PERSONALITY PROFILES IN A SWEDISH LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYED SAMPLE

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 17-39
Author(s):  
Alexandre Granjard ◽  
Kevin M. Cloninger ◽  
Erik Lindskär ◽  
Christian Jacobsson ◽  
Sverker Sikström ◽  
...  

Background: Long-term unemployment is associated with psychiatric problems, higher risk of suicide, low levels of well-being, and high levels of burnout. In this context, among other factors such as sociodemographic status and IQ, specific personality traits are important for individuals’ chances to finding a job, getting hired, and retaining that job, as well as for coping with the mental health risks related to long-term unemployment. Thus, in order to use person-centered methods to promote public health and sustainable employment during the current and future challenges of the 21st century, an important research area is the mapping and understanding of personality profiles of individuals who are unemployed.  Objectives: We mapped the personality traits and profiles in a sample of Swedish long-term unemployed (i.e., ≥ 6 months without work) in relation to a control group from the Swedish general population. Method: 245 long-term unemployed individuals (136 men and 157 women, range 18 to 60 years; M = 25.7; SD = 9.6) were recruited at the beginning of different well-being and employment projects in Blekinge, Sweden. The participants reported gender, age, and other basic demographics, as well as their personality using the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). We calculated the T-scores and percentiles for the personality traits using the Swedish normative data (N = 1,948) and clustered participants in different temperament (high/low novelty seeking: N/n, high/low harm avoidance: H/h, high/low reward dependence: R/r) and character profiles (high/low self-directedness: S/s, high/low cooperativeness: C/c, high/low self-transcendence: T/t). Results: Compared to the general population, the long-term unemployed were extremely higher in harm avoidance (> 1.5 standard deviation), moderately lower in persistence (> 0.5 standard deviation), extremely lower in self-directedness (> 2 standard deviations), and moderately lower in novelty seeking (> 0.5 standard deviation). That is, consistent with past research, our study shows that the personality of long-term unemployed is denoted by being pessimistic, fearful, easily fatigable, underachieving, blaming, helpless, and unfulfilled (i.e., high harm avoidance, low persistence, and low self-directedness), but also by being reserved and rigid (i.e., low novelty seeking). Furthermore, within the unemployed population, as much as 71.60% reported a methodical (nHr) or cautious profile (nHR), and as much as 64.00% reported an apathetic (sct) or a disorganized profile (scT). Moreover, the profile analyses allowed us to show that, within this unemployed population and in relation to each individual’s own profile, about 91.70% were high in harm avoidance, 98.60% were low in self-directedness, 64.00% were low in cooperativeness, and 44.40% low in self-transcendence. Conclusions: These results indicate a high predictive value by the TCI, especially regarding the specific basic health-related traits or abilities (i.e., self-directedness, cooperativeness, and self-transcendence) needed to cope with the risks related to unemployment. Specifically, long-term unemployed populations have temperament profiles that present difficulties for them to adapt to the circumstances of unemployment, but also finding, getting, and retaining a job and character profiles that diminish their possibilities to self-regulate the emotions derived from their temperament through self-directed choices that improve their health and all aspects of their lives. Hence, evidence-based interventions targeting stress reduction and the development of health-related traits or abilities (i.e., self-directedness, cooperativeness, and self-transcendence) are urgently needed.

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Akiko Murakoshi ◽  
Nobuyuki Mitsui ◽  
Jiro Masuya ◽  
Yota Fujimura ◽  
Shinji Higashi ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Previous studies reported that subjective well-being in adulthood correlates with perceived parental bonding in childhood as well as personality traits. However, whether personality traits mediate the effect of perceived parental bonding on well-being or not has not been reported to date. In this study, we hypothesized that ‘parental care and overprotection’ in childhood affect ‘well-being’ in adulthood through various ‘personality traits’, and analyzed this using structural equation modeling. Methods A total of 402 adult volunteers from the community provided responses to the following questionnaires: 1) Parental Bonding Instrument, 2) Temperament and Character Inventory, and 3) The Subjective Well-being Inventory. Two structural equation models were designed and the maximum likelihood estimation method was used for covariance structure analysis. Results Parental care in childhood directly increased well-being in adulthood and indirectly increased it through personality traits (harm avoidance, reward dependence, and self-directedness). Parental overprotection in childhood had no direct effect on well-being in adulthood but decreased well-being in adulthood indirectly through personality traits (harm avoidance, reward dependence, and self-directedness) and increased it through one personality trait (self-transcendence). Conclusions This study showed that the influences of perceived parental bonding on well-being in adulthood are mediated by self-directedness, harm avoidance, reward dependence, and self-transcendence among the seven personality dimensions evaluated by the Temperament and Character Inventory.


Blood ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 138 (Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. 2289-2289
Author(s):  
Eva Telzerow ◽  
Dennis Görlich ◽  
Maja Rothenberg-Thurley ◽  
Maria Cristina Sauerland ◽  
Anna Sophia Moret ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction An increasing proportion of patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) become long-term survivors. Somatic and psycho-social outcomes are therefore becoming increasingly important, but little is known about the long-term effects of the disease and its treatment. Methods We designed a comprehensive analysis of AML survivorship outcomes including psycho-social well-being and somatic health status and conducted a questionnaire-based study collecting data from AML long term survivors (AML-LTS) and their physicians. This report focuses on overall and health-related quality of life. Somatic, especially cardiovascular, morbidity in AML-LTS are reported separately (Moret et al.). The primary aim of this study was to compare quality of life (QoL, measured by the FACT-G questionnaire) and general and health-related life satisfaction (gLS/hLS, measured by the FLZ-M questionnaire) of AML-LTS with normative data of German adults who were not diagnosed with AML (Holzner et al. 2009; Daig et al. 2009). FLZ-M and FACT-G scores were standardized relative to the normal population mean and standard deviation, stratified by sex and age. These z-scores were then tested against the fixed value 0 (indicating no difference between AML-LTS and the general population) using Mann-Whitney U-tests. Our statistical design incorporated a sequentially rejective testing procedure to maintain the multiple testing significance level at 5%, using a graphical model as described by Bretz et al. (2009). Results 427 former AML patients who had been enrolled in AMLCG trials (AMLCG-1999, AMLCG-2004, AMLCG-2008) or the AMLCG patient registry, participated in this study between 5 and 18.6 years [y] after their initial AML diagnosis (median, 11.3y). Median age of AML-LTS was 61y (range 28y-93y), and 56% were female. Thirty-eight percent of participants had been treated with chemotherapy alone, while 62% received at least one allogeneic stem cell transplant (alloSCT). A relapse occurred in 24% of the participants. Unexpectedly, quality of life and general life satisfaction summary scores were significantly higher in AML-LTS (p<.001) compared to adults without the diagnosis of AML, although most differences on QoL subscales relative to the general population were small and very likely not clinically relevant. No statistical difference between AML-LTS and normal adults was found for health-related life satisfaction (hLS). Notably, a subgroup of participants (26%) reported poor physical well-being (PWB), indicated by a FACT PWB subscore more than one standard deviation (SD) below the age- and sex-matched general population value (Figure A). This resulted in poor overall QoL (i.e. >1 SD below normal) for 13% of the participants (Figure B). To identify factors potentially associated with poor overall QoL, we constructed a logistic regression model including pre-specified cofactors (age, sex, time since initial diagnosis, relapse and alloSCT) and additional covariables that associated with QoL in univariate analyses (Table C). We found that participants with younger age, male sex, lower educational level, shorter time since diagnosis and a altered financial situation reported significantly lower QoL. No influence was found for other characteristics including treatment (alloSCT vs. no alloSCT), previous relapse, or de novo vs. secondary or therapy-related AML. Discussion Unlike previous studies of AML survivorship, our large cohort included a diverse spectrum of patients regarding age, time since diagnosis, and treatment modalities, which allows for new insight into long-term quality of life. Our study establishes that overall QoL in AML long-term survivors is comparable to the general population. Improvement of QoL continues beyond five years post diagnosis. Importantly, disease- and treatment-related factors, such as prior relapse or status post allogeneic transplantation, are not associated with overall QoL. However, we were able to identify risk factors for worse QoL (younger age, male sex, alteration of the financial situation), delineating a subgroup of patients that may still have a need for targeted psycho-social interventions five or more years after an AML diagnosis. Figure 1 Figure 1. Disclosures Berdel: Philogen S.p.A.: Consultancy, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Hiddemann: Janssen: Research Funding; Roche: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding. Metzeler: AbbVie: Honoraria; Astellas: Honoraria; Daiichi Sankyo: Honoraria; Novartis: Consultancy; Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy; Pfizer: Consultancy; Celgene/BMS: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuzhan Hang ◽  
Lydia Gabriela Speyer ◽  
Liina Haring ◽  
Billy Lee ◽  
Uku Vainik ◽  
...  

Many health problems that occur later in life have their origins in behaviours and associated lifestyle habits established earlier in life. We aimed to gain new insights into the structure of health and well-being of late adolescents and emerging adults through examining a multi-dimensional network that quantitatively estimates the personality similarities (personality correlations) between sixteen different health related behaviours and outcomes. The personality correlations were based on nuance level personality traits, captured by 240 items of the EE.PIP-NEO Personality Inventory that predicted the outcomes more accurately than broader personality traits (Big Five domains and facets; N = 2,269), and analysed using Exploratory Graph Analysis. The sixteen outcomes fell into four groups based on their personality correlations: psychological distress, health awareness, emotional control and substance use. Personality correlations, quantifying the overlap among outcomes in their psychological background, can explain associations between health-related behaviours and outcomes, and psychopathological comorbidities.


2005 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 251-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jayanti Chotai ◽  
Mattias Jonasson ◽  
Bruno Hägglöf ◽  
Rolf Adolfsson

AbstractAttachment styles as well as personality traits in adolescents and adults have been found to be associated with their health outcomes and with their personality pathology. In this cross-sectional exploratory study, we study the relationship between attachment styles that derive from our data employing the items of Feeney et al. (1994) self-report attachment style questionnaire (ASQ), and personality traits given by the junior version of Cloninger et al. (1993) self-report temperament and character inventory (TCI), in a sample of 426 adolescents (54% females) from a general population. The secure attachment style was correlated significantly negatively with the personality trait harm avoidance (HA), but significantly positively with the personality traits novelty seeking (NS), reward dependence (RD), cooperativeness (CO) and self-transcendence (ST). The preoccupied (anxious/ambivalent) attachment style was correlated significantly positively with HA and NS, but significantly negatively with self-directedness (SD). The fearful-avoidant category was correlated significantly negatively with NS. Our five-factor solution of the attachment styles and their relation to the TCI point towards a need for a modification of the two-axis, four-category attachment model of Bartholomew (1990) and Bartholomew and Horowitz (1991), with their category dismissing-avoidant replaced by the two categories defined here as dismissing relations (correlated significantly negatively with CO) and dismissing others (correlated significantly negatively with RD and significantly positively with SD).


2022 ◽  
Vol In Press (In Press) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maryam Khoshkhui ◽  
Maedeh Kamrani ◽  
Maryam Emadzadeh ◽  
Zahra Jafari ◽  
Farhad Faridhosseini

Background: Considering the psychobiological aspects of various dermatological diseases and the role of personality traits in the development of chronic skin diseases, the present study aimed to assess the personality traits of patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria compared to healthy individuals. Methods: In this cross-sectional study conducted during 2016 - 2018, 100 patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria were selected using the convenience sampling method. Moreover, 100 healthy participants were selected as the control group. Research instruments were Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) and a demographic checklist. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, and chi-square test using SPSS Software version 23. Results: The patients had higher scores in novelty-seeking (P = 0.041) and harm avoidance (P = 0.015), while the healthy individuals had higher scores in self-directedness (P = 0.003) and cooperativeness (P = 0.001). Moreover, male patients had higher scores in novelty-seeking (P = 0.006) and rewarded dependence (P = 0.013); however, female patients had higher scores in self-transcendence (P = 0.001) and cooperativeness (P = 0.019). Furthermore, there was a correlation between the disease duration of with reward dependence, self-directedness, and self-transcendence. Conclusions: Personality traits seem to be associated with chronic spontaneous urticaria. In this regard, patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria had higher scores in novelty-seeking and harm avoidance and lower scores in self-directedness and cooperativeness than healthy individuals.


PeerJ ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. e1651 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liliana Galindo ◽  
Francisco Pastoriza ◽  
Daniel Bergé ◽  
Anna Mané ◽  
Marisol Picado ◽  
...  

The heritability of schizophrenia and most personality traits has been well established, but the role of personality in susceptibility to schizophrenia remains uncertain. The aim of this study was to test for an association between personality traits and Neurological Soft Signs (NSS), a well-known biological marker of schizophrenia, in non-psychotic relatives of patients with schizophrenia. For this purpose, we evaluated the NSS scale and personality measured by the Temperament and Character inventory (TCI-R) in three groups of subjects: 29 patients with schizophrenia, 24 unaffected relatives and 37 controls. The results showed that patients with schizophrenia were more asocial (higher harm avoidance and lower reward dependence), more perseverative (higher persistence), and more schizotypal (lower self-directedness and cooperativeness, higher self-transcendence). The unaffected relatives showed higher harm avoidance, lower self-directedness and cooperativeness than the healthy controls. Higher NSS scores and sub-scores were found in patients and non-psychotic relatives compared with the controls. Among all the patients, total NSS scores were positively correlated with harm avoidance but negatively correlated with novelty seeking and persistence. Total NSS were also correlated with low scores on self-directedness and cooperativeness, which are indicators of personality disorder. Our results show that susceptibility to NSS and to schizophrenia are both related to individual differences in the temperament and character features in non-psychotic relatives of patients with schizophrenia. High harm avoidance, low persistence, low self-directedness and low cooperativeness contribute to both the risk of NSS and schizophrenia. These findings highlight the value of using both assessments to study high risk populations.


2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. S691-S691 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Chae ◽  
S.J. Lee

ObjectivesPersonality was shown to play an important role for well being under academic stress. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate how temperament and character traits predict academic burnout in Korean medical students.MethodsOne hundred and seventy-eight Korean medical students completed the Cloninger's temperament and character inventory (TCI) at the beginning of semester and Maslach burnout inventory-student survey (MBI-SS) was also measured around the final exam when academic stress and burnout is at the highest. The correlation between TCI and MBI-SS was examined and stepwise regression analysis was performed to measure how well personality traits predict academic burnout level.ResultsThe MBI-SS total burnout score was correlated positively with harm-avoidance (r = 0.247, P < 0.05) and negatively with self-directedness (r = -0.296, P < 0.001) and Cooperativeness (r = -0.169, P < 0.05) scores. The regression analysis showed that the harm-avoidance (β = 0.269, P < 0.001) accounted for exhaustion score and the self-directedness explained the Total burnout score (β = -0.296, P < 0.001) and Inefficacy score (β = -0.284, P < 0.001). The Cynicism score was accounted for high Novelty-Seeking (β = 0.150, P < 0.05) and low Cooperativeness (β = -0.182, P < 0.05).ConclusionThis study showed that the Cloninger's temperament and character might explain the burnout level from the stressful medical education. The temperament of novelty-seeking and harm-avoidance could provide the susceptibility to the academic burnout and the character of self-directedness and cooperativeness might determine the resilience to the negative influence of academic stress.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.


2011 ◽  
Vol 41 (8) ◽  
pp. 1579-1591 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Jylhä ◽  
O. Mantere ◽  
T. Melartin ◽  
K. Suominen ◽  
M. Vuorilehto ◽  
...  

BackgroundWhether temperament and character differ between bipolar disorder (BD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) patients and general population subjects, or between BD I and BD II patients, remains unclear.MethodBD patients (n=191) from the Jorvi Bipolar Study and MDD patients (n=266) from the Vantaa Depression Study (VDS) and the Vantaa Primary Care Depression Study were interviewed at baseline, at 6 and 18 months, and in the VDS at 5 years. A general population comparison group (n=264) was surveyed by mail. BD patients' scores on the Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised were compared at an index interview, when levels of depression and mania were lowest, with scores of MDD patients and controls. BD I (n=99) and BD II (n=92) patients were compared.ResultsCompared with controls, both BD and MDD patients had higher harm avoidance [odds ratio (OR) 1.027, p<0.001 and OR 1.047, p<0.001, respectively] and lower persistence (OR 0.983, p=0.006 and OR 0.968, p<0.001, respectively) scores. Moreover, BD patients had lower self-directedness (OR 0.979, p=0.003), MDD patients lower reward dependence (OR 0.976, p=0.002) and self-transcendence (OR 0.966, p<0.001) scores. BD patients scored lower in harm avoidance (OR 0.980, p=0.002) and higher in novelty seeking (OR 1.027, p<0.001) and self-transcendence (OR 1.028, p<0.001) than MDD patients. No differences existed between BD I and II patients.ConclusionsThe patterns of temperament and character dimensions differed less between BD and MDD patients, than patients from their controls. The most pronounced difference was higher novelty seeking in BD than MDD patients. The dimensions investigated are unlikely to differ between BD I and BD II patients.


2008 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 685-693 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. V. Faraone ◽  
A. Kunwar ◽  
J. Adamson ◽  
J. Biederman

BackgroundDiagnosing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adults is difficult when diagnosticians cannot establish onset prior to the DSM-IV criterion of age 7 or if the number of symptoms does not achieve the DSM threshold for diagnosis. Previous work has assessed the validity of such diagnoses based on psychiatric co-morbidity, family history and neuropsychological functions but none of these studies have used personality as a validation criterion.MethodWe compared four groups of adults: (1) full ADHD subjects who met all DSM-IV criteria for childhood-onset ADHD; (2) late-onset subjects who met all criteria except the age at onset criterion, (3) subthreshold subjects who did not meet full symptom criteria and (4) non-ADHD subjects who did not meet any of the above criteria. Diagnoses were made by using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID) and the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) was used to assess personality traits.ResultsWe found that full ADHD and late-onset ADHD showed similar personality profiles with significant deviations on all TCI scales except reward dependence and self-transcendence. By contrast, subthreshold cases only showed deviations on novelty seeking and self-directiveness.ConclusionsThese data call into question the stringent age of onset of ADHD symptom criteria for adults when making retrospective diagnoses of ADHD. Subthreshold ADHD seems to be a milder form of the disorder that is consistent with dimensional views of the disorder.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-145
Author(s):  
Sofiya Georgieva Angelova

Nowadays, in psychological science, health is regarded as a multidimensional construct, which comprises not only the negative aspects of human existence but also the positive mental functioning and well-being of human being. In this context, the article herein aims at exploring the interrelationship of temperament and character with the subjective well-being of Bulgarians. The results obtained in the presented study of 443 persons from Bulgaria (men and women aged 18 to 65 M = 34.35, SD = 5.046) indicated that there was a statistically significant influence of the predictors: Self-Direction, Self-Transcendence, Positive and Negative Affect on Life Satisfaction. A significant influence was found about some predictors as Novelty Seeking, Harm Avoidance, Persistence, Self-Directedness, and Self-Transcendence on Positive Affect. Finally, a significant influence was found of the predictors: Harm Avoidance, Self-Directedness, and Self-Transcendence on Negative Affect.


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