Download Category: Personality

Body temperature correlates with depressive symptom severity: Analysis and extension of prior findings in observational cohorts with more than 19,000 participants

Post author By Stephan Dilchert
Post date August 19, 2026

Soltani, S., Hartogensis, W., Dilchert, S., Flores, K., Lowry, C. A., Raison, C., Hecht, F. M., Smarr, B. L., Mason, A. E.
Frontiers in Psychiatry, 17
(2026)

Objective: Prior studies have reported that higher body temperature correlates with greater depressive symptoms, but did not adjust for potential confounders.
Methods: We used linear regression models and linear mixed models to assess associations between self-reported depressive symptoms and body temperature (once-daily self-reported temperature from a thermometer and minute-level distal temperature from a commercially available wearable device, worn on the finger). Adjusted models covaried for biological sex, age, daylight length, ambient temperature, and number of medical conditions. Distal body temperature metrics included awake and asleep temperatures, the asleep–awake temperature difference, and the diurnal temperature amplitude. Distal body temperature models also covaried for daylight length and ambient temperature over time. Finally, we used adjusted logistic regression models to assess associations between all body temperature metrics and four categories of depressive symptom severity.
Results: In an adjusted linear regression model, the positive association between depressive symptoms and self-reported body temperature remained significant (b = 0.940, 95% CI [0.686, 1.193], p = 1.7×10–12). Adjusted associations with awake distal body temperature (b = 0.300, 95% CI [0.229, 0.371], p = 1.2×10–15), diurnal distal body temperature amplitude (b = -0.204, 95% CI [-0.248, -0.159], p=6.1×10– 18), and asleep-awake distal body temperature difference (b = -0.308, 95% CI [-0.375, -0.240], p = 6.1×10–18) were stronger than in unadjusted models. Standardized effect estimates from the adjusted linear regression models indicated that the magnitude of these associations was robust but small in magnitude, with standardized coefficients ranging from -0.067 to 0.061 and partial R² values ranging from 0.0006 to 0.0041. Adjusted linear mixed models using repeated measurements showed similar significant associations between distal body temperature metrics and depressive symptom severity. Adjusted logistic regression models showed that increases in self-reported body temperature and awake distal body temperature conferred significantly higher odds of a more severe depressive symptom category; increases in diurnal distal body temperature amplitude and asleep-awake temperature difference conferred significantly lower odds. Conclusion: Higher body temperature was associated with increased depressive symptoms, and this association was robust to adjustment for potential confounders. These findings support body temperature as a physiological correlate of depressive symptom severity and motivate further investigation of thermoregulatory measures as part of multimodal approaches for monitoring depressive symptoms.

“静默‘离”职”的前因后果：于无声中重塑职场规则 [The causes and consequences of silent “resignations”: Quietly reshaping workplace rules]

Post author By Stephan Dilchert
Post date July 3, 2026

Dilchert, S., Stanek, K. C., & Ones, D. S. (Adapted by 司马岳玲)
管理视野 [Management Insights], 44(1), 22-25
2026

“静默‘离’职”是近年来备受关注的职场现象，在社交媒体和公共讨论中频繁出现。本研究将
“静默‘离’职”概念化为一种多维度的心理退缩状态，认为它超越了单纯的任务脱离。研究发现，
这一状态与员工的心理健康和工作表现显著相关，且在年轻员工和新入职者中更为普遍。本研究
为理解和应对这一新兴职场现象提供了明确的概念定位与实证工具。

Expanding our understanding of quiet quitting: Antecedents, correlates, and consequences

Post author By Stephan Dilchert
Post date December 11, 2025

Dilchert, S., Stanek, K. C., & Ones, D. S.
Human Resource Management, 65(3), 679-704.
(2026)

Quiet quitting remains an undertheorized and inconsistently defined construct in the scholarly literature. There is little understanding of or agreement about its construct domain, and no unifying conceptual framework to distinguish it from related constructs. Popular accounts often equate quiet quitting with employee work disengagement. Drawing on a synthesis of academic and practitioner literatures, we conceptualized quiet quitting as a form of psychological withdrawal that extends beyond in-role task disengagement to include disengagement from colleagues and the organization more broadly. Its key components include a weakening of social connections at work, diminishing job engagement, a generalized disinclination toward work, and the desire to set boundaries between work and personal life. To reflect this multifaceted conceptualization, we developed the Multidimensional Quiet Quitting (MQQ) scale, comprising four interrelated dimensions: (1) lack of job-specific engagement, (2) lack of generalized work engagement, (3) lack of social connections at work, and (4) boundary setting. Using a content validation sample of working adults (N = 114), we evaluated the scale’s content validity. We then examined its latent structure and internal consistency using experience sampling data from 124 professionals over 10 weeks, followed by confirmatory factor analysis in an independent replication sample (N = 290). Finally, we mapped the nomological network of quiet quitting by examining associations with theoretically relevant antecedents and outcomes. Results indicated that organizational newcomers and younger employees were slightly more prone to quiet quitting, while job autonomy, work responsibility, marriage, and childcare responsibilities served as protective factors. Quiet quitters also tended to be less extraverted, conscientious, emotionally stable, and agreeable. Quiet quitting and disengagement were each associated with concurrent and subsequent mental health and work outcomes. Quiet quitting components incrementally predicted stress, job satisfaction, burnout, and work effectiveness beyond traditional work disengagement, an overlapping construct. By specifying and measuring quiet quitting as a multidimensional construct, this study provides much-needed construct clarity and demonstrates empirical effects associated with the phenomenon. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Beyond change: Personality-environment alignment at work

Post author By Stephan Dilchert
Post date December 2, 2024

Ones, D. S., Stanek, K. C., & Dilchert, S.
International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 33(1)
(2024)

We critically evaluate Dupré and Wille’s (2024) proposal for using assessments for organizational personality development through the lens of empirical evidence on adult personality change. We present an overview of research on personality stability and malleability throughout adulthood examining rank-order stability, mean-level changes, and the impact of life events and interventions. Empirical evidence reveals that while personality exhibits some plasticity in young adulthood, significant changes become increasingly rare beyond age 30. For older employees, personality remains highly stable, making age an important consideration in workforce development. Life experiences and intentional interventions have been shown to prompt modest personality changes, with emotional stability being the most malleable trait. We quantify these changes, noting shifts of up to two-thirds of a standard deviation in emotional stability through targeted interventions, with more limited effects on other Big Five traits. We also provide insights for organizational assessment practices, including the need for tailored personality (re-)assessment intervals and age-based norm composition for better utilization of personality information. With Cybernetic Trait Complexes Theory, we introduce a framework for aligning personality traits with situational cues in work environments. This approach emphasizes trait activation rather than personality modification, allowing organizations to harness employees’ strengths by strategically designing environments that naturally encourage beneficial trait expression. This shifts the focus from personality change to strategic activation of beneficial traits through environmental design. We describe how organizations can leverage employees’ existing personality trait complexes while fostering incremental behavioral adaptations, offering a pragmatic alternative to traditional employee development approaches. By aligning individuals with environments that activate their traits, organizations can enhance both personal and organizational outcomes, contributing to broader societal benefits as well.

Zum Zusammenhang von Offenheit und Erfolg bei internationalen beruflichen Entsendungen [On the relation between openness and success in international work assignments]

Post author By Stephan Dilchert
Post date November 15, 2023

Deller, J., Albrecht, A.-G., Dilchert, S., Ones, D. S., & Paulus, F. M.
In J. Henze, S. J. Kulich, & Z. Wang (Eds.), Deutsch-Chinesische Perspektiven interkultureller Kommunikation und Kompetenz (pp. 165–184).
Springer Fachmedien
(2023)

Das Kapitel beschreibt die Ausgangslage und Methodik der iGOES Studie (international generalizability of expatriates success). Berichtet werden ausgewählte Ergebnisse in Bezug auf den Zusammenhang zwischen der Persönlichkeitsdimension Offenheit und ihren Facetten sowie der Anpassung, Arbeits- und Lebenszufriedenheit von Expatriates. Darüber hinaus werden Mittelwertsunterschiede in Offenheit zwischen den über 2000 interviewten Expatriates und der deutschsprachigen Normpopulation beschrieben. Entwicklungen und weiterhin offene Forschungsfragen im Bereich des Expatriate Management werden dargelegt.

Waking up Rip Van Winkle: A meta-analytic data based evaluation of the HEXACO Personality Model and Inventory

Post author By Stephan Dilchert
Post date February 1, 2023

Ones, D. S., Dilchert, S., Giordano, C., Stanek, K. C., & Viswesvaran, C.
European Journal of Personality, 34(4), 538–541.
(2020)

The HEXACO personality model does not provide an accurate organization of the personality domain: it over-relies on lexical research, focuses on one level of the personality hierarchy, and lacks coherent theory. The HEXACO personality inventory overemphasizes internal consistency, factorial homogeneity, and unidimensionality; lacks construct coverage and has construct validity problems.

Using mobile sensors to study personality dynamics

Post author By Stephan Dilchert
Post date February 1, 2023

Wiernik, B. M., Ones, D. S., Marlin, B. M., Giordano, C., Dilchert, S., Mercado, B. K., Stanek, K. C., Birkland, A., Wang, Y., Ellis, B., Yazar, Y., Kostal, J. W., Kumar, S., Hnat, T., Ertin, E., Sano, A., Ganesan, D. K., Choudhoury, T., & al’Absi, M.
European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 36(6), 935–947.
(2020)

Research interest in personality dynamics over time is rapidly growing. Passive personality assessment via mobile sensors offers an intriguing new approach for measuring a wide variety of personality dynamics. In this paper, we address the possibility of integrating sensorbased assessments to enhance personality dynamics research. We consider a variety of research designs that can incorporate sensor-based measures and address pitfalls and limitations in terms of psychometrics and practical implementation. We also consider analytic challenges related to data quality and model evaluation that researchers must address when applying machine learning methods to translate sensor data into composite personality assessments.

Personality assessment for work: Legal, I O, and clinical perspective

Post author By Stephan Dilchert
Post date February 1, 2023

Dilchert, S., Ones, D. S., & Krueger, R. F.
Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 12(2), 143-150.
(2019)

Personality tests are reliable and valid tools that can aid organizations in identifying suitable employees. They provide utility for maximizing organizational productivity and for avoiding claims of negligent hiring. When properly deployed, personality tests (both normal and abnormal/clinical) pose little threat of violating individuals’ rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or other Equal Employment Opportunity–related laws and regulations. As evidenced by a dearth of successful legal challenges, even with increasing use of personality tests in recent years, organizations have become educated and sophisticated with regard to the ethical and legal use of such tests in employment settings. We predict this trend will continue, incorporating recent developments relating to contemporary models of psychopathology (Kotov et al., 2017; Markon, Krueger, & Watson, 2005), neurobiologically informed theoretical explanations of psychopathology (DeYoung & Krueger, 2018), and the alternative model of personality disorders (AMPD) included in the most recent edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fifth Edition; DSM-5).

Tolerance of ambiguity: Relations with expatriate adjustment and job performance

Post author By Stephan Dilchert
Post date February 1, 2023

Albrecht, A.-G., Ones, D. S., Dilchert, S., Deller, J., & Paulus, F. M.
In B. M. Wiernik, H. Rüger, & D. S. Ones (Eds.)
Managing expatriates: Success factors in private and public domains (pp. 71–82).
Budrich
(2018)

International assignments are strongly characterized novelty, complexity, insolubility, and unpredictability. In such environments, dispositional tolerance of (or even attraction to) ambiguity may be an important contributing factor to expatriate success. We use data from the iGOES project to examine the contributions of tolerance of ambiguity to expatriate outcomes. Results show that tolerance for ambiguity has only small positive benefits for expatriate locational and work adjustment, as well as for contextual and management/supervision performance. Tolerance of ambiguity-criterion relationships showed negligible variability across samples, suggesting that these weak relations are stable across differences in cultural distance and time on assignment. Results indicate that organizations selecting expatriates may realize better utility with constructs other than tolerance of ambiguity.