Browsing by Subject "Conscientiousness"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    The interrelations of childhood conscientiousness, nonindependent and independent adversity, and adult physical health
    (2020-07) Ramakrishnan, Jyothi
    Researchers have urged a lifespan approach to health promotion, intervening at earlier stages in life in order to shape physical health across time (Shonkoff et al., 2009). Intriguing findings suggest that the personality trait conscientiousness in childhood predicts physical health later in adulthood. Unfortunately, pathways linking personality to health are not well understood, requiring further elucidation before developing interventions that target conscientiousness as a strategy for promoting later health (Friedman et al., 2014). The present study addressed several gaps in the literature, testing models in which personality and health were measured at multiple time points; testing mediation effects of personality on later health; the joint effects of childhood conscientiousness and childhood/adolescent independent and nonindependent adversity exposure on health; whether conscientiousness moderates the influence of adversity on heath; and the role of childhood conscientiousness on health outcomes in an earlier period in adulthood than is typically examined. Data were drawn from a longitudinal study of 205 families, focused on students attending urban elementary schools who were followed for 20 years into young adulthood. Multimethod and well-validated measures of personality, adversity, and physical health were derived from interviews and questionnaires with participants, parents, and teachers. Models were tested separately for two different age 30 health outcomes in young adulthood – body mass index (BMI), and a latent variable indexing health status, based on three indicators: self-rated health, functional impairment, and sum of lifetime illnesses. Results indicated that higher childhood conscientiousness predicted lower young adult BMI, even after consideration of childhood health, the emerging adulthood personality trait of constraint measured at age 20, adversity across childhood and adolescence, age, and sex. Across both models, emerging adulthood constraint did not directly predict young adult BMI or health status, and did not mediate effects of conscientiousness assessed in childhood on either young adult health outcome. Nonindependent adversity (experiences likely influenced by a person’s own behavior) predicted young adult health status but not young adult BMI. Personality did not moderate the effects of adversity on either young adult health outcome. Some support was found consistent with the possibility that nonindependent adversity in adolescence mediates the relationship between childhood conscientiousness and young adult health status, but results are inconclusive. Findings highlight the potentially unique importance of conscientiousness in childhood for health 20 years later in young adulthood. Limitations and implications of these results for illuminating complex models linking personality, adversity, and health over the earlier decades of the lifespan are discussed, as well as the possibility that childhood conscientiousness may be a target for interventions to promote adult physical health.
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    Investigating the Neural Networks Involved in Externalizing and Conscientious Behavior
    (2019-06) Rueter, Amanda Rae
    Conscientiousness and impulsivity are traits that affect how well an individual is able to achieve their goals. Individuals high in Conscientiousness are described as being more industrious, maintaining order in their life, and having high self-discipline (Ozer & Benet-Martínez, 2006) and would likely score low on disinhibited externalizing. Individuals who score high on disinhibited externalizing behavior show lack of constraint, have higher sensation seeking behavior and are more prone to substance use (Miller, Lynam, & Jones, 2008). However, the neural systems underlying variation in these traits are not well understood. Functional connectivity is a way to study neural networks of the brain and can be used to assess whether or not individual differences are associated with connectivity in the brain. Previous research shows positive associations between Conscientiousness and functional connectivity in the goal priority network (GPN; Rueter et al., 2018). Few studies have investigated associations between functional connectivity and Conscientiousness and disinhibited externalizing. In this dissertation, I: (1) attempted to replicate findings from a previous study with a larger sample to investigate associations between connectivity and Conscientiousness while extending the analysis to include disinhibited externalizing behavior and (2) apply the same functional connectivity methodology to a task-based fMRI data set to see if the traits of interest and connectivity remain associated during a cognitive task requiring inhibition. I hypothesized that the GPN and the central executive network (CEN) would be negatively associated with disinhibited externalizing behavior and that only the GPN would be positively associated with Conscientiousness. Results from study one and study two suggest that the CEN is negatively associated with disinhibited externalizing, while only study two suggests that the GPN is negatively associated with disinhibited externalizing. Study two supported the hypothesis that the GPN is associated with Conscientiousness, while Study 1 did not. This dissertation provides an integrated investigation of how Conscientiousness and externalizing behavior are related on a biological level. Resisting impulses and orienting oneself towards goals are both important behaviors implicated in successfully navigating life. Further research on these networks may help us create therapies or treatments to increase Conscientiousness and reduce self-compromising, maladaptive, externalizing behaviors.
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    Replicable Associations between Conscientiousness and Efficiency of the Salience/Ventral Attention Network
    (2022-05) Sassenberg, Tyler
    Previous research in the field of personality neuroscience has identified associations of conscientiousness and related constructs like impulsivity and self-control with structural and functional properties of particular regions in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and insula. Network-based conceptions of brain function suggest that these regions probably belong to a single large network, labeled the salience/ventral attention network (SVAN). The current study tested associations between conscientiousness and resting-state functional connectivity in this network using two community samples (N = 244 and 239) and data from the Human Connectome Project (N = 1000). Individualized parcellation was used to improve the accuracy of functional localization and to facilitate replication. Functional connectivity was measured using an index of network efficiency, a graph theoretical measure describing the capacity for parallel information transfer within a network. Efficiency of a set of parcels in the SVAN was significantly associated with conscientiousness in all samples. Findings are consistent with a theory of conscientiousness as a function of variation in neural networks underlying effective prioritization of goals.
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    Resting State Functional Connectivity and Conscientiousness
    (2017-03) Rueter, Amanda
    Of the Big Five traits, Conscientiousness is most closely associated with individual differences in goal attainment, but little is known about its neural basis. We tested the novel hypothesis that a network resembling the salience and ventral attention networks may be one of the main neural substrates of Conscientiousness. Self- and peer-ratings of Conscientiousness were collected in a sample of adults (N = 218) who underwent a resting-state fMRI scan. An independent component analysis was conducted identifying four subcomponents of a network we named the goal priority network (GPN). We examined coherence within and between these GPN subcomponents, and results indicate that coherence in one of the components, comprising insula and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), is significantly associated with Conscientiousness. Our results support the hypothesis that variation in the GPN may be central to trait Conscientiousness, and that this network may be components of one overarching goal maintenance network.