Personality and patient adherence: Correlates of the five-factor model in renal dialysis

The five-factor taxonomy of personality traits has received increasing attention in the literature regarding personality correlates of health outcomes and behaviors. We examined the association of the five NEO Five-Factor Inventory dimensions to medical regimen adherence in a sample of 72 renal dialysis patients. Results indicated that Conscientiousness (Dimension III) is a five-factor trait significantly associated with adherence to the medication regimen. No other NEO-FFI dimension was significantly associated with patient adherence.     

责任指数对口腔医学专业学生职业精神考核的设想

医学生的责任心体现在其一定行为表现上,是医学生职业精神培养的重要内涵,因此对影响医学生责任心的负向行为进行一定的干预具有重要意义。分析国内外医学院校应用责任指数考核在医学生行为督导养成的评价研究,遵循我国口腔医学专业人才培养的规律,结合口腔医学生成长的特点,借鉴职业精神考核的相关指标——责任指数考核法,试设计口腔医学生行为责任指数测评方案,并预设可行性,为拓宽口腔医学生职业精神的培养提供思路。     

The effect of conscientiousness on procrastination: The interaction between the self‐control and motivation neural pathways

Procrastination is a prevalent and universal problematic behavior, largely impairing individual''s health, wealth and well‐being. Substantial studies have confirmed that conscientiousness, one of the big five personality, showed markedly inverse relation with procrastination. However, it is hitherto unknown about the neural basis underlying the impact of conscientiousness on procrastination. To address this issue, we employed the voxel‐based morphometry (VBM) and resting‐state functional connectivity (RSFC) methods to explore the neural substrates of conscientiousness responsible for procrastination (N = 330). In line with previous findings, the behavioral results showed a strong negative correlation between conscientiousness and procrastination (r = −.75). The VBM analysis found that conscientiousness was positively correlated with gray matter (GM) volumes in the left dorsal‐lateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), right orbital frontal cortex (OFC) and right putamen, but negatively correlated with that in the left insula. Moreover, the RSFC results revealed that both dlPFC‐IPL (inferior parietal lobule) and dlPFC‐PCC (posterior cingulate gyrus) functional connectivity were positively associated with conscientiousness, while the functional connectivity of parahippocampal gyrus (PHC)‐putamen and insula‐IPL were negatively associated with conscientiousness. More importantly, the structural equation modeling (SEM) integrating RSFC results were well fitted for the influence process of conscientiousness on procrastination by both self‐control (i.e., dlPFC‐IPL, dlPFC‐PCC) and motivation pathways (i.e., PHC‐putamen, insula‐IPL). The current findings suggest that self‐control and motivation could be the two neural pathways underlying the impact of conscientiousness on procrastination, which provides a new perspective to understand the relationship between conscientiousness and procrastination.     

责任指数在口腔医学专业学生日常行为考核中的应用

医学生良好的日常行为是具有一定人文素养的体现。研究以发现某高校口腔医学专业学生中出现一些不良行为的现象为背景，进行相关教师和学生的问卷调查数据为基础，针对该校口腔学生的不良行为进行日常考核，得出考核结果，试分析日常行为考核对规范医学生不良行为，培养其人文素养的意义。     

Subjective Life Expectancy Among College Students

Establishing healthy habits in college is important for long-term health. Despite existing health promotion efforts, many college students fail to meet recommendations for behaviors such as healthy eating and exercise, which may be due to low perceived risk for health problems. The goals of this study were to examine: (1) the accuracy of life expectancy predictions, (2) potential individual differences in accuracy (i.e., gender and conscientiousness), and (3) potential change in accuracy after inducing awareness of current health behaviors. College students from a small northeastern university completed an electronic survey, including demographics, initial predictions of their life expectancy, and their recent health behaviors. At the end of the survey, participants were asked to predict their life expectancy a second time. Their health data were then submitted to a validated online algorithm to generate calculated life expectancy. Participants significantly overestimated their initial life expectancy, and neither gender nor conscientiousness was related to the accuracy of these predictions. Further, subjective life expectancy decreased from initial to final predictions. These findings suggest that life expectancy perceptions present a unique—and potentially modifiable—psychological process that could influence college students' self-care.     

General job performance of first‐line supervisors: the role of conscientiousness in determining its effects on subordinate exhaustion

In an integrated test of the job demands–resources model and trait activation theory, we predicted that the general job performance of employees who also hold supervisory roles may act as a demand to subordinates, depending on levels of subordinate conscientiousness. In a sample of 313 customer service call centre employees, we found that high‐conscientiousness individuals were more likely to experience emotional exhaustion, and low‐conscientiousness individuals were less likely as the general job performance of their supervisor improved. The results were curvilinear, such that high‐conscientiousness individuals' exhaustion levelled off with very high supervisor performance (two standard deviations above the mean), and low‐conscientiousness individuals' exhaustion levelled off as supervisor performance improved from moderate to high. These findings suggest high‐conscientiousness employees may efficiently handle demands presented by a low‐performing coworker who is their boss, but when performance expectations are high (i.e. high‐performing boss), these achievement‐oriented employees may direct their resources (i.e. energy and time) towards performance‐related efforts at the expense of their well‐being. Conversely, low‐conscientiousness employees suffer when paired with a low‐performing boss, but benefit from a supervisor who demonstrates at least moderate job performance. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Personality Changes With Dementia From the Informant Perspective: New Data and Meta-Analysis

Objective

To examine changes in personality in individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia as observed by family members using both new data and a meta-analysis with the published literature.

The effects of conscientiousness on the appraisals of daily stressors

Conscientiousness (C) is positively associated with health and longevity although the mechanisms underlying this relationship are not fully understood. Stress may play a role in explaining the C-longevity relationship. This study investigated whether C predicted the cognitive appraisals of daily stressors/hassles. Participants (N=102) completed measures of C and cognitive appraisal in relation to the most stressful hassle they had experienced in the last 7 days. Correlational analysis revealed that Total C, Order and Industriousness were positively correlated with primary appraisals, and Responsibility was positively correlated with secondary appraisals. The facets of C were then entered into hierarchical regression models, controlling for age and gender. This demonstrated that Order (β=0.27, p<0.05) and Industriousness (β=0.28, p<0.05) significantly predicted primary appraisals, accounting for 15.8% of the variance. Responsibility significantly predicted secondary appraisals (β=0.44, p<0.01), accounting for 16.3% of the variance. These findings indicate that higher Order and Industriousness are related to having a greater stake in daily stressors, whereas higher Responsibility is related to greater confidence in one's ability to deal with daily stressors. These results are the first demonstration that C is related to the appraisals of daily hassles and suggest that C may moderate the experience of stress in daily life.