Associations between demographic characteristics and Big Five personality traits after anterior cruciate ligament injury: A registry‐based cross‐sectional study
Ramana Piussi, Jakob Lindskog, Andreas Ivarsson, Rebecca Hamrin Senorski, Jens Augustsson, Johan Högberg, Axel Sundberg, Eric Hamrin SenorskiAbstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to investigate associations between demographic characteristics and personality traits, measured with the Big Five Inventory‐2 (BFI‐2), in patients after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. A secondary exploratory purpose was to compare demographic characteristics across groups defined by predominant personality trait.
Methods
Data for this cross‐sectional study were obtained from a Swedish rehabilitation‐specific registry. Patients aged 15–65 years who completed the Swedish version of the BFI‐2 were included. The five BFI‐2 domains (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, open‐mindedness and negative emotionality) were analysed as continuous outcomes using multivariable linear regression with sex, age at injury or ACL reconstruction, body mass index (BMI), number of ACL injuries and preinjury Tegner activity level as predictors. Predominant personality trait groups were compared in a secondary exploratory analysis.
Results
A total of 782 patients were included, of whom 692 had complete data for the regression analyses. Female sex was associated with higher scores in all five BFI‐2 domains (all p ≤ 0.045). Older age was associated with higher extraversion, conscientiousness and open‐mindedness and lower negative emotionality (all p ≤ 0.006). Higher BMI was associated with lower conscientiousness ( p = 0.004) and higher open‐mindedness ( p = 0.049). The models explained 2.7%–13.0% of the variance in personality scores. In the secondary analysis, Agreeableness was the most common predominant trait, and patients classified as predominantly open‐minded were older than patients in the other groups.
Conclusions
Sex and age were associated with several BFI‐2 personality traits after ACL injury, whereas BMI showed only small associations. However, demographic characteristics explained little of the variance in personality scores, indicating that personality cannot be reliably inferred from demographic characteristics alone.
Level of Evidence
Level III.