The Chronic Time Pressure Inventory: further assessment of factorial structure and validity.

Background: Chronic time pressure represents a prevalent concern within modern society, and effective measurement is crucial for research advancement. The Chronic Time Pressure Inventory (CTPI) has thus far demonstrated adequate psychometric properties. However, only two studies have examined the measure and evidence of its validity is limited. Accordingly, the current investigation, via two independent studies, assessed the factorial composition and validity (convergent/discriminant) of the CTPI. Methods: Study 1 (N = 398) examined competing factorial models and validity in relation to the Big Five personality traits (Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, Openness). Study 2 (N = 358) replicated the analysis of factor structure and assessed validity in comparison with five time perspectives (Past Negative, Present Fatalistic, Future, Past Positive, Present Hedonistic). Participants across both studies completed standardized self-report measures capturing the variables. Results: Comparison of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory structural equation modelling (ESEM) factor solutions indicated that an ESEM bifactor model provided the strongest data-model fit. This included a general chronic time pressure component alongside specific subfactors of Feeling Harried and Cognitive Awareness of Time Shortage. All scale items reflected the general factor; however, some items loaded weakly on the intended specific factor. The CTPI is thus a robust indicator of chronic time pressure but needs refinement as a measure of the specific factors. Convergent/discriminant validity analyses inferred that the CTPI captured chronic time pressure as a related, but distinct, construct to perceived stress, and evidenced a relationship with theoretically associated constructs (Big Five personality traits and time perspective). Overall, the CTPI is a sound measure of chronic time pressure and has the potential to further cohesive research efforts on the contribution of this construct to various life domains.

Are serious games an alternative to traditional personality questionnaires? Initial analysis of a gamified assessment.

Personality questionnaires stand as crucial instruments in personnel selection but their limitations turn the interest towards alternatives like game-related assessments (GRAs). GRAs developed for goals other than fun are called serious games. Within them, gamified assessments are serious games that share similarities with traditional assessments (questionnaires, situational judgment tests, etc.) but they incorporate game elements like story, music, and game dynamics. This paper aims to contribute to the research on serious games as an alternative to traditional personality questionnaires by analyzing the characteristics of a gamified assessment called VASSIP. This gamified assessment, based on an existing measure of the Big Five personality traits, incorporates game elements such as storyfication, immersion, and non-evaluable gamified dynamics. The study performed included 98 university students (77.6% with job experience) as participants. They completed the original personality measure (BFI-2-S), the gamified evaluation of personality (VASSIP), a self-report measure of the main dimensions of job performance (task performance, contextual performance, and counterproductive work behaviors), and measures of applicant reactions to BFI-2-S and VASSIP. Results showed that the gamified assessment behaved similarly to the original personality measure in terms of reliability and participants' scores, although the scores in Conscientiousness were substantially higher in VASSIP. Focusing on self-reports of the three dimensions of job performance, regression models showed that the gamified assessment could explain all of them. Regarding applicant reactions, the gamified assessment obtained higher scores in perceptions of comfort, predictive validity, and attractiveness, although the effect size was small except for the latter. Finally, all applicant reactions except for attractiveness were related to age and personality traits. In conclusion, gamified assessments have the potential to be an alternative to traditional personality questionnaires but VASSIP needs more research before its application in actual selection processes.

Deriving the Transdiagnostic Scales From the Personality Assessment Inventory and SPECTRA: Indices of Psychopathology: A Demonstration.

Transdiagnostic models of psychopathology address many of the shortcomings common to categorical diagnostic systems. These empirically derived models conceptualize psychopathology as a few broad interrelated and hierarchically arranged dimensions, with an overarching general psychopathology dimension, the p-factor, at the apex. While transdiagnostic models are gaining prominence in mental health research, the lack of available tools has limited their clinical translation. The present study explored the potential of creating transdiagnostic scales from the joint factor structure of the Personality Assessment Inventory, Alternative Model of Personality Disorder trait scales (AMPD), and the clinical scales of the SPECTRA: Indices of Psychopathology (SPECTRA). Exploratory factor analysis in a clinical sample (n = 212) identified five factors corresponding to the Negative Affect/Internalizing, Detachment, Antagonism/Externalizing, Disinhibition/Externalizing, and Thought Disorder transdiagnostic dimensions. Goldberg's "Bass-Ackward" method supported a hierarchical structure. Five composite transdiagnostic scales were created by summing each factor's highest loading PAI and SPECTRA scales. A global psychopathology scale was created by summing the five composite scales. All the composite scales demonstrated adequate internal consistency. Correlations between the composite scales and the NEO Five-Factor Inventory-3 provide initial validity evidence for four composite and global scales. The composite thought disorder scale had no conceptually corresponding NEO domain. Clinical implications and study limitations are discussed.

The (cost-)effectiveness of early intervention (MBT-early) versus standard protocolized treatment (CBT) for emerging borderline personality disorder in adolescents (the EARLY study): a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Although clinical guidelines prioritize the treatment of depression and anxiety in young persons, there is accumulating evidence that the presence of symptoms of borderline personality disorder (BPD) is associated with the limited effectiveness of these standard treatments. These findings stress the need for interventions addressing early-stage BPD in young people with presenting symptoms of anxiety and depressive disorders. The aim of this study is to investigate the (cost-)effectiveness of an early intervention programme for BPD (MBT-early) compared to first-choice psychological treatment for depression and anxiety according to Dutch treatment guidelines (CBT), in adolescents with either depression, anxiety, or both, in combination with early-stage BPD. METHODS: This study is a multi-centre randomized controlled trial. A total of 132 adolescents, presenting with either depression, anxiety, or both and significant BPD features will be randomized to either MBT-early or CBT. The severity of BPD, symptoms of depression and anxiety, personality, social and academic functioning, and quality of life will be assessed at baseline, end of treatment, and at 12-, 18-, and 24-month follow-up, along with medical costs and costs of productivity losses for cost-effectiveness analyses. DISCUSSION: This study will provide an empirical evaluation of the potential surplus value of early intervention in young people for whom treatment oriented at common mental disorders like anxiety and depression may be insufficient given their underlying personality problems. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Netherlands Trial Register, NL9569. Registered on June 15, 2021.

Examining the implementation of facility-based integrated management of childhood illness and insecticide treated nets in Bangladesh: lessons learned through implementation research.

BACKGROUND: Bangladesh significantly reduced under-5 mortality (U5M) between 2000 and 2015, despite its low economic development and projected high mortality rates in children aged under 5 years. A portion of this success was due to implementation of health systems-delivered evidence-based interventions (EBIs) known to reduce U5M. This study aims to understand how Bangladesh was able to achieve this success between 2000 and 2015. Implementation science studies such as this one provide insights on the implementation process that are not sufficiently documented in existing literature. METHODS: Between 2017 and 2020, we conducted mixed methods implementation research case studies to examine how six countries including Bangladesh outperformed their regional and economic peers in reducing U5M. Using existing data and reports supplemented by key informant interviews, we studied key implementation strategies and associated implementation outcomes for selected EBIs and contextual factors which facilitated or hindered this work. We used facility-based integrated management of childhood illnesses and insecticide treated nets as examples of two EBIs that were implemented successfully and with wide reach across the country to understand the strategies put in place as well as the facilitating and challenging contextual factors. RESULTS: Strategies which contributed to the successful implementation and wide coverage of the selected EBIs included community engagement, data use, and small-scale testing, important to achieving implementation outcomes such as effectiveness, reach and fidelity, although gaps persisted including in quality of care. Key contextual factors including a strong community-based health system, accountable leadership, and female empowerment facilitated implementation of these EBIs. Challenges included human resources for health, dependence on donor funding and poor service quality in the private sector. CONCLUSION: As countries work to reduce U5M, they should build strong community health systems, follow global guidance, adapt their implementation using local evidence as well as build sustainability into their programs. Strategies need to leverage facilitating contextual factors while addressing challenging ones.

Patient-Caregiver Dyads & End-of-Life Care: Caregiver Personality Disrupts Gender-Based Norms.

CONTEXT: Gender and personality may individually impact end-of-life care. Men often receive more aggressive treatments than women near death, and personality - particularly openness - may be associated with increased care utilization when it diverges from traditional treatment norms. However, research has not examined the interaction of these variables in a dyadic context. OBJECTIVES: This study examined the dyadic effects of patient gender and caregiver personality on end-of-life care. METHODS: Using data from the VOICE randomized clinical trial, the present sample consisted of patient-caregiver dyads receiving outpatient care for advanced cancer in Sacramento and Western New York. Analyses assessed whether caregiver personality was associated with gender-based differences in patient chemotherapy or emergency department/inpatient visits in the 30 days before death. Logistic regression examined the interaction between caregivers' Big Five personality dimensions and patient gender while accounting for patient and caregiver demographic and health characteristics. RESULTS: Of a total of 134 patient-caregiver dyads, 19.4% (n = 26) of patients received chemotherapy and 47.8% (n = 64) had an emergency department/inpatient visit in the 30 days before death. Results demonstrated a significant interaction between caregiver openness and patient gender on receipt of chemotherapy (odds ratio = 0.07, p = 0.006). When caregivers were less open, men were more likely to receive chemotherapy near death, whereas when caregivers were more open, women were more likely to receive chemotherapy near death. CONCLUSION: Results suggest caregiver personality characteristics, particularly openness, might disrupt gender-based treatment norms at end-of-life. Findings demonstrate that patient and caregiver factors can interact to explain patient healthcare utilization.

Studying green climate nexus with green work engagement: how are environmental sustainability and personality traits important?

The  purpose of this research was to investigate the complex relationship between workers' green job involvement and factors such as environmental sustainability, personality characteristics, the green climate, environmental views, and values. Survey data from a representative cross-section of workers at a variety of companies were analyzed using structural equation modeling in this study. According to the findings, there is a positive link between environmental sustainability, environmental attitudes and values, and green work engagement (GWE). The research also suggests that participating in green practices at work is a key component of environmental sustainability. It acts as an impetus for green projects, sustainable practices, and the development of a sustainability culture in businesses. In light of the difficulties posed by the green climate nexus, the study highlights the critical need of green work participation in achieving sustainable development objectives. Positive links between character qualities and eco-friendly workplace behavior were also uncovered. As a mediator between environmental sustainability and GWE, a green climate was also uncovered. These results suggest that policies aiming at encouraging green job engagement among workers may succeed if they promote environmental views and values, take personality qualities into account in the hiring process, and encourage a green atmosphere in the workplace. By elucidating the many factors that play a role in shaping eco-friendly workplace practices, this study contributes to our growing body of knowledge on environmental responsibility in the business world. The findings of this research have broad implications for businesses that are committed to fostering a culture of sustainability and environmental responsibility.

The lay of the land: Associations between environmental features and personality.

OBJECTIVE: Personality traits cluster across countries, regions, cities, and neighborhoods. What drives the formation of these clusters? Ecological theory suggests that physical locations shape humans' patterns of behaviors and psychological characteristics. Based on this theory, we examined whether and how differential land-cover relates to individual personality. METHOD: We followed a preregistered three-pronged analysis approach to investigate the associations between personality (N = 2,690,878) and land-cover across the United States. We used eleven land-cover categories to classify landscapes and tested their association with personality against broad physical and socioeconomic factors. RESULTS: Urban areas were positively associated with openness to experience and negatively associated with conscientiousness. Coastal areas were positively associated with openness to experience and neuroticism but negatively associated with agreeableness and conscientiousness. Cultivated areas were negatively associated with openness. Landscapes at the periphery of human activity, such as shrubs, bare lands, or permanent snows, were not reliably associated with personality traits. CONCLUSIONS: Bivariate correlations, multilevel, and random forest models uncovered robust associations between landscapes and personality traits. These findings align with ecological theory suggesting that an individual's environment contributes to their behaviors, thoughts, and feelings.

Are Changes in Somatic Health Reflected Differently in Updated Self-Ratings by Big-Five Personality Traits?

Objectives: This longitudinal study tests whether the Big-Five personality traits influence the changes individuals make in self-rated health (SRH) as they adjust their initial level to account for information on concurrent changes in disease burden, activities of daily living (ADLs), and pain. Methods: A bi-variate Latent Growth Curve model was fitted to data to estimate longitudinal associations between SRH and each health measure across up-to-five repeated observations, collected from the year 2006 to 2018 from 13,096 participants in the Health and Retirement Study. Results: Negative longitudinal associations between SRH and all three health reports were significantly stronger for those who are more conscientious. No significant moderation was found for the other four personality traits. Discussion: Compared to the less conscientious, highly conscientious people may assign greater importance to specific health reports when rating and revising their assessments of SRH. This moderating effect was previously tested but not supported.

Using the Personality Assessment Inventory to Assess the Alternative Model for Personality Disorders: Criterion Validity in a Clinical Sample.

The Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) is a broadband measure of psychopathology that is widely used in applied settings. Researchers developed regression-based estimates that use the PAI to measure constructs of the Alternative Model for Personality Disorders (AMPD) - a hybrid dimensional and categorical approach to conceptualizing personality disorders. Although prior work has linked these estimates to formal measures of the AMPD, there is little work investigating the clinical correlates of this scoring approach of the PAI. The current study examines associations between these PAI-based AMPD estimates and life data in a large, archival dataset of psychiatric outpatients and inpatients. We found general support for the criterion validity of AMPD estimate scores, such that a theoretically consistent pattern of associations emerged with indicators such as prior academic achievement, antisocial behavior, psychiatric history, and substance abuse. These results provide preliminary support to this scoring approach for use in clinical samples.

A deep learning approach to personality assessment: Generalizing across items and expanding the reach of survey-based research.

Traditional methods of personality assessment, and survey-based research in general, cannot make inferences about new items that have not been surveyed previously. This limits the amount of information that can be obtained from a given survey. In this article, we tackle this problem by leveraging recent advances in statistical natural language processing. Specifically, we extract "embedding" representations of questionnaire items from deep neural networks, trained on large-scale English language data. These embeddings allow us to construct a high-dimensional space of items, in which linguistically similar items are located near each other. We combine item embeddings with machine learning algorithms to extrapolate participant ratings of personality items to completely new items that have not been rated by any participants. The accuracy of our approach is on par with incentivized human judges given an identical task, indicating that it predicts ratings of new personality items as accurately as people do. Our approach is also capable of identifying psychological constructs associated with questionnaire items and can accurately cluster items into their constructs based only on their language content. Overall, our results show how representations of linguistic personality descriptors obtained from deep language models can be used to model and predict a large variety of traits, scales, and constructs. In doing so, they showcase a new scalable and cost-effective method for psychological measurement. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Cross validation of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) Cognitive Bias Scale of Scales (CB-SOS) over-reporting indicators in a military sample.

Following the development of the Cognitive Bias Scale (CBS), three other cognitive over-reporting indicators were created. This study cross-validates these new Cognitive Bias Scale of Scales (CB-SOS) measurements in a military sample and contrasts their performance to the CBS. We analyzed data from 288 active-duty soldiers who underwent neuropsychological evaluation. Groups were established based on performance validity testing (PVT) failure. Medium effects (d = .71 to .74) were observed between those passing and failing PVTs. The CB-SOS scales have high specificity (≥.90) but low sensitivity across the suggested cut scores. While all CB-SOS were able to achieve .90, lower scores were typically needed. CBS demonstrated incremental validity beyond CB-SOS-1 and CB-SOS-3; only CB-SOS-2 was incremental beyond CBS. In a military sample, the CB-SOS scales have more limited sensitivity than in its original validation, indicating an area of limited utility despite easier calculation. The CBS performs comparably, if not better, than CB-SOS scales. CB-SOS-2's differences in performance in this study and its initial validation suggest that its psychometric properties may be sample dependent. Given their ease of calculation and relatively high specificity, our study supports the interpretation of elevated CB-SOS scores indicating those who are likely to fail concurrent PVTs.

A quantitative assessment of the predictive utility of grit in sport.

In high-performance sport, an athlete's ability to overcome setbacks and sustain their pursuit of long-term goals is essential for success. Grit (i.e., passion and perseverance over long-terms) has been linked to success in a variety of domains but is often critiqued for its limited predictive utility when compared to other psychological variables including self-control, conscientiousness, and mental toughness. The purpose of this study was to examine whether grit predicted important athlete outcomes (i.e., various measures of sport performance and athlete well-being) beyond other determinants of success. Data from 214 collegiate student-athletes (111 women, 103 men; Mage = 21.02, SD = 2.26) from Western Canadian universities were analysed. When predicting performance, the addition of the grit subscales (i.e., consistency of interests, perseverance of effort, adaptability to situations) explained an additional 11% of variance (R2 = 0.37, F[7, 203] = 7.16, p < .001) beyond self-control, conscientiousness, and mental toughness in subjective sport performance perceptions; however, grit did not add unique variance when entered into models predicting athlete goal achievement perceptions or highest level of competition. When predicting well-being, addition of the grit subscales added 18% of unique variance (R2 = 0.43, F[7, 203] = 21.43, p < .001) beyond other determinants of success in eudaimonic well-being, and 5% (R2 = 0.17, F[7, 203] = 6.95, p < .001) in satisfaction with sport, but did not add any unique variance to the model predicting mood. The partial support of the predictive utility of grit illustrates the complexity of forecasting success in sport and offers evidence that grit should continue to be studied as a motivational disposition in the domain of sport.

Evidence-Based Assessment of Personality Disorder.

The purpose of this article is to provide a description and discussion of the evidence-based assessment of personality disorder. Considered herein is the assessment of the Section II personality disorders included within the fifth edition of the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed., text rev.; DSM-5-TR), within Section III of DSM-5-TR, and within the 11th edition of the World Health Organization's International Classification of Diseases (WHO). The recommendation for an evidence-based assessment is for a multimethod approach: first administer a self-report inventory to alert the clinician to maladaptive personality functioning that might not have otherwise been anticipated, followed by a semi-structured interview to verify the personality disorder's presence. The validity of this multimethod strategy can be improved further by considering the impact of other disorders on the assessment, documenting temporal stability, and establishing a compelling, empirical basis for cutoff points.

Relationship between Delayed Breast Cancer Diagnosis and Behavioral Economic Factors and Personality Characteristics.

BACKGROUND: Delays in breast cancer diagnosis can allow the disease to progress to an incurable stage. However, factors that cause patients to delay seeking treatment are unclear. In this study, we aimed to identify behavioral economic factors and personality characteristics of patients with breast cancer who had a delayed diagnosis. METHODS: We analyzed questionnaires completed by 41 patients with breast cancer. A delayed diagnosis was defined if the time between the first symptom and the medical visit was more than 6 months. RESULTS: We found 11 patients who had a delayed diagnosis. The significant characteristics associated with patients with breast cancer who had delayed diagnosis were: (i) less experience with breast cancer screening; (ii) progressive disease stage; and (iii) low time and future time preference. We found no significant behavioral economic factors other than time preference, and personality that differed between patients with breast cancer who did and did not have a delayed diagnosis. CONCLUSION: Low time preference rate is a characteristic of patients with breast cancer who had a delayed diagnosis.

Positive youth development as a guiding framework in sport research: Is it time to plan for a transition?

Positive youth development is a popular guiding framework for studying the psychosocial development of youth. In sport research, for more than two decades, this framework has enhanced our understanding of the mechanisms involved in successful shifts from youth to adulthood. Nonetheless, scholars have recently taken a more critical stance on the positive youth development framework by elucidating some of its shortcomings. To help determine whether it may be warranted to plan for a transition from the positive youth development framework in sport research, a critical commentary is offered. The purpose of this commentary lies in situating three ontologically distinct arguments that depict the shortcomings of the positive youth development framework, namely the operationalization argument, the social justice argument, and the posthumanist argument. This paper is offered as an open invitation to instigate dialogue on what may come next for youth development in sport research and whether planning for a transition is warranted.

Winner-loser effects improve social network efficiency between competitors with equal resource holding power.

Animal societies are structured of dominance hierarchy (DH). DH can be viewed as networks and analyzed by graph theory. We study the impact of state-dependent feedback (winner-loser effect) on the emergence of local dominance structures after pairwise contests between initially equal-ranking members (equal resource-holding-power, RHP) of small and large social groups. We simulated pairwise agonistic contests between individuals with and without a priori higher RHP by Monte-Carlo-method. Random pairwise contests between equal-ranking competitors result in random dominance structures ('Null variant') that are low in transitive triads and high in pass along triads; whereas state-dependent feedback ('Winner-loser variant') yields centralized 'star' structured DH that evolve from competitors with initially equal RHP and correspond to hierarchies that evolve from keystone individuals. Monte-Carlo simulated DH following state-dependent feedback show motif patterns very similar to those of a variety of natural DH, suggesting that state-dependent feedback plays a pivotal role in robust self-organizing phenomena that transcend the specifics of the individual. Self-organization based on state-dependent feedback leads to social structures that correspond to those resulting from pre-existing keystone individuals. As the efficiency of centralized social networks benefits both, the individual and the group, centralization of social networks appears to be an important evolutionary goal.

The role of impulse and interference control in aversive personality: A comprehensive assessment.

Ethically and socially aversive behaviors have been attributed to several personality traits, including characteristics collectively referred to under the umbrella term of impulsivity. It is an open question, however, whether such characteristics are an integral part of ethically and socially aversive personality. Relying on three large samples (total N = 9854) and implementing longitudinal assessments, the present study provides a comprehensive investigation of the role of impulse and interference control in aversive personality. Based on contemporary conceptualizations of the impulsivity domain, a total of 17 dimensions spanning both self-reports and behavioral tasks are assessed. To represent aversive personality, we consider the D Factor of Personality (D), i.e., the basic disposition shared by all aversive traits. Results indicate that D co-occurs with a deficit in inhibiting the incorrect action when multiple actions are available, a preference for immediate rewards while failing to consider the consequences of one's actions, and maladaptive behavior directed towards regulating strong affect. However, most associations between D and dimensions of impulsivity were small or non-significant, thereby disconfirming the notion that characteristics related to a lack of impulse control are an integral feature of aversive personality in general.