Surfing the OCEAN: The machine learning psycholexical approach 2.0 to detect personality traits in texts.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to develop a machine learning model to infer OCEAN traits from text. BACKGROUND: The psycholexical approach allows retrieving information about personality traits from human language. However, it has rarely been applied because of methodological and practical issues that current computational advancements could overcome. METHOD: Classical taxonomies and a large Yelp corpus were leveraged to learn an embedding for each personality trait. These embeddings were used to train a feedforward neural network for predicting trait values. Their generalization performances have been evaluated through two external validation studies involving experts (N = 11) and laypeople (N = 100) in a discrimination task about the best markers of each trait and polarity. RESULTS: Intrinsic validation of the model yielded excellent results, with R2 values greater than 0.78. The validation studies showed a high proportion of matches between participants' choices and model predictions, confirming its efficacy in identifying new terms related to the OCEAN traits. The best performance was observed for agreeableness and extraversion, especially for their positive polarities. The model was less efficient in identifying the negative polarity of openness and conscientiousness. CONCLUSIONS: This innovative methodology can be considered a "psycholexical approach 2.0," contributing to research in personality and its practical applications in many fields.

Heterogeneity of smartphone impact on everyday life and its relationship with personality and psychopathology: A latent profile analysis.

BACKGROUND: The relationships between problematic smartphone use and psychological factors have been extensively investigated. However, previous studies generally used variable-centered approaches, which hinder an examination of the heterogeneity of smartphone impact on everyday life. OBJECTIVE: In the present study, we capitalized on latent profile analysis to identify various classes of smartphone owners based on the impact associated with smartphone use (e.g., unregulated usage, preference for smartphone-mediated social relationships) and to compare these classes in terms of established psychological risk factors for problematic smartphone use. METHOD: We surveyed 934 young adults with validated psychometric questionnaires to assess the impact of smartphones, psychopathological symptoms, self-esteem and impulsivity traits. RESULTS: Smartphone users fall into four latent profiles: users with low smartphone impact, users with average smartphone impact, problematic smartphone users, and users favoring online interactions. Individuals distributed in the problematic smartphone user profile were characterized by heightened psychopathological symptoms (stress, anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive tendencies) and impulsivity traits. Moreover, users who preferred online interactions exhibited the highest symptoms of social anxiety and the lowest levels of self-esteem. CONCLUSIONS: These findings further demonstrate the multidimensionality and heterogeneity of the impact of smartphone use, calling for tailored prevention and intervention strategies.

Exploring the peer status prototypes: A large-scale latent profile analysis on high-school students from four European countries.

Peer status - the regard other group members have of an individual - is fundamental for youth development. Different research traditions developed independent theoretical frameworks conceiving the dimensions underlying social status, and this led to identifying a variety of peer status prototypes. In this work, we explored whether a classification based on the four dimensions of popularity, aggression, dislike, and victimization could integrate the scattered peer status profiles found in the different traditions. A latent profile analysis on 16,224 European students identified the peer status prototypes of popular, bullies, disliked, victims, and average students. Both the peer- and self-reported correlates supported that the five profiles accounted for the large variety of the students' profiles in the literature. These findings suggest that the adoption of a multidimensional approach supported by advanced statistical procedures could identify students' peer status profiles more effectively, replacing classifications based on cutoffs, and leading to a unified students' classification.

Thinking of future as an older individual increases perceived risks for age-related diseases but not for COVID-19.

Actively thinking of one's future as an older individual could increase perceived risk and risk aversion. This could be particularly relevant for COVID-19, if we consider the common representation of the risk of being infected by COVID-19 as associated with being older. Increased perceived risk could bear consequences on the adoption of preventive behaviours. Thus, we investigated whether increasing the salience of individuals' future as an older adult would impact on their perceived risk for COVID-19 and medical conditions varying for age-relatedness. One hundred and forty-four Italian adults (Mage  = 27.72, range: 18-56) were randomly assigned to either a future as older adult thinking or control condition. Perceived risk for COVID-19 and other strongly, and weakly age-related medical conditions during the lifetime was measured. Results showed that thinking about the future as an older adult increased perceived risk for strongly and weakly age-related diseases, but not for COVID-19. The salience of the COVID-19 outbreak may have raised the perceived risks in both experimental conditions, making the manipulation ineffective. In conclusion, manipulating future-oriented thinking might be a successful communication strategy to increase people's perceived risk of common diseases, but it might not work for highly salient pathologies such as COVID-19.

Perceived Onset Time of Medical Conditions: The Interplay Between Subjective Fear and Risk in Four Lifestyle Domains.

Engaging in unhealthy behaviors (e.g., smoking, drinking) and not engaging in healthy ones (e.g., exercising, consuming fruit and vegetables) are both relatively prevalent among individuals despite the available information about their risks for health. People's perception of an event's time course can be used to gauge their risk perception for that event thus casting light on any possible misperception and suggesting directions for health-promoting interventions. This study investigates people's perception of the time of onset of 5 noncommunicable diseases (e.g., "having high blood pressure") associated with 4 health-related behaviors: Smoking, drinking, exercising, and eating fruit and vegetable. Participants from Italy (N = 214) and the UK (N = 151) gave onset time estimates of how long they thought it would take for 5 noncommunicable diseases to occur in the life of an 18-year-old person who starts or stops adopting those health-related behaviors. Results showed that participants who rated the noncommunicable diseases as more likely to themselves perceived the onset time of these diseases as more temporally proximal. Participants who were more afraid of developing the noncommunicable diseases estimated their onset time as delayed.

Forced Social Isolation and Mental Health: A Study on 1,006 Italians Under COVID-19 Lockdown.

Most countries have been struggling with the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic imposing social isolation on their citizens. However, this measure carried risks for people's mental health. This study evaluated the psychological repercussions of objective isolation in 1,006 Italians during the first, especially strict, lockdown in spring 2020. Although varying for the regional spread-rate of the contagion, results showed that the longer the isolation and the less adequate the physical space where people were isolated, the worse the mental health (e.g., depression). Offline social contacts buffered the association between social isolation and mental health. However, when offline contacts were limited, online contacts seemed crucial in protecting mental health. The findings inform about the potential downsides of the massive social isolation imposed by COVID-19 spread, highlighting possible risk factors and resources to account for implementing such isolation measures. Specifically, besides some known factors such as physical space availability, the local contagion rate is critical in moderating the link between social isolation and mental health issues, supporting national policies implementing regional tiers of restriction severity.

A test of the pathway model of problematic smartphone use.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Problematic smartphone use (PSU) has been described as a growing public health issue. In the current study, we aimed to provide a unique and comprehensive test of the pathway model of PSU. This model posits three distinct developmental pathways leading to PSU: (1) the excessive reassurance pathway, (2) the impulsive pathway and (3) the extraversion pathway. METHODS: Undergraduate students (n = 795, 69.8% female, mean age = 23.80 years, sd = 3.02) completed online self-report measures of PSU (addictive use, antisocial use and dangerous use) and the psychological features (personality traits and psychopathological symptoms) underlying the three pathways. RESULTS: Bayesian analyses revealed that addictive use is mainly driven by the excessive reassurance pathway and the impulsive pathway, for which candidate etiopathological factors include heightened negative urgency, a hyperactive behavioural inhibition system and symptoms of social anxiety. Dangerous and antisocial use are mainly driven by the impulsive pathway and the extraversion pathway, for which candidate etiopathological factors include specific impulsivity components (lack of premeditation and sensation seeking) and primary psychopathy (inclination to lie, lack of remorse, callousness and manipulativeness). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: The present study constitutes the first comprehensive test of the pathway model of PSU. We provide robust and original results regarding the psychological dimensions associated with each of the postulated pathways of PSU, which should be taken into account when considering regulation of smartphone use or tailoring prevention protocols to reduce problematic usage patterns.

Patients' health locus of control and preferences about the role that they want to play in the medical decision-making process.

Health locus of control (HLOC) may influence people's behavior regarding their health as well as their desires to be involved in the medical decision-making. Our study aimed to examine HLOC's relations with people's control preferences about the medical decision-making. A total of 153 people filled out the self-administered version of the Control Preference Scale and the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale - form C. The most preferred role is the collaborative one. However, HLOC explained heterogeneity in people's control preferences: lower scores in external HLOC were related to a greater preference for the active and the collaborative role. From the personalized medicine perspective, an accurate evaluation of the patient's HLOC could help tailoring the decision-making process within the clinical context.

Sexism Interacts with Patient-Physician Gender Concordance in Influencing Patient Control Preferences: Findings from a Vignette Experimental Design.

BACKGROUND: Patient preferences regarding their involvement in shared treatments decisions is fundamental in clinical practice. Previous evidences demonstrated a large heterogeneity in these preferences. However, only few studies have analysed the influence of patients' individual differences, contextual and situational qualities, and their complex interaction in explaining this variability. METHODS: We assessed the role of the interaction of patient's sociodemographic and psychological factors with a physician's gender. Specifically, we focused on patient gender and attitudes toward male or female physicians. One hundred fifty-three people participated in this randomised controlled study and were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions in which they were asked to imagine discussing their treatment with a male and a female doctor. RESULTS: Analyses showed an interplay between attitude towards women and the gender of patients and doctors, explaining interindividual variability in patient preferences. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, patients' attitudes toward the physicians' gender constitutes a relevant characteristic that may influence the degree of control patients want to have and the overall patient-physician relationship.

Profiles of Psychological Flexibility: A Latent Class Analysis of the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Model.

There exists uncertainty for clinicians over how the separate subcomponent processes of psychological flexibility, a core construct of the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy model, interact and influence distress experienced. The present study (N = 567) employed latent class analysis to (a) identify potential classes (i.e., subgroups) of psychological flexibility based on responses on measures of key subcomponent process and (b) examine whether such classes could reliably differentiate levels of self-reported psychological distress and positive and negative emotionality. We found three distinct classes: (a) High Psychological Flexibility, (b) Moderate Psychological Flexibility, and (c) Low Psychological Flexibility. Those in the Low Psychology Flexibility class reported highest levels of psychological distress, whereas those in the High Psychological Flexibility class reported lowest levels of psychological distress. This study provides a clearer view to clinicians of the profile of the broader spectrum of the psychological flexibility model to facilitate change in clients.

The Psychology of Smartphone: The Development of the Smartphone Impact Scale (SIS).

Smartphones are changing lives in a number of ways. However, the psychological literature has primarily focused on smartphone overuse, neglecting the impacts that are not strictly related to problematic use. The present research was aimed to develop a comprehensive self-report scale that accounts for the cognitive, affective, social, and behavioral impacts of smartphones in everyday life-the Smartphone Impact Scale (SIS). Study 1 (N = 407) yielded a preliminary version of the scale, which was refined in Study 2 (N = 601). The SIS is a 26-item scale that measures seven dimensions of smartphone impact. Results revealed meaningful associations between its subscales, psychosocial constructs, and daily usage of smartphones and apps. The SIS broadens the view of human-smartphone interaction by extending the concept of problematic smartphone use to further dimensions (e.g., emotion regulation) and introducing a proper measurement of underinvestigated smartphone impacts (e.g., tasks support). The implications of each SIS subscale are discussed.

Connecting with a Slot Machine: Social Exclusion and Anthropomorphization Increase Gambling.

Two studies tested whether social exclusion can increase gambling behavior. In Study 1, participants were asked to relive a socially painful instance, a physically painful instance or a control condition and were then presented with a real online gambling device (i.e., a slot machine). The results revealed that participants who relived a socially painful instance played longer on the gambling device. In Study 2, we induced actual feelings of social disconnection and manipulated slot machine anthropomorphization. The results revealed a significant interaction between inclusionary status and anthropomorphism in predicting gambling. More specifically, excluded participants gambled longer when presented with an anthropomorphized slot machine. However, the gambling behavior of excluded and included participants was no different when participants were reminded that slot machines are inanimate objects. Finally, positive and negative game experience mediated the influence of both inclusionary status and anthropomorphism on gambling. Overall, this research identifies another potential vulnerability produced by experiences of social exclusion, namely, gambling behavior. Implications for pathological gambling and future research directions are outlined.

Trajectories of Self-Care Confidence and Maintenance in Adults with Heart Failure: A Latent Class Growth Analysis.

PURPOSE: Heart failure (HF) affects up to 14% of the elderly population and its prevalence is increasing. Self-care is fundamental to living successfully with this syndrome, but little is known about how self-care evolves over time. The present study aimed to (a) identify longitudinal trajectories of self-care confidence and maintenance among HF patients, (b) investigate whether each trajectory is characterized by specific sociodemographic and clinical patients' characteristics, and (c) assess the association between the self-care confidence and maintenance trajectories. METHOD: We conducted a prospective descriptive study of 225 HF patients followed for 6 months with data collected at baseline and 3 and 6 months. Latent class growth analysis (LCGA) was used to identify longitudinal trajectories. ANOVA and contingency tables were used to characterize trajectories and investigate their association. RESULTS: Three self-care confidence (persistently poor, increasingly adequate, and increasingly optimal) and three self-care maintenance (persistently poor, borderline but improving, and increasingly good) trajectories were identified. Married individuals were less likely to be in the persistently poor trajectory of self-care confidence. Patients with persistently poor self-care maintenance took fewer medications than patients with one of the better self-care maintenance trajectories. The two sets of trajectories were significantly and meaningfully associated. CONCLUSION: Patients in a poor self-care trajectory (confidence or maintenance) are at high risk to stay there without improving over time. These results can be used to develop tailored and potentially more effective health care interventions.

Nurses' beliefs about nursing diagnosis: A study with cluster analysis.

AIMS: To identify clusters of nurses in relation to their beliefs about nursing diagnosis among two populations (Italian and Spanish); to investigate differences among clusters of nurses in each population considering the nurses' socio-demographic data, attitudes towards nursing diagnosis, intentions to make nursing diagnosis and actual behaviours in making nursing diagnosis. BACKGROUND: Nurses' beliefs concerning nursing diagnosis can influence its use in practice but this is still unclear. DESIGN: A cross-sectional design. METHODS: A convenience sample of nurses in Italy and Spain was enrolled. Data were collected between 2014-2015 using tools, that is, a socio-demographic questionnaire and behavioural, normative and control beliefs, attitudes, intentions and behaviours scales. RESULTS: The sample included 499 nurses (272 Italians & 227 Spanish). Of these, 66.5% of the Italian and 90.7% of the Spanish sample were female. The mean age was 36.5 and 45.2 years old in the Italian and Spanish sample respectively. Six clusters of nurses were identified in Spain and four in Italy. Three clusters were similar among the two populations. Similar significant associations between age, years of work, attitudes towards nursing diagnosis, intentions to make nursing diagnosis and behaviours in making nursing diagnosis and cluster membership in each population were identified. CONCLUSION: Belief profiles identified unique subsets of nurses that have distinct characteristics. Categorizing nurses by belief patterns may help administrators and educators to tailor interventions aimed at improving nursing diagnosis use in practice.

Psychometric characteristics of the caregiver burden inventory in caregivers of adults with heart failure.

BACKGROUND: A better understanding of caregiver burden and its determinants is essential to support caregivers. Many instruments have been developed to measure caregiver burden in various illness contexts, but few have been psychometrically tested for caregivers of heart failure patients. AIMS: The aim of this study was to test the validity (factorial and concurrent validity) and reliability (internal consistency) of the caregiver burden inventory (CBI) in a cohort of caregivers of heart failure patients. METHODS: This was a secondary analysis from a cross-sectional study on heart failure patients and their caregivers enrolled from various Italian outpatient centres. The factorial validity of the CBI was tested with confirmatory factor analysis, and concurrent validity was tested correlating CBI scores with the short form-12 health survey scores. The internal consistency reliability was assessed with Cronbach's alpha. RESULTS: In total, 505 caregivers of heart failure patients (52.2% women, mean age 56.59±14.9 years) were enrolled. Confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the original five-factor model: time-dependence, developmental, physical, social and emotional burden. This model fits the data better than the single-factor model, and the dimensions showed high internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's alpha 0.91 for time-dependence burden, 0.92 for developmental burden, 0.88 for physical burden, 0.89 for social burden and 0.93 for emotional burden; 0.96 for the total score of burden). CONCLUSION: The CBI proved to be a good multidimensional instrument for evaluating the burden in caregivers of heart failure patients and can be used in clinical practice and research. This tool can be considered to tailor interventions aimed at improving caregiver outcomes.

Testing an explanatory model of nurses' intention to report adverse drug reactions in hospital settings.

AIM: To test an explanatory model of nurses' intention to report adverse drug reactions in hospital settings, based on the theory of planned behaviour. BACKGROUND: Under-reporting of adverse drug reactions is an important problem among nurses. METHODS: A cross-sectional design was used. Data were collected with the adverse drug reporting nurses' questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to test the factor validity of the adverse drug reporting nurses' questionnaire, and structural equation modelling was used to test the explanatory model. RESULTS: The convenience sample comprised 500 Italian hospital nurses (mean age = 43.52). Confirmatory factor analysis supported the factor validity of the adverse drug reporting nurses' questionnaire. The structural equation modelling showed a good fit with the data. Nurses' intention to report adverse drug reactions was significantly predicted by attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control (R² = 0.16). CONCLUSIONS: The theory of planned behaviour effectively explained the mechanisms behind nurses' intention to report adverse drug reactions, showing how several factors come into play. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: In a scenario of organisational empowerment towards adverse drug reaction reporting, the major predictors of the intention to report are support for the decision to report adverse drug reactions from other health care practitioners, perceptions about the value of adverse drug reaction reporting and nurses' favourable self-assessment of their adverse drug reaction reporting skills.

A Type A and Type D Combined Personality Typology in Essential Hypertension and Acute Coronary Syndrome Patients: Associations with Demographic, Psychological, Clinical, and Lifestyle Indicators.

Many studies have focused on Type A and Type D personality types in the context of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), but nothing is known about how these personality types combine to create new profiles. The present study aimed to develop a typology of Type A and Type D personality in two groups of patients affected by and at risk for coronary disease. The study involved 711 patients: 51.6% with acute coronary syndrome, 48.4% with essential hypertension (mean age = 56.4 years; SD = 9.7 years; 70.7% men). Cluster analysis was applied. External variables, such as socio-demographic, psychological, lifestyle, and clinical parameters, were assessed. Six groups, each with its own unique combined personality profile scores, were identified: Type D, Type A-Negatively Affected, Not Type A-Negatively Affected, Socially Inhibited-Positively Affected, Not Socially Inhibited, and Not Type A-Not Type D. The Type A-Negatively Affected cluster and, to a lesser extent, the Type D cluster, displayed the worst profile: namely higher total cardiovascular risk index, physical inactivity, higher anxiety and depression, and lower self-esteem, optimism, and health status. Identifying combined personality profiles is important in clinical research and practice in cardiovascular diseases. Practical implications are discussed.

A longitudinal study on the information needs and preferences of patients after an acute coronary syndrome.

BACKGROUND: Research has shown that the provision of pertinent health information to patients with cardiovascular disease is associated with better adherence to medical prescriptions, behavioral changes, and enhanced perception of control over the disease. Yet there is no clear knowledge on how to improve information pertinence. Identifying and meeting the information needs of patients and their preferences for sources of information is pivotal to developing patient-led services. This prospective, observational study was aimed at exploring the information needs and perceived relevance of different information sources for patients during the twenty-four months following an acute coronary syndrome. METHODS: Two hundred and seventeen newly diagnosed patients with acute coronary syndrome were enrolled in the study. The patients were primarily men (83.41 %) with a mean age of 57.28 years (range 35-75; SD = 7.98). Patients' needs for information and the perceived relevance of information sources were evaluated between 2 and 8 weeks after hospitalization (baseline) and during three follow-ups at 6, 12 and 24 months after baseline. Repeated measures ANOVA, Bonferroni post hoc tests and Cochran's Q Test were performed to test differences in variables of interest over time. RESULTS: Results showed a reduction in information needs, but this decrease was significant only for topics related to daily activities, behavioral habits, risk and complication. At baseline, the primary sources of information were specialists and general practitioners, followed by family members and information leaflets given by physicians. Relevance of other sources changed differently over time. CONCLUSION: The present longitudinal study is an original contribution to the investigation of changes in information needs and preferences for sources of information among patients who are diagnosed with acute coronary syndrome. One of the main results of this study is that information on self-disease management is perceived as a minor theme for patients even two years after the event. Knowledge on how patients' information needs and perceived relevance of information sources change over time could enhance the quality of chronic disease management, leading health-care systems to move toward more patient-tailored care.

Self-care confidence may be more important than cognition to influence self-care behaviors in adults with heart failure: Testing a mediation model.

BACKGROUND: Cognitive impairment can reduce the self-care abilities of heart failure patients. Theory and preliminary evidence suggest that self-care confidence may mediate the relationship between cognition and self-care, but further study is needed to validate this finding. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to test the mediating role of self-care confidence between specific cognitive domains and heart failure self-care. DESIGN: Secondary analysis of data from a descriptive study. SETTINGS: Three out-patient sites in Pennsylvania and Delaware, USA. PARTICIPANTS: A sample of 280 adults with chronic heart failure, 62 years old on average and mostly male (64.3%). METHODS: Data on heart failure self-care and self-care confidence were collected with the Self-Care of Heart Failure Index 6.2. Data on cognition were collected by trained research assistants using a neuropsychological test battery measuring simple and complex attention, processing speed, working memory, and short-term memory. Sociodemographic data were collected by self-report. Clinical information was abstracted from the medical record. Mediation analysis was performed with structural equation modeling and indirect effects were evaluated with bootstrapping. RESULTS: Most participants had at least 1 impaired cognitive domain. In mediation models, self-care confidence consistently influenced self-care and totally mediated the relationship between simple attention and self-care and between working memory and self-care (comparative fit index range: .929-.968; root mean squared error of approximation range: .032-.052). Except for short-term memory, which had a direct effect on self-care maintenance, the other cognitive domains were unrelated to self-care. CONCLUSIONS: Self-care confidence appears to be an important factor influencing heart failure self-care even in patients with impaired cognition. As few studies have successfully improved cognition, interventions addressing confidence should be considered as a way to improve self-care in this population.

Changes in Dietary Behavior among Coronary and Hypertensive Patients: A Longitudinal Investigation Using the Health Action Process Approach.

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a major cause of worldwide morbidity and mortality. Nutrition plays an important role in the primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention of CVDs. The present longitudinal study used the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) to investigate changes in dietary behavior in coronary patients (CPs) affected by acute coronary syndrome and hypertensive patients (HPs) affected by essential arterial hypertension. METHODS: CPs (N = 250) and HPs (N = 246) completed a questionnaire during three measurement points (baseline, 6-month follow-up, and 12-month follow-up). Statistical analyses included a repeated measures ANOVA and a multi-sample structural equation model. RESULTS: HPs showed no changes in dietary behavior, whereas CPs improved their nutrition at 6 months and then maintained the healthier diet. The multi-sample analysis indicated equivalence of the HAPA model for both patient populations. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide further evidence for the generalisability of the HAPA model, shedding light on dietary behavior among CVD patients and particularly on hypertensive patients which has received little attention. Moreover, the equivalence of the model suggests that the process of change is almost identical for individuals who are at high risk for a coronary event (i.e. HPs) and individuals who have already had the event (i.e. CPs).