Personality correlates of social attitudes and social distance.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown that personality traits (i.e., openness to experience, conscientiousness, and agreeableness) relate to prejudicial attitudes. However, one of the aspects of prejudice is social distance; its association with personality traits was overlooked by previous studies. Therefore, this study examines the connection between the Big Five personality traits and social distance toward certain social groups. PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE: Participants from the general population were recruited through leaflets, the institutional webpage, Facebook, and through the project recruitment website and assessed via paper-and-pencil or online form. A total of 214 participants were included (of whom 68.2% were women and the mean age was 32.65, SD = 11.27, range 18-72) who completed the Bogardus Social Distance Scale and the 44-item Big Five Inventory questionnaire. RESULTS: The results showed a relationship between social distance, agreeableness, and openness to experience. Agreeableness seems to lower the social distance toward all studied groups. In comparison, openness to experience seems to lower the social distance towards groups that evoke more polarized attitudes in the majority (e.g., migrants). Furthermore, the influence of demographic characteristics (i.e., age, education level, and gender) is also significant. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that personality is significantly related to social distancing and expression of prejudicial attitudes. In particular, agreeableness and openness to experience have different effects on social distance and attitudes towards different groups. Further implications are discussed.

In the shadow of dissidence: exploring the experiences of descendants of Czechoslovakian dissidents.

Introduction: The Communist Party's reign in Czechoslovakia (1948-1989) saw the persecution of thousands of individuals. The State Security campaign "Asanace" (meaning "sanitation") was conducted to expel critics of the regime from the country using psychological and physical terror. Although stories of dissidents are frequently presented in public spaces, little is known about the experiences of their children. Methods: To address this gap, we conducted interpretative phenomenological analyses of semi-structured in-depth interviews with five adult descendants of Czechoslovakian dissidents. Results: Our analyses revealed that while participants appreciated and were inspired by their parents' dissident activities, they tend to distance themselves from it in order not to live in their parents' shadow. Furthermore, for them, the "Asanace" campaign primarily meant emigration, which in turn affected their sense of self and (national) identity dispersion. Consequently, they experienced feelings of being uprooted and different. Furthermore, they faced challenges acculturating. However, they also recognized their resilience as being rooted in their migration experience and the legacy of their parents' dissidence. Discussion: By highlighting intergenerational differences and the impact of family legacy on individuals' strengths and weaknesses, this study contributes to our understanding of the psychological consequences of living in, escaping from and adjusting to life beyond oppressive regimes.

Exploring transdiagnostic stress and trauma-related symptoms across the world: a latent class analysis.

Background: Although trauma exposure is universally prevalent, the ways in which individuals respond to potentially traumatic events vary. Between-country differences have been identified as affecting the development and manifestation of transdiagnostic psychological symptoms, but it remains unclear how stress and trauma-related transdiagnostic symptoms and risk patterns differ based on geographic region.Objective: To explore whether there are distinct classes of stress and trauma-related transdiagnostic symptoms and to determine predictors of class membership in a global sample.Method: Participants (N = 8675) from 115 different countries were recruited online between 2020-2022 and completed the Global Psychotrauma Screen, which assesses stress and trauma exposure, related symptoms, and risk factors. A latent class analysis (LCA) was used to identify classes of stress and trauma-related symptoms per world region (African States, Asia-Pacific States, Eastern European States, Latin American and Caribbean States, Western European and Other States, and North America) and the total sample. Likelihood of class membership was assessed based on demographics, characteristics of the potentially traumatic event, and potential risk factors across the world regions.Results: Similar class compositions were observed across regions. A joint latent class analysis identified three classes that differed by symptom severity (i.e. high, moderate, low). Multinomial logistic regression analyses revealed several factors that conferred greater risk for experiencing higher levels of symptoms, including geographic region, gender, and lack of social support, among others.Conclusions: Stress and trauma-related symptoms seem to be similarly transdiagnostic across the world, supporting the value of a transdiagnostic assessment.

A latent class analysis of transdiagnostic stress and trauma-related symptoms in a global sample showed high, medium, and low symptom classes.Class compositions were similar across global geographic regions.Several factors were associated with high symptom class membership globally, including gender, geographic region, and lack of social support.

Unpacking the Concept of Otherness: Philosophical and Psychological Perspectives.

Otherness is a complex and polysemic notion that is conceptualized in both philosophy and psychology. The paper examines otherness as a universal phenomenon of the human psyche that manifests in relation to oneself and interpersonal relationships with others. Philosophical ideas, including those of Hegel, Lévinas and Waldenfels, are introduced as providing essential theoretical background for psychological studies of otherness. The psychological section deals with otherness from various perspectives, with emphasis on internal processes of an individual, drawing on theories within psychoanalytical and intrapsychic traditions, as well as the intersection of otherness and identity. Otherness is introduced as a variable influencing complex individual and social processes, such as the perception of individuals and groups. Finally, a taxonomy of otherness is proposed that reflects the multifaceted nature of the concept and could help navigate the existing literature as well as guide new studies.

Does personality functioning relate to attitude toward minorities?

The relationship between negative attitudes and psychopathology is not yet clear. The current shift to a dimensional approach to mental disorders, as reflected in both the DSM-5 and ICD-11 models of personality disorders, seems to enrich the traditional approach to study attitudes. This study investigates whether and how impairments in personality functioning are linked to attitudes toward minorities. A comparison of levels of impairment in global and Self and interpersonal personality functioning, negative attitudes, social distance, and racism was conducted in the sample of 127 adults from the general population group (n = 69) and a group of people with diagnosed personality disorders (n = 58). Differences between both groups were found. The personality disorders group showed higher impairment in personality functioning, scored higher on negative attitude measures, and was more prone to the blatant expression of attitudes than the general population. The association between attitudes and personality functioning did not fully reflect these trends. However, given the nature of differences, it is suspected that the proclivity to the blatant expression of negative attitudes could go beyond negative attitudes toward minorities themselves and reflect disorder-related characteristics, that is, more problematic and conflicted relationships with others in general.

Differences in personality functioning impairment in mood, anxiety, and personality disorders: a cluster analysis.

BACKGROUND: The Alternative DSM-5 Model for Personality Disorders and the latest eleventh version of the International Classification of Diseases implement the level of impairment in self and interpersonal personality functioning (Level of Personality Functioning Scale - LPFS) as a core feature of personality pathology. However, some studies have indicated that personality functioning is also impaired in other mental disorders, but a more thorough exploration is missing. Thus, this study aims to develop profiles of levels of personality functioning in people with personality disorders and some other psychiatric diagnoses as well as without diagnosis. METHODS: One-hundred-forty-nine people participated in the study. They came from three groups - healthy controls (n = 53), people with personality disorders (n = 58), and people with mood and anxiety disorders (n = 38). The LPFS was assessed by the Semi-structured Interview for Personality Functioning DSM-5 (STiP-5.1). An optimal clustering solution using agglomerative hierarchical cluster analysis was generated to represent profiles of personality functioning. RESULTS: The two patient groups showed significantly higher levels of personality functioning impairment than healthy controls. People with personality disorders showed higher levels of impairment than the other groups. In addition, the clustering analysis revealed three distinct profiles of personality functioning. CONCLUSIONS: The impairment of personality functioning seems to be useful in the clinical assessment of other than personality disorders as well. As the resulting clustering profiles suggest, LPFS can be seen as an overall indicator of the severity of mental health difficulties and the presence of mental disorders symptoms. The LPFS provides valuable and detailed information about the individual's mental health and can thus serve as a broad basis for case formulation, treatment and therapy planning, and prognosis.

Semi-structured interview for personality functioning DSM-5 (STiP-5.1): Psychometric evaluation of the Czech version.

The DSM-5 Alternative Model for Personality Disorders introduced a dimensional perspective on personality disorders and their assessment by measuring personality functioning in the following domains: Identity, Self-Direction, Empathy, and Intimacy. This study provides a replication of the psychometric evaluation of the Semi-Structured Interview for Personality Functioning DSM-5 (STiP-5.1) within a mixed clinical sample and a community sample. The sample consisted of 188 adults: 86 participants from the general population and 102 people from a mixed clinical sample. All participants completed the STiP-5.1 and Level of Personality Functioning Scale-Brief Form (LPFS-BF 2.0). Results showed good internal consistency (McDonald's ω = 0.89-0.94) and promising convergent validity (correlations with LPFS-BF 2.0 above 0.6) of the STiP-5.1. Its scores differentiated participants within the community sample from those in the mixed clinical sample with large effect sizes (rrb = 0.77-0.88). Moreover, the impairment in personality functioning was more pronounced in people with personality disorders than in other psychiatric disorders (medium effect size, rrb = 0.46-0.57), supporting the notion of a continuum of personality functioning impairment. The STiP-5.1 therefore offers an instrument with satisfactory psychometric properties for the assessment of personality functioning both for research and clinical practice.