Women with higher neuroticism are less physically active
Personality traits help to understand why some people are physically active and others are not
August 28, 2020
Science Daily/University of Jyväskylä - Jyväskylän yliopisto
Personality traits help to understand why some people are physically active and others are not. A new study from the Gerontology Research Center and the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, shows that the role of personality may vary depending on how physical activity is measured.
Personality traits reflect people's characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving. A study at the University of Jyväskylä focused on two traits: extraversion and neuroticism. Individuals who score high in extraversion are typically social, active and talkative. High scores in neuroticism indicate a tendency to have negative feelings, such as anxiety and self-pity.
The results showed that high extraversion and low neuroticism were linked to higher leisure time physical activity in middle-aged women. Women who scored high in extraversion reported more physical activity, but this was not seen in the physical activity measured by an activity monitor. Women who scored high in neuroticism reported less physical activity and had less physical activity captured by activity monitors.
"Even though both methods assess the frequency, duration and intensity of physical activity, they measure partly different aspects of physical activity," explains postdoctoral researcher Tiia Kekäläinen from the Gerontology Research Center. "Activity monitors are better at capturing all daily stepping activities whereas self-reporting better accounts for all types of physical activities. Therefore, it is natural that results are partly different between different physical activity measures. It is important to use both ways to assess physical activity behavior."
Personality traits may explain individual tendencies to estimate one's own physical activity level
Personality may explain the way individuals assess their own level of physical activity. The results showed that older adults scoring high in neuroticism reported less physical activity than what was measured by accelerometers.
"Neuroticism describes a predisposition to experience negative feelings," Kekäläinen says. "In addition to lower willingness to participate in physical activities, this kind of tendency seems to be related to underreporting physical activity behavior. The information about the role of personality could be used to help identify risk groups for inactivity and in physical activity promotion work."
Two larger research projects conducted at the Gerontology Research Center and Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences provided data for the study: from a total of 314 older men and women aged 70 to 85 years who participated in the PASSWORD study, and from 1,098 middle-aged women aged 47 to 55 years who participated in the ERMA study.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200828092006.htm
Job insecurity negatively affects your personality
New research shows that experiencing chronic job insecurity can change your personality for the worse
February 26, 2020
Science Daily/RMIT University
Drawing on Cybernetic Big Five Theory, this study proposes that chronic job insecurity is associated with an increase in neuroticism and decreases in agreeableness and conscientiousness.
The study, published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, found those exposed to job insecurity over more than four years became less emotionally stable, less agreeable, and less conscientious.
Report co-author Dr Lena Wang from RMIT University's School of Management said the study built on a growing evidence base about the negative consequences of job insecurity.
"Traditionally, we've thought about the short-term consequences of job insecurity -- that it hurts your well-being, physical health, sense of self-esteem," Wang said.
"But now we are looking at how that actually changes who you are as a person over time, a long-term consequence that you may not even be aware of."
The study used nationally representative data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey in relation to answers about job security and personality for 1,046 employees over a nine-year period.
It applied a well-established personality framework known as the Big Five, which categorises human personality into five broad traits: emotional stability, agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion and openness.
The study results showed that long-term job insecurity negatively affected the first three traits, which relate to a person's tendency to reliably achieve goals, get along with others, and cope with stress.
Wang said the results went against some assumptions about job insecurity.
"Some might believe that insecure work increases productivity because workers will work harder to keep their jobs, but our research suggests this may not be the case if job insecurity persists," Wang said.
"We found that those chronically exposed to job insecurity are in fact more likely to withdraw their effort and shy away from building strong, positive working relationships, which can undermine their productivity in the long run."
Previous research has shown that insecure work -- including labour hire practices, contract and casual work, and underemployment -- is on the rise in Australia and globally.
The HILDA data drew on responses from employees from a broad cross-section of professions and jobs, who were asked about how secure they perceived their jobs to be.
Study lead author Professor Chia-Huei Wu from Leeds University Business School said types of job insecurity might include short-term contracts or casual work, jobs threatened by automation, and positions that could be in line for a redundancy.
Importantly, said Wu, there are ways that employers can support workers who are feeling worried about their jobs.
"This is as much about perceived job insecurity as actual insecure contracts," Wu said.
"Some people simply feel daunted by the changing nature of their roles or fear they'll be replaced by automation.
"But while some existing jobs can be replaced by automation, new jobs will be created.
"So employers have the ability to reduce that perception, for example by investing in professional development, skills and training, or by giving career guidance."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200226151958.htm