthals, our closest hominid relatives. Data-driven methods allowed us to uncover networks of genes distinguishing the three major systems of modern human personality and adaptability: emotional reactivity, self-control, and self-awareness. Now we have identified which of these genes are present in chimpanzees and Neanderthals. We replicated our findings in separate analyses of three high-coverage genomes of Neanderthals. We found that Neanderthals had nearly the same genes for emotional reactivity as chimpanzees, and they were intermediate between modern humans and chimpanzees in their numbers of genes for both self-control and self-awareness. 95% of the 267 genes we found only in modern humans were not protein-coding, including many long-non-coding RNAs in the self-awareness network. These genes may have arisen by positive selection for the characteristics of human well-being and behavioral modernity, including creativity, prosocial behavior, and healthy longevity. The genes that cluster in association with those found only in modern humans are over-expressed in brain regions involved in human self-awareness and creativity, including late-myelinating and phylogenetically recent regions of neocortex for autobiographical memory in frontal, parietal, and temporal regions, as well as related components of cortico-thalamo-ponto-cerebellar-cortical and cortico-striato-cortical loops. We conclude that modern humans have more than 200 unique non-protein-coding genes regulating co-expression of many more protein-coding genes in coordinated networks that underlie their capacities for self-awareness, creativity, prosocial behavior, and healthy longevity, which are not found in chimpanzees or Neanderthals.

Personality and psychiatric disorders among employees of New York City workplaces affected by the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center

OBJECTIVE

Personality is associated with psychopathology after disasters, but its association with the portion of postdisaster psychopathology that is incident remains unclear. It is also unclear whether any particular attributes of personality are associated with resistance to the persistence or recurrence of preexisting psychopathology after disasters. This exploratory study of employees of workplaces affected by the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City examined the specific relationships of personality variables (specifically, novelty seeking, harm avoidance, reward dependence, persistence, self-directedness, cooperativeness, and self-transcendence) to incident postdisaster psychiatric disorders and resistance to the persistence/recurrence of preexisting psychiatric disorders after the disaster.

METHODS

Approximately 3 years after the 9/11 attacks, 379 employees were recruited from 8 selected affected workplaces (3 in the World Trade Center towers, 5 at varied distances in the geographic area). Lifetime predisaster and postdisaster psychiatric disorders were assessed retrospectively with the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for DSM-IV, disaster experience details were collected with the Disaster Supplement, and personality was assessed with the Temperament and Character Inventory.

RESULTS

Underdeveloped executive functioning (low self-directedness and/or low cooperativeness) was associated with incident postdisaster psychopathology, and components of resilience (low harm avoidance, high self-directedness, and high persistence) were associated with postdisaster resistance to persistence/recurrence of preexisting psychiatric illness.

CONCLUSIONS

Personality is related to both incident and persistent/recurrent portions of postdisaster psychopathology, not clearly distinguished in previous research. Personality variables related to executive functioning and resilience may aid in assessing risk and developing treatments to prevent disaster-related psychopathology.

Personality Networks and Emotional and Behavioral Problems: Integrating Temperament and Character Using Latent Profile and Latent Class Analyses

Recent research indicates that adaptive functioning and well-being depends on the integration of three dissociable systems of learning and memory that regulate associative conditioning, intentionality and self-awareness. Our study objective was to describe how different integrated configurations of these systems (i.e. different expressions of personality) relate to the presence of internalizing, externalizing and total problems. In total, 699 adolescents completed the JTCI and Achenbach's YSR. Latent profile analyses revealed two temperament profiles and six character profiles. Adolescents with a steady temperament, and those with healthy characters, were significantly less likely to present clinical levels of problems. The integration of a steady temperament and healthy character profiles in a Mature-Steady joint temperament-character network was also associated with significantly less clinical problems. In sum, our person-centered study indicates that adaptive expressions of associative conditioning, intentionality, and self-awareness (i.e. integrated personalities) are critical for mental health.

Students' Personality Contributes More to Academic Performance than Well-Being and Learning Approach-Implications for Sustainable Development and Education

The present study aimed to describe the predictive role of personality dimensions, learning approaches, and well-being in the academic performance of students. In total, 602 students participated in this cross-sectional study and completed a set of questionnaires assessing personality, learning approach, and well-being. Two indexes were calculated to assess affective and non-affective well-being. The results partially support the hypotheses formulated. Results revealed that personality temperament and character dimensions, deep learning approach, and affective well-being were significant predictors of academic performance. A deep approach to learning was a full and partial mediator of the relationship between personality and academic performance. The results improve the understanding of the differential contribution of personality, type of learning approach, and type of well-being to academic performance. Comprehending that personality is the strongest predictor of academic performance, after controlling the type of learning approach and the type of well-being, informs school policies and decision-makers that it is essential to encourage personality development in adolescents to improve academic performance. These results also have implications for educational policies and practices at various levels, including an emphasis on the role of well-being as an educational asset. Understanding the links between personality, well-being, and education is essential to conceptualize education as a vital societal resource for facing current and future challenges, such as sustainable development.

Student engagement with school and personality: a biopsychosocial and person-centred approach

BACKGROUND

Engagement with school is a key predictor of students' academic outcomes, yet little is known about its association with personality. No research has considered this association using Cloninger's biopsychosocial model of personality. This model may be particularly informative because it posits the structure of human personality corresponds to three systems of human learning and memory that regulate associative conditioning, intentionality, and self-awareness, all of which are relevant for understanding engagement.

AIMS

To test for defined personality phenotypes and describe how they relate to student engagement.

SAMPLE

469 adolescents (54.2% female) attending the eighth (M_age  = 13.2, SD = .57) or 11^th (M_age  = 16.5, SD = .84) grades.

METHODS

Students completed self-report measures of personality and engagement. We used mixture models to identify latent classes defined by common (1) temperament profiles, (2) character profiles, and (3) joint temperament-character networks, and then tested how these classes differed in engagement.

RESULTS

Latent class analysis revealed three distinct joint temperament-character networks: Emotional-Unreliable (emotionally reactive, low self-control, and low creativity), Organized-Reliable (self-control but not creative), and Creative-Reliable (highly creative and prosocial). These networks differed significantly in engagement, with the emotional-unreliable network linked to lower engagement. However, the magnitudes of these differences across engagement dimensions did not appear to be uniform.

CONCLUSIONS

Different integrated configurations of the biopsychosocial systems for associative conditioning, intentionality, and self-awareness (differences in personality) underlie student engagement. Our results offer a fine-grained understanding of engagement dimensions in terms of their underlying personality networks, with implications for educational policies and practices.

How "dirty" is the Dark Triad? Dark character profiles, swearing, and sociosexuality

Malevolent character traits (i.e., the Dark Triad: Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) are associated to emotional frigidity, antagonism, immoral strategic thinking, betrayal, exploitation, and sexual promiscuity. Despite the fact that character is a complex adaptive system, almost every study has solely investigated the linear association between malevolent character and attitudes towards both swearing and sociosexual orientation (i.e., behavior, attitude, and desire regarding promiscuous sexual behavior). In contrast, the aim in this set of studies was to evaluate these associations in relation to specific profiles of malevolent character (i.e., the Dark Cube). In two studies participants responded to the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen, the Taboo Words’ Offensiveness and Usage Inventories (i.e., attitudes towards 30 swear words’ level of offensiveness and usage) (Study 1: N₁ = 1,000) and the Sociosexual Orientation Inventory Revised (Study 2: N₂ = 309). Participants were clustered according to all eight possible combinations based on their dark trait scores (M/m = high/low Machiavellianism; N/n = high/low narcissism; P/p = high/low psychopathy). The results of this nonlinear approach suggested that the frequent usage, not level of offensiveness, of swear words was associated to Machiavellianism and narcissism. In other words, individuals with high levels in these traits might swear and are verbally offensive often, because they do not see swearing as offensive (cf. with the attitude-behavior-cognition-hypothesis of taboo words; Rosenberg, Sikström & Garcia, 2017). Moreover, promiscuous sociosexual attitude and desire were related to each dark trait only when the other two were low. Additionally, promiscuous sociosexual behavior was not associated to these malevolent character traits. That is, individuals high in the dark traits are willing to and have the desire to engage in sexual relations without closeness, commitment, and other indicators of emotional bonding. However, they do not report high levels of previous sexual experience, relationships, and infidelity. Hence, they approve and desire for it, but they are not actually doing it. The use of person-centered and non-linear methods, such as the Dark Character Cube, seem helpful in the advancement of a coherent theory of a biopsychosocial model of dark character.

Personality Traits as Markers of Psychosis Risk in Kenya: Assessment of Temperament and Character

Specific personality traits have been proposed as a schizophrenia-related endophenotype and confirmed in siblings at risk for psychosis. The relationship of temperament and character with psychosis has not been previously investigated in Africa. The study was conducted in Kenya, and involved participants at clinical high-risk (CHR) for psychosis (n = 268) and controls (n = 251), aged 15–25 years. CHR status was estimated using the Structured Interview of Psychosis-Risk Syndromes (SIPS) and the Washington Early Psychosis Center Affectivity and Psychosis (WERCAP) Screen. Student’s t-tests were used to assess group differences on the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). Neurocognitive functioning, stress severity, and substance use were correlated with the TCI, correcting for psychosis severity. CHR participants were more impulsive (ie, higher novelty seeking [NS]) and asocial (ie, lower reward dependence) than controls. They were also more schizotypal (ie, high self-transcendence [ST] and lower self-directedness [SD] and cooperativeness [CO] than controls). CO was related to logical reasoning, abstraction, and verbal memory. Stress severity correlated with high HA and schizotypal character traits. Lifetime tobacco use was related to NS, and lifetime marijuana use to high NS, low SD and high ST. Temperament and character of Kenyan CHR youth is similar to that observed in schizophrenia. Psychosis risk in Kenya is associated with impulsive, asocial, and schizotypal traits. CHR adolescents and young adults with schizophrenia-specific personality traits may be most at risk for developing a psychotic disorder and to require early intervention to improve outcomes.

Outcomes of Randomized Clinical Trials of Interventions to Enhance Social, Emotional, and Spiritual Components of Wisdom: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Importance

Wisdom is a neurobiological personality trait made up of specific components, including prosocial behaviors, emotional regulation, and spirituality. It is associated with greater well-being and happiness.

Objective

To evaluate the effectiveness of interventions to enhance individual components of wisdom.

Data Sources

MEDLINE and PsycINFO databases were searched for articles published through December 31, 2018.

Study Eligibility Criteria

Randomized clinical trials that sought to enhance a component of wisdom, used published measures to assess that component, were published in English, had a minimum sample size of 40 participants, and presented data that enabled computation of effect sizes were included in this meta-analysis.

Data Extraction and Synthesis

Random-effect models were used to calculate pooled standardized mean differences (SMDs) for each wisdom component and random-effects meta-regression to assess heterogeneity of studies.

Main Outcomes and Measures

Improvement in wisdom component using published measures.

Results

Fifty-seven studies (N = 7096 participants) met review criteria: 29 for prosocial behaviors, 13 for emotional regulation, and 15 for spirituality. Study samples included people with psychiatric or physical illnesses and from the community. Of the studies, 27 (47%) reported significant improvement with medium to large effect sizes. Meta-analysis revealed significant pooled SMDs for prosocial behaviors (23 studies; pooled SMD, 0.43 [95% CI, 0.22-0.3]; P = .02), emotional regulation (12 studies; pooled SMD, 0.67 [95% CI, 0.21-1.12]; P = .004), and spirituality (12 studies; pooled SMD, 1.00 [95% CI, 0.41-1.60]; P = .001). Heterogeneity of studies was considerable for all wisdom components. Publication bias was present for prosocial behavior and emotional regulation studies; after adjusting for it, the pooled SMD for prosocial behavior remained significant (SMD, 0.4 [95% CI, 0.16-0.78]; P = .003). Meta-regression analysis found that effect sizes did not vary by wisdom component, although for trials on prosocial behaviors, large effect sizes were associated with older mean participant age (β, 0.08 [SE, 0.04]), and the reverse was true for spirituality trials (β, -0.13 [SE, 0.04]). For spirituality interventions, higher-quality trials had larger effect sizes (β, 4.17 [SE, 1.07]), although the reverse was true for prosocial behavior trials (β, -0.91 [SE 0.44]).

Conclusions and Relevance

Interventions to enhance spirituality, emotional regulation, and prosocial behaviors are effective in a proportion of people with mental or physical illnesses and from the community. The modern behavioral epidemics of loneliness, suicide, and opioid abuse point to a growing need for wisdom-enhancing interventions to promote individual and societal well-being.

Validation of a general subjective well-being factor using Classical Test Theory

BACKGROUND

Subjective Well-Being (SWB) is usually conceptualized in terms of an affective (i.e., judgements of biological emotional reactions and experiences) and a cognitive component (i.e., judgements of life satisfaction in relation to a psychological self-imposed ideal). Recently, researchers have suggested that judgements of harmony in life can replace or at least complement the cognitive component of SWB. Here, however, we go beyond that suggestion and propose that harmony in life should be seen as SWB's social component since it is the sense of balance between the individual and the world around her-a process that comprises acceptance, adaptation, and balance. By adding judgements of one's social interactions (i.e., harmony in life) to judgments of one's life satisfaction (psycho) and judgements of one's emotional reactions (bio), we propose a tentatively biopsychosocial model of SWB. As a first step, we used different factorial models in order to determine if both a general factor and specific sub-factors contribute to the biopsychosocial model of SWB.

METHOD

A total of 527 participants responded to the Positive Affect Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS; 20 items), the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS; five items), and the Harmony in life Scale (HILS; five items). We conducted exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to validate the biopsychosocial model of subjective well-being and a general factor (SWBS).

RESULTS

The 20 PANAS items reflected a mixture of general latent structure saturation and specific latent structure saturation, but contributed to their respective specific latent factor (PA: 48%; NA: 49%) more than to the general latent SWBS factor (positive affect: 25%; negative affect: 32%). The five SWLS items contributed to a larger degree to the general SWBS factor (72%) than to life satisfaction itself (22%), while the five HILS items contributed to even a larger degree to the general SWBS factor (98%) than to harmony in life (0%). The bifactor model was the best model compared with all other models we tested (χ2 = 1,660.78, df = 375, p < 0.001); Satorra Bentler χ2 = 1,265.80, df = 375, p < 0.001; CFI = 0.92; Tucker-Lewis Index = 0.91; RMSEA = 0.067. This model of a general SWBS factor explained about 64% of the total variance in the model, while specific SWBS components together explained 15% of the total variance.

CONCLUSION

Our study suggests SWB as a general factor in a multidimensional biopsychosocial model. Indeed, as much as 64% of the variance of SWB was explained by this general factor. The SWB components, however, contributed to a different degree to each corresponding factor in the model. For instance, while the affective and cognitive components seem to be their own constructs and also part of the general SWB factor, the social component tested here contributed 0% to its own variance but 98% to the general factor.

Validation of Two Short Personality Inventories Using Self-Descriptions in Natural Language and Quantitative Semantics Test Theory

Background

If individual differences are relevant and prominent features of personality, then they are expected to be encoded in natural language, thus manifesting themselves in single words. Recently, the quantification of text data using advanced natural language processing techniques offers innovative opportunities to map people’s own words and narratives to their responses to self-reports. Here, we demonstrate the usefulness of self-descriptions in natural language and what we tentatively call Quantitative Semantic Test Theory (QuSTT) to validate two short inventories that measure character traits.

Method

In Study 1, participants (N₁ = 997) responded to the Short Character Inventory, which measures self-directedness, cooperativeness, and self-transcendence. In Study 2, participants (N₂ = 2373) responded to Short Dark Triad, which measures Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. In both studies, respondents were asked to generate 10 self-descriptive words. We used the Latent Semantic Algorithm to quantify the meaning of each trait using the participants’ self-descriptive words. We then used these semantic representations to predict the self-reported scores. In a second set of analyses, we used word-frequency analyses to map the self-descriptive words to each of the participants’ trait scores (i.e., one-dimensional analysis) and character profiles (i.e., three-dimensional analysis).

Results

The semantic representation of each character trait was related to each corresponding self-reported score. However, participants’ self-transcendence and Machiavellianism scores demonstrated similar relationships to all three semantic representations of the character traits in their respective personality model. The one-dimensional analyses showed that, for example, “loving” was indicative of both high cooperativeness and self-transcendence, while “compassionate,” “kind,” and “caring” was unique for individuals high in cooperativeness. The words “kind” and “caring” indicated low levels of Machiavellianism and psychopathy, whereas “shy” or “introvert” indicated low narcissism. We also found specific keywords that unify or that make the individuals in some profiles unique.

Conclusion

Despite being short, both inventories capture individuals’ identity as expected. Nevertheless, our method also points out some shortcomings and overlaps between traits measured with these inventories. We suggest that self-descriptive words can be quantified to validate measures of psychological constructs (e.g., prevalence in self-descriptions or QuSTT) and that this method may complement traditional methods for testing the validity of psychological measures.

Uncovering Tumour Heterogeneity through PKR and nc886 Analysis in Metastatic Colon Cancer Patients Treated with 5-FU-Based Chemotherapy

Colorectal cancer treatment has advanced over the past decade. The drug 5-fluorouracil is still used with a wide percentage of patients who do not respond. Therefore, a challenge is the identification of predictive biomarkers. The protein kinase R (PKR also called EIF2AK2) and its regulator, the non-coding pre-mir-nc886, have multiple effects on cells in response to numerous types of stress, including chemotherapy. In this work, we performed an ambispective study with 197 metastatic colon cancer patients with unresectable metastases to determine the relative expression levels of both nc886 and PKR by qPCR, as well as the location of PKR by immunohistochemistry in tumour samples and healthy tissues (plasma and colon epithelium). As primary end point, the expression levels were related to the objective response to first-line chemotherapy following the response evaluation criteria in solid tumours (RECIST) and, as the second end point, with survival at 18 and 36 months. Hierarchical agglomerative clustering was performed to accommodate the heterogeneity and complexity of oncological patients’ data. High expression levels of nc886 were related to the response to treatment and allowed to identify clusters of patients. Although the PKR mRNA expression was not associated with chemotherapy response, the absence of PKR location in the nucleolus was correlated with first-line chemotherapy response. Moreover, a relationship between survival and the expression of both PKR and nc886 in healthy tissues was found. Therefore, this work evaluated the best way to analyse the potential biomarkers PKR and nc886 in order to establish clusters of patients depending on the cancer outcomes using algorithms for complex and heterogeneous data.

Somatic complaints in early adulthood predict the developmental course of compassion into middle age

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the present study was to investigate (i) whether somatic complaints predict the developmental course of compassion in adulthood, and (ii) whether this association depends on alexithymic features.

METHODS

The participants came from the population-based Young Finns study (N = 471-1037). Somatic complaints (headache, stomachache, chest pain, backache, fatigue, exhaustion, dizziness, heartburn, heartbeat, and tension) were evaluated with a self-rating questionnaire in 1986 when participants were aged between 18 and 24 years. Compassion was assessed with the Compassion Scale of the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) in 1997, 2001, and 2012. The data were analyzed using growth curve models.

RESULTS

We obtained a significant compassion-age interaction (B = -0.137, p = .02) and a compassion-age squared interaction (B = 0.007, p = .006), when predicting the course of somatic complaints. Specifically, in participants without frequent somatic complaints, compassion steadily increased with age in adulthood. In participants with frequent somatic complaints, however, compassion remained at a lower level until the age of 40 years, then started to increase, and achieved the normal level of compassion approximately at the age of 50 years. The association between somatic complaints and compassion over age was found to be independent of alexithymic features. The analyses were adjusted for a variety of covariates (age, gender, use of health care in childhood, depression in childhood, parental socioeconomic factors, parental care-giving practices, stressful life events, parental alcohol intoxication, and participants' socioeconomic factors in adulthood).

CONCLUSION

Frequent somatic complaints may predict delayed development of compassion in adulthood. This association was found to be independent of alexithymic features.

The complex genetics and biology of human temperament: a review of traditional concepts in relation to new molecular findings

Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have shown that temperament is strongly influenced by more than 700 genes that modulate associative conditioning by molecular processes for synaptic plasticity and long-term learning and memory. The results were replicated in three independent samples despite variable cultures and environments. The identified genes were enriched in pathways activated by behavioral conditioning in animals, including the two major molecular pathways for response to extracellular stimuli, the Ras-MEK-ERK and the PI3K-AKT-mTOR cascades. These pathways are activated by a wide variety of physiological and psychosocial stimuli that vary in positive and negative valence and in consequences for health and survival. Changes in these pathways are orchestrated to maintain cellular homeostasis despite changing conditions by modulating temperament and its circadian and seasonal rhythms. In this review we first consider traditional concepts of temperament in relation to the new genetic findings by examining the partial overlap of alternative measures of temperament. Then we propose a definition of temperament as the disposition of a person to learn how to behave, react emotionally, and form attachments automatically by associative conditioning. This definition provides necessary and sufficient criteria to distinguish temperament from other aspects of personality that become integrated with it across the life span. We describe the effects of specific stimuli on the molecular processes underlying temperament from functional, developmental, and evolutionary perspectives. Our new knowledge can improve communication among investigators, increase the power and efficacy of clinical trials, and improve the effectiveness of treatment of personality and its disorders.