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Keywords: The aim of the current study was to explore the mediation effect of self-control on the relationship between
Big Five Personality personality traits and impulsivity in Chinese cultural context. A total of 804 participants completed a packet of
Self-control questionnaires that assessed personality traits, impulsivity, and self-control, of which personality traits were
Impulsivity measured by the Chinese Big Five Personality Inventory brief version (CBF-PI-B), impulsivity was measured by
Mediating effect
the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11 (BIS-11), and self-control was measured by the Self-Control Scale (SCS).
Correlation results demonstrated that openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness were all
negatively correlated with impulsivity, and positively correlated with self-control; neuroticism was positively
correlated with impulsivity, and negatively correlated with self-control. Furthermore, mediational analyses
showed that three factors of the Big Five Personality (openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism) exerted
their indirect effects on impulsivity through self-control, and the mediating effect accounted for 29.54%,
40.00%, 55.77% of the total effect respectively. These findings suggest that self-control might be one mechanism
explaining how individuals' personality traits (openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism) influence their
impulsivity.
⁎
Corresponding author at: No. 378, West Waihuan Road, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center, Guangzhou 510006, China.
E-mail address: guofu.zhou@m.scnu.edu.cn (G. Zhou).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.03.013
Received 6 November 2017; Received in revised form 26 February 2018; Accepted 7 March 2018
Available online 20 March 2018
0191-8869/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
T. Mao et al. Personality and Individual Differences 129 (2018) 70–75
Self-control is a central function of the self, which refers to the participants were all over the country and mainly were college stu-
ability to override one's thoughts and emotions, as well as to interrupt dents.
undesired behavioral tendencies to keep them in line with overarching
goals (Baumeister, Vohs, & Tice, 2010; Inzlicht, Schmeichel, & Macrae, 2.2. Measures
2014; Tangney, Baumeister, & Boone, 2004). Sometimes, self-control is
regarded as the opposite of impulsivity (Duckworth & Kern, 2011), but Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11 (BIS-11; Patton, Stanford, & Barratt,
many studies found that there was a significant negative correlation 1995). It was adapted to Chinese by Xian-Yun et al. (Xian-Yun et al.,
between self-control and impulsivity and that the correlation coeffi- 2011). The Chinese version Bis-11 is a 30-item self-report measurement
cients were all lower than 0.8 (Friese & Hofmann, 2009; Nebioglu, of impulsivity, which consists of three factors: attention impulsivity
Konuk, Akbaba, & Eroglu, 2012; Wolff, Kronke, & Goschke, 2016). (e.g., I don't pay attention), motor impulsivity (e.g., I act on the spur of
Besides, Ludwig et al. summarized that although high impulsivity and the moment), and non-planning impulsivity (e.g., I plan for job se-
low self-control overlap in large parts, these two concepts are not re- curity). Participants rated the items from 1 (never) to 5 (always). The
dundant (Ludwig et al., 2013). Therefore, the first hypothesis of the internal consistency of the scale and the three subscales were ranged
current study was that there is a significant negative correlation be- from 0.77 to 0.89, and the test-retest reliability was varied from 0. 68 to
tween self-control and impulsivity. 0. 89. In the current study, the Cronbach's alpha for the scale and
Besides, it had been found that there were close links between the subscales ranged from 0.82 to 0.90.
Big Five Personality traits and self-control in many studies. Such as, a Chinese Big Five Personality Inventory brief version (CBF-PI-B;
significant negative correlation was observed between neuroticism and Wang, Dai, & Yao, 2011). The scale was developed to assess Chinese
self-control, and both agreeableness and conscientiousness were found personality, which has 40 items and 5 subscales: openness (e.g., I am
significantly positively associated with self-control (Andrei, Mancini, curious about many different things), conscientiousness (e.g., I am a
Trombini, Baldaro, & Russo, 2014; Bazzy, Woehr, & Borns, 2017; Green, reliable worker), extraversion (e.g., I am outgoing, sociable), agree-
O'Connor, Gartland, & Roberts, 2016; Schlegel, Grandjean, & Scherer, ableness (e.g., I am considerate and kind to almost everyone), neuro-
2013; Vries & Gelder, 2013). Meanwhile, the relationships between ticism (e.g., I get nervous easily). The response items varied from 1 (not
both extraversion and openness and self-control was inconsistent, some at all applicable to me) to 5 (very much applicable to me) and high
studies have found that extraversion and self-control had significant scores indicated higher levels of the subscale personality trait. The
negative correlation (Green et al., 2016; Schlegel et al., 2013), while Cronbach's alpha for internal consistency was reported ranging from
some other studies found no significant correlation between them 0.76 to 0.81, and the retest reliabilities were reported ranging from
(Andrei et al., 2014; Bazzy et al., 2017; Vries & Gelder, 2013). As to the 0.67 to 0.81. The internal consistency coefficient for the scale and
relationship between openness and self-control, some studies found that subscales for the present data were varied from 0.74 to 0.84.
there was a significant positive correlation (Andrei et al., 2014), while Self-Control Scale (SCS; Tangney et al., 2004). In the current study,
some studies found no significant correlation (Bazzy et al., 2017; we use the Chinese version Self-Control Scale, which was revised by
Schlegel et al., 2013; Vries & Gelder, 2013). From previous studies Tan and Guo (2008). The Chinese version SCS consists of 19 items and
mentioned above, it can be seen that neuroticism, conscientiousness, five subscales. It was rated on a 5-point response scale ranging from 1
and agreeableness all had a robust relationship with self-control. While (not at all applicable to me) to 5 (very much applicable to me), and the
the relationship between openness and extraversion and self-control total scores can range from 19 to 95. A higher score indicates greater
was relatively weak. Therefore, our second hypothesis is that the Big self-control. An example item is “I am lazy.” Besides, the scale showed
Five Personality traits would be related to self-control, of which the good internal consistency (0.86) and retest reliability (0.85). The in-
three factors (conscientiousness, neuroticism, and agreeableness) ternal consistency coefficient for the present data was 0.87.
would have a strong correlation with self-control, while the other two
factors (openness and extraversion) would have a weak correlation with 2.3. Procedure
self-control.
Based on the preceding rationale and available literature showing Participants completed surveys consisting of the CBF-PI-B, BIS-11,
that personality traits contribute to self-control, and that self-control and SCS through online. The researcher assured the participants of the
correlates to impulsivity, the third hypothesis of this study is that self- confidentiality of their responses. It took approximately 20 min for the
control would have a certain mediating effect on the impact of the participants to complete the surveys.
personality traits (especially the conscientiousness, neuroticism, and
agreeableness) on impulsivity. Thus personality traits will indirectly 2.4. Data analysis
predict impulsivity through self-control. The aim of this study was to
examine such questions by exploring how self-control mediates the Descriptive statistics of personality traits scores were computed
relationship between personality traits on impulsivity. firstly. Then, the bivariate relationship was assessed by computing the
Individuals' personality traits may affect their impulsivity to some Pearson r coefficients using SPSS 19.0. Furthermore, SEM procedure
extent. There is no doubt that the ability to make decisions and act was used to investigate the impact of self-control on the relationship
quickly without hesitation can be advantageous in many settings. between personality traits and impulsivity using AMOS 22.0.
However, when persistently expressed, impulsive decisions and actions
are considered risky, maladaptive and symptomatic (Dalley & Robbins, 3. Results
2017). Thus, the present study might throw some light on the potential
psychological mechanism in helping people in decreasing impulsivity. 3.1. Correlational analysis
2. Methods The means, standard deviations and correlation coefficients for all
study variables are displayed in Table 1. It can be seen from the Table 1
2.1. Participants that impulsivity had a significant correlation with the Big Five Per-
sonality. Specifically, impulsivity was significantly positively related
The participants in this research were recruited via websites. A total with neuroticism, while negatively associated with the other four di-
of 804 adults from China volunteered to take part in the study, of which mensions. Besides, a significant negative relationship between im-
32.1% were males and 67.9% were females. The mean age of the pulsivity and self-control was observed. Furthermore, it had been de-
overall sample was 24.51 years (standard deviation = 6.45 years). The monstrated that self-control was significantly negatively correlated
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T. Mao et al. Personality and Individual Differences 129 (2018) 70–75
Table 1
Means, standard deviations, Pearson correlation coefficients between personality, self-control, and impulsivity.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1. BIS-11 1
2. CBF-PI-N 0.460⁎⁎⁎ 1
3. CBF-PI-C −0.699⁎⁎⁎ −0.343⁎⁎⁎ 1
4. CBF-PI-A −0.209⁎⁎⁎ −0.146⁎⁎⁎ 0.335⁎⁎⁎ 1
5. CBF-PI-O −0.297⁎⁎⁎ −0.147⁎⁎⁎ 0.372⁎⁎⁎ 0.288⁎⁎⁎ 1
6. CBF-PI-E −0.174⁎⁎⁎ −0.234⁎⁎⁎ 0.275⁎⁎⁎ 0.270⁎⁎⁎ 0.476⁎⁎⁎ 1
7. SCS −0.724⁎⁎⁎ −0.513⁎⁎⁎ 0.634⁎⁎⁎ 0.204⁎⁎⁎ 0.138⁎⁎⁎ 0.149⁎⁎⁎ 1
M 37.698 26.511 33.500 35.024 31.847 28.838 62.687
SD 12.047 7.025 6.017 5.368 6.074 6.384 10.514
Notes. BIS-11 = Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11; CBF-PI = Chinese Big Five Personality Inventory, N = Neuroticism, C = Conscientiousness, A = Agreeableness, O = Openness,
E = Extraversion; SCS = Self-Control Scale.
⁎⁎⁎
p < 0.001.
with neuroticism while significantly positively associated with the ΔCFI = 0.028, ΔTFI = 0.022, ΔRMSEA = 0.002). Therefore, we did not
personality dimensions. detect any obvious method biases.
In this study, Harman's one-factor test was used to check the We adopted the path analysis method of Structural Equation Model
common method biases, the basic assumption of this method is that if to test the mediating effect of self-control on the influence of the Big
there is a large amount of variation in the method, the factor analysis Five Personality on individual impulsivity. The results showed that the
can be taken to separate a single factor, or a common factor explaining beta values of these three paths (agreeableness → self-control, extra-
the most variation of the variables (Fuller, Simmering, Atinc, Atinc, & version → self-control, and agreeableness → impulsivity) were 0.005,
Babin, 2016). Factor analysis of data in this study was carried out to −0.038, and 0.038 respectively (all ps > 0.05). Therefore, we deleted
analyze 19 factors of characteristic roots > 1, among which the first the three paths and then analyzed it again. The new model showed
factor explained the variation of 18.98%, < 40%. Besides, the results excellent fit to data: χ2/df = 1.697 < 2.00, RMSEA = 0.029 < 0.06,
reported that χ2/df = 5.118, RMR = 0.125, GFI = 0.529, CFI = 0.467, GFI = 0.999, AGFI = 0.985, NFI = 0.999, RFI = 0.986, TLI = 0.994,
NFI = 0.415, RMSEA = 0.072 when the loadings of all measurement CFI = 1.000, which were all > 0.900; and FMIN value was 0.002,
items were on a common latent factor. According to the indices re- which was close to 0. Based on the criteria recommended by Hu and
commended by the previous study (Hu & Bentler, 1999), we can draw Bentler (1999), we can draw the conclusion that the fitting results of the
the conclusion that the model fitting is undesirable and there was no model are good, and the overall model is adequately fit (see Fig. 1).
methodological factor that can explain most variation. In addition, we In the new model, agreeableness did not enter into the path analysis.
adopted another method to detect whether there are common method Table 2 showed the total effect of four other dimensions of the Big Five
biases based on previous studies (Jarvis & Petty, 1996; Litman & Pezzo, Personality and the indirect effect through self-control. It can be seen
2005). In the new method, two models were developed and compared from the Table 2 that conscientiousness has the greatest overall effect
to each other. Model A was comprised of 7 factors (impulsivity, self- on impulsivity, followed by neuroticism, while the effect of extraver-
control, openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, sion and openness on impulsivity is relatively small. Besides, con-
neuroticism) with paths leading to the items hypothesized to load on scientiousness and openness have negative effects on individual im-
that factor. Model B was the same as Model A, but also included a pulsivity, and neuroticism and extraversion have positive effects on
common method variance factor. The results demonstrated that Model impulsivity. In general, self-control played an important mediation role
B (7 factors + 1 common method factor) did not improve the fitting in the influence of openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism on
index significantly when compared with Model A (Δχ2/df = 0.160, individual impulsivity. That is, people who have high levels of
Fig. 1. The mediation of self-control: the effect of Big Five Personality on impulsivity.
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T. Mao et al. Personality and Individual Differences 129 (2018) 70–75
Table 2 The most important finding of this study is that self-control acted as
Total effect and direct effect. a mediator of the relationship between personality traits (con-
scientiousness, neuroticism, and openness) and impulsivity. Impulsivity
Total effect Direct effect Indirect effect
(Proportion of by self-control varies between individuals. Conscientiousness appears to be a central
the total effect) (Proportion of element of self-control, neuroticism and openness have also been im-
the total effect) plicated as correlates of self-control. Impulsive precursors of behavior
would transfer into impulsive behavior more readily for people with
Extraversion—impulsivity 0.074⁎⁎ 0.074⁎⁎ (100%) 0 (0.00%)
Openness—impulsivity −0.069⁎⁎⁎ −0.121⁎⁎⁎ 0.052⁎⁎⁎ weak self-control abilities compared to those with stronger self-control
(70.46%) (29.54%) abilities. In other words, individuals with high levels of neuroticism and
Conscientiousness—impulsivity −0.605⁎⁎⁎ −0.363⁎⁎⁎ −0.242⁎⁎⁎ conscientiousness or low levels of openness are likely to induce greater
(60.00%) (40.00%) self-control, which in turn contributed to decreasing in impulsivity.
Neuroticism—impulsivity 0.260⁎⁎⁎ 0.114⁎⁎⁎ 0.145⁎⁎⁎
Agreeableness did not enter into the mediation model for it was not
(44.23%) (55.77%)
significantly associated with impulsivity. Extraversion entered into the
⁎⁎
p < 0.01 mediation model, but the direct effect is very small (0.074), and no
⁎⁎⁎
p < 0.001. indirect effect through self-control appeared. One potential possible
reason may be that both agreeableness and extraversion had a weak
neuroticism and conscientiousness or low levels of openness are likely correlation with impulsivity and self-control in this context. Besides, the
to induce greater self-control, which in turn contributed to reducing effect value of conscientiousness is the biggest in the total effect, as well
impulsivity. as in the indirect effect. The second is neuroticism and then is openness.
Among the total effect of the Big Five Personality traits on impulsivity,
4. Discussion conscientiousness and openness have a negative effect on impulsivity,
and neuroticism has a positive effect on impulsivity. Furthermore,
The objective of the current study was to examine the mediating among the indirect effect through self-control, conscientiousness has a
role of self-control on the relationship between personality traits and negative effect on impulsivity, and neuroticism and openness have a
impulsivity. The study tested three hypotheses: (1) self-control would positive effect on impulsivity. Previous research found that con-
be related to impulsivity, (2) personality traits would be related to self- scientiousness and its secondary structures had significant correlations
control, of which conscientiousness, neuroticism, and agreeableness with many behaviors (e.g., chronotype, work performance, motivation,
would have a strong correlation with self-control while openness and health behaviors, academic performance) (Rahafar, Castellana,
extraversion would have a relatively weak correlation with self-control, Randler, & Antunez, 2017), and can also effectively explain and predict
(3) self-control would mediate the relationship between personality these behaviors. The results of this study also demonstrated that con-
traits (especially conscientiousness, neuroticism, and agreeableness) scientiousness might play a more pronounced role in predicting im-
and impulsivity. These hypotheses were mostly supported. pulsivity through self-control. Based on the results mentioned above,
Correlational results showed that there was a significant negative we can draw the conclusion that self-control plays a role in how im-
correlation between self-control and impulsivity, which was consistent pulsivity determines the personality profile that people develop: per-
with previous studies (Friese & Hofmann, 2009; Ludwig et al., 2013; haps those who are high in impulsivity consequently become more
Nebioglu et al., 2012; Wolff et al., 2016). As to the relationship between neurotic and less aggregable through a lack of self-control, while
the Big Five Personality and self-control, neuroticism was significantly something else is going on in terms of conscientiousness.
negatively associated with self-control, while other four personality Several limitations should be noted in the current study. First, this
traits (conscientiousness, agreeableness, extraversion, and openness) study had a cross-sectional design which makes it difficult to draw any
were significantly positively associated with self-control. Of the five causal relationship among the variables. In future, researchers may
personality traits, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and agreeableness conduct experimental or longitudinal studies to examine the mediation
are the closest to self-control and followed by openness and extraver- model. Second, the data relied exclusively on self-report measures and
sion. The results were similar to previous studies (Andrei et al., 2014; the sample were all from online, both multiple assessment methods and
Bazzy et al., 2017; Green et al., 2016; Schlegel et al., 2013; Vries & multiple data collecting methods may be used to further strengthen the
Gelder, 2013). It also showed the weak relationship between both validity of the findings in future studies. Another limitation is that only
openness and extraversion and self-control. As high order traits, each BIS-11 was used as dependent variable. To date, there is a growing
dimension of the Big Five Personality has some separate secondary consensus that impulsivity is a multidimensional construct containing
structures. Such as openness includes fantasy, aesthetics, feelings, ac- impulsive action and impulsive choice (Bari & Robbins, 2013; Dalley,
tions, ideas, and values; conscientiousness includes competence, order, Everitt, & Robbins, 2011; Nigg, 2017; Wang et al., 2016), which are
dutifulness, achievement striving, self-discipline, and deliberation; ex- both usually measured by behavioral tasks. However, many studies
traversion includes warmth, gregariousness, assertiveness, activity, found that there was no significant correlation between self-report and
excitement seeking and positive emotion; agreeableness includes trust, behavioral approaches to the measurement of impulsivity (Farr, Hu,
straightforwardness, altruism, compliance, modesty, and tendermind- Zhang, & Chiang-shan, 2012), suggesting that these measurement
edness; neuroticism includes anxiety, hostility, depression, self-con- modes reflected a difference between trait impulsivity and specific
sciousness, impulsiveness and vulnerability to stress (Altaras- impulsivity processes (Moeller, Barratt, Dougherty, Schmitz, & Swann,
Dimitrijevic, 2012). Therefore, from the secondary structure of the 2001). Furthermore, one study found that there was clearly neural
high-order structure of the Big Five Personality, it seems that con- dissociations between impulsive choice and impulsive action (Wang
scientiousness and neuroticism do have a better agreement with the et al., 2016). Another study reported that agreeableness was the best
concept of self-control than the other three dimensions. Therefore, predictor of interpersonal impulsivity, whereas conscientiousness was
neuroticism and conscientiousness have relatively high ability to in- the best predictor of schoolwork impulsivity (Tsukayama, Duckworth,
terpret and predict self-control. Besides, as lower-order of con- & Kim, 2013). Based on the above mentioned, further study may divide
scientiousness, deliberation seems to be the opposite of impulsivity. the multidimensional structure of impulsivity into a more detailed di-
And, impulsiveness (as lower-order of neuroticism) and excitement vision, and then further to explore the relationship between personality
seeking (as lower-order of extraversion), might be positively related to and impulsivity.
impulsivity. In future research, relationships with the secondary Despite these limitations, the current study is the first attempt to
structure characteristics of personality dimensions should be explored. investigate the relationship between personality traits, self-control, and
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