Presenteeism has negative consequences for both the individual and the employer, such as increased levels of stress and poorer psychological health. It can be found across countries and in various...Show morePresenteeism has negative consequences for both the individual and the employer, such as increased levels of stress and poorer psychological health. It can be found across countries and in various professions. Millennials will soon comprise the majority of the global workforce, however, this costly phenomenon is poorly understood in this population. The predictors and the reasoning behind opting for presenteeism in working millennials (n=192) were investigated in this study. Self-reports were used to measure presenteeism, neuroticism, optimism, and job satisfaction. Relationships between the variables were explored using partial correlations and hierarchical regression. The moderation pathway was examined using PROCESS macro. The results showed that job satisfaction was able to predict presenteeism regardless of the employee's age, level of education, and general health. Neuroticism and optimism shared significant negative associations with presenteeism but were unable to predict it. Optimism was also not found to moderate the relationship between job satisfaction and presenteeism. A qualitative exploration suggested that the most likely reason millennials opt for working while sick is not feeling sick enough or feeling able to work despite their illness. The findings of this study suggest that being satisfied with one’s job plays a more significant role in presenteeism, while personality characteristics such as optimism and neuroticism might not. Predictors of presenteeism should be further investigated in the millennial workforce. Finally, suitable interventions should be explored in order to decrease the negative effects of presenteeism.Show less
This paper conducted research on the relationship between scarcity and risk-taking, as well as how this relationship is moderated by neuroticism. The study employed established questions and tasks...Show moreThis paper conducted research on the relationship between scarcity and risk-taking, as well as how this relationship is moderated by neuroticism. The study employed established questions and tasks used in peer-reviewed papers. The study differed between the concepts risk tolerance and risk preference. Multiple linear regression was used to analyse the data, which was performed in SPSS. After analysing the data it was concluded that scarcity and risk-taking have a positive relationship when tested with the risk-tolerance variable. For the risk preference variable this effect was only present if gender was controlled. Neuroticism also moderates the effect of financial scarcity on risk-taking for the risk-tolerance variable, but not the risk-preference variable. It was found that neuroticism weakens the relationship between scarcity and risk- taking. The study contributes to literature about the effect of neuroticism on the tendency to take or avoid risks, as well as the literature on how scarcity can increase the tendency to take risks in practical setting such as treating those with gambling addictions or tendency to overspend. The paper was limited by its risk preference measure, which did not properly simulate a risk-reward scenario, contrary to the risk tolerance measure.Show less
This study examines whether the personality traits neuroticism and agreeableness mediate the relationship between traumatic experiences of parents and parenting stress. This research was conducted...Show moreThis study examines whether the personality traits neuroticism and agreeableness mediate the relationship between traumatic experiences of parents and parenting stress. This research was conducted among families who were registered at Veilig Thuis under a notification of domestic violence. A sample of 1172 parents (862 female, 310 male) completed self-report questionnaires about trauma, personality traits and parenting stress. Trauma is directly related to parental stress. Neuroticism is a partial mediator in the relationship between traumatic experiences of parents and parenting stress. Agreeableness is not a mediator in this relationship. The findings suggest that parents with a trauma score high in neuroticism, subsequently, parents high in neuroticism experience more parental stress. This was not found for agreeableness. Directions for future research regarding personality and parental stress and the limitations of present study are discussed.Show less
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
Itch is a common unpleasant sensation that comes with the urge to scratch. Itch draws our attention and can be adaptive to humans in order to alert individuals to potential threats. At the same...Show moreItch is a common unpleasant sensation that comes with the urge to scratch. Itch draws our attention and can be adaptive to humans in order to alert individuals to potential threats. At the same time, itch can impair daily functioning and strongly disrupt an individual’s quality of life when it becomes chronic. Even though itch is a prevalent symptom, research investigating an attentional bias towards itch, the tendency to pay attention towards itch-related stimuli over other stimuli, is scarce. Findings in this field are mixed and the divergent results might be explained by individual characteristics. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the influence of individual characteristics; namely neuroticism, catastrophizing and anxiety, on attentional bias towards itch by conducting a secondary analysis. Results from seven similar studies examining an attentional bias towards itch and individual characteristics were analyzed using a multilevel modeling analysis. All these studies used the dot-probe task to measure an attentional bias towards itch-related information (words or pictures). Additionally, several self-report questionnaires were administered, which were related to the individual characteristics. A total of 577 healthy participants were included. Results did not indicate an attentional bias towards itch-related words or pictures. Also, the individual characteristics, neuroticism, catastrophizing and anxiety, did not influence one’s attentional bias towards itch. This secondary analysis was a first step in combining findings on attentional bias towards itch and exploring its relationship with individual characteristics. Further research is warranted to optimize attentional bias measures and conduct more studies that focus on the influence of individual characteristics and attentional bias towards itch.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
Previous research found that personality and chronotype both are significant predictors of alcohol consumption. This study examined the personality type neuroticism and the evening chronotype as...Show morePrevious research found that personality and chronotype both are significant predictors of alcohol consumption. This study examined the personality type neuroticism and the evening chronotype as possible correlates of increased alcohol consumption. Additionally, we aimed to find a moderating effect of eveningness in the relationship between neuroticism and alcohol consumption. The Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA) included 2,981 participants between the ages of 18 and 65 and a total of more than eight questionnaires, from which we used the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire (MCTQ), Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) and Neuroticism-Extraversion-Openness Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI). Results showed a significant association between eveningness and alcohol consumption. The predicted moderation effect of eveningness was not found. The findings of this study may give a better understanding of possible risk factors for increased alcohol consumption, by verifying the predicted association between eveningness and increased alcohol consumption. Future research may however look further into the working mechanisms of eveningness with respect to the susceptibility of increased alcohol consumption.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
Itch can produce significant problems and diminish quality of life because it requires a great deal of attention. The studies conducted on attentional bias towards itch differ greatly in results....Show moreItch can produce significant problems and diminish quality of life because it requires a great deal of attention. The studies conducted on attentional bias towards itch differ greatly in results. The primary aim of the current meta-analysis is to determine the overall extent of attentional bias towards visual itch stimuli which healthy individuals display when measured with the dot-probe task. A secondary aim is to investigate how strongly the individual character trait neuroticism predicts attentional bias towards itch in healthy individuals. In total, 563 healthy participants from seven different studies had been included in this meta-analysis for the first hypothesis, and 408 healthy participants from five studies for the second hypothesis. The main findings of the present meta-analysis do not support the notion that healthy individuals display attentional bias towards itch pictures and words (ES = 0.76, SE = 3.43, t (4.27) = 0.22, P = 0.835, 95% CI: -.3.39 to 4.04). Furthermore, it does not support the notion that individuals who score higher on neuroticism have an attentional bias towards itch pictures and words (ES = 0.33, SE = 0.38, t (326.33) = -0.88, P = 0.381, 95% CI: -3.24 to 3.87). This meta-analysis leads to prospective directions to further explore different factors of attentional bias towards itch stimuli. Future researchers need to investigate whether itch stimuli may potentially be biased in patients with chronic itch. Furthermore, studies are needed to investigate whether attentional bias is not reflected in these studies and how the differences in results are caused, for instance by researching other character traits.Show less
Depression is a worldwide problem and therefore it is very important to do research on its possible predictors or early symptoms. Studies have shown that the occurrence of depressive symptoms is...Show moreDepression is a worldwide problem and therefore it is very important to do research on its possible predictors or early symptoms. Studies have shown that the occurrence of depressive symptoms is related to certain personality characteristics such as optimism and neuroticism. However, there is not much research that takes both of these factors into consideration when looking at the occurrence of depressive symptoms. In this study, the role of neuroticism in the relationship between optimism and depressive symptoms was investigated. It was hypothesized that the degree of neuroticism will at least partially mediate the relationship between the level of optimism and depressive symptoms. The Patient Health Questionnaire, the Life Orientation Test-Revised, and the neuroticism subscale of the Big Five Inventory were used to measure depressive symptoms, optimism, and neuroticism, respectively. The results of the mediation analysis in PROCESS macro confirmed the hypothesis that the degree of neuroticism partially mediates the relationship between the level of optimism and depressive symptoms, b = -.29, BCa Cl [-.40, -.21]. The main limitation of the study was the cross-sectional study design which prevented making any inferences about the directionality of the found relationships. Nonetheless, the results have implications for both the research and the clinical field as they encourage further research to assist in the development of intervention strategies.Show less
Worldwide infectious disease outbreaks like the COVID-19 pandemic are associated with negative mental health consequences. Researchers found that patients with obsessive compulsive symptoms (OCS),...Show moreWorldwide infectious disease outbreaks like the COVID-19 pandemic are associated with negative mental health consequences. Researchers found that patients with obsessive compulsive symptoms (OCS), scored higher on neuroticism. In stressful situations, for instance, during a pandemic, neurotic people might experience more stress. However, there is still not a lot of information about the relationship between neuroticism and OCS in the specific context of a pandemic. This study aimed to investigate the potential moderation effect of COVID-19 related stress (CSS) on the association between neuroticism and OCS. The Padua Inventory, Neuroticism Questionnaire and the COVID-19 Stress Scale were used to assess OCS, neuroticism and CSS, respectively, in a non-clinical convenience sample (N = 184). The results of this study suggest that neuroticism was significantly related to OCS (p = .002), but was not differentially related with OCS in different levels of CSS (p = .545). The theory of situational pressures sheds some light on how CSS actually might eliminate the relationship between neuroticism and OCS, which could potentially explain the insignificant moderation effect. Alternatively, the theory on psychological distance could explain how a quarantine and/or lockdown may have decreased CSS to the extent where individuals might exhibit less OCS. As significant mental health needs might emerge during the COVID-19 pandemic, knowledge about the potential impact of CSS on vulnerable individuals may be important in order to explain these mental health needs and to learn what to focus on in treatment.Show less
Background: With the recent emergence of online dating as a way of initiating and establishing romantic relationships, online dating has become an important strategy for couples to meet. However,...Show moreBackground: With the recent emergence of online dating as a way of initiating and establishing romantic relationships, online dating has become an important strategy for couples to meet. However, no previous studies have thoroughly investigated the possible mediation effect of partner-perceived attractiveness between personality traits and online dating success. In this thesis, I will test whether personality traits influence partner-perceived attractiveness, and whether this assumed relationship affects online dating success. Methods: Through the use of a mediation analysis, this present study will investigate how the personality dimensions of extraversion and neuroticism are linked to attractiveness and whether a specific trait contributes to more online dating success. Results: It cannot be concluded that there is a mediating relationship between personality traits and online dating outcomes. A significant relationship was found between partner perceived attractiveness and dating success when running a linear regression, without controlling for the relationship between personality traits and online dating outcomes. Conclusion: More research needs to be done in order to differentiate between the different personality traits, and whether possessing one trait makes you a more successful online dater. Future studies can add a new dimension to the variable of partner-perceived attractiveness and look into the possible role played by self-esteem.Show less
