While the Big Five personality traits of neuroticism and conscientiousness have consistently been established as risk and protective factors for internet addiction (IA), respectively, personality...Show moreWhile the Big Five personality traits of neuroticism and conscientiousness have consistently been established as risk and protective factors for internet addiction (IA), respectively, personality is rather resistant to change. As perceived social support (PSS) is more malleable, it may be an accessible intervention point for IA in adolescents with at-risk personality traits. This study investigated whether neuroticism and conscientiousness were associated with IA in Dutch adolescents specifically, and, if so, whether PSS was a mediator in these associations. We aimed to contribute to the scarce literature in the Dutch adolescent population with a new sample, identify risk and protective factors of IA, and detect possible points of intervention. To our knowledge, this was the first study to explore the mediating role of PSS in these associations. The data of 109 Dutch adolescents aged 13 to 25 years were analyzed in this cross-sectional study using mediation analyses. Conscientiousness, neuroticism, PSS, and IA were measured via self-report. Results indicate a positive association of neuroticism and IA, and a negative association of conscientiousness and IA. However, PSS was not found to be a mediator between any of the personality traits and IA. These findings suggest that high neuroticism and low conscientiousness are important indicators for IA in Dutch adolescents. As PSS was not found to be a mediator, there is a need to find alternative points of intervention for those with at-risk personalities. Future research should focus on replication with a bigger sample, and the use of multiple informants and assessment tools.Show less
Background: The personality factors neuroticism, conscientiousness, and extraversion, as well as threat-related attentional bias are significantly associated with anxiety disorders,...Show moreBackground: The personality factors neuroticism, conscientiousness, and extraversion, as well as threat-related attentional bias are significantly associated with anxiety disorders, transdiagnostically. Hypothesis: These personality constructs are correlated with attentional bias, and it might be through this that they create vulnerability for anxiety. Methods: The cross-sectional experimental study (N = 40) administered a dual-probe-task with neutral, mildly-threatening, and highly-threatening images. Results: Significant negative associations with big effect sizes were found between conscientiousness and attending towards threat. More conscientious individuals automatically attended away from mild-threats. Conclusion and Implications: A pathway through which conscientiousness may be acting to create vulnerability for anxiety was proposed. The goal engagement system, as hypothesized in the cognitive- motivational model by Mogg & Bradley, keeps the attention automatically on goal-related stimuli in the absence of a perceived true threat in the environment. The current study adds a new layer to this model, illustrating how intact one’s goal engagement system, even in the absence of pathologic anxiety, is on a spectrum, and can be operationalized by one’s conscientiousness level. Individuals with lower levels of conscientiousness would not have a strong goal engagement system, not resulting in an automatic avoidance of mild-threats, leading overtime to an accumulation of evidence for negative cues, making it easier to form cognitive distortions, predisposing one to anxiety. Increasing conscientiousness might be a promising psychotherapeutic target. Crucial for the anxiety-related attentional bias research field, exploratory analyses showed conscientiousness to be a more important predictor of attentional bias, compared to attentional control. Future attentional bias studies should assess conscientiousness.Show less
It has been suggested that power provides both opportunities for promoting the achievement of one's own goals and responsibilities for the outcomes of those who are dependent on the power-holder....Show moreIt has been suggested that power provides both opportunities for promoting the achievement of one's own goals and responsibilities for the outcomes of those who are dependent on the power-holder. In our study we investigated whether sex and gender identity influence the construal of power as either opportunity or responsibility in a variety of power contexts, while also examining the possible moderating role of personality traits. Power was manipulated by priming participants in a high or low power condition, by requesting them to describe a situation in which they felt powerful or powerless. There were also questions about the meaning they ascribed to that power, while their gender identity was measured by a recently developed scale. Our results showed that participants in the high power condition were more likely to construe their power as both an opportunity and a responsibility than the participants in the low power condition and that femininity is associated with the construal of power as a responsibility irrespective of the level of power. Females construed their power as a responsibility more than males only when we controlled for neuroticism, openness to experience and their stability of power. Limitations and implications of the study are discussed.Show less
