Within the psychological literature two main approaches can be identified as influential factors in the increase of well-being, defined in this thesis as Hedonic (SWB) vs. Eudaimonic Well-Being (PWB). One of the key qualities of the human mind is its ability to think about and act upon the future. The first approach emphasises the role of psychological strengths related to the utilisation of foresight and planning in such a way as to influence the consequences of current actions. The second approach focuses on the function of basic personality traits in the setting of goals and mental functioning. To integrate these approaches, this thesis brings together two lines of research: future-orientation and personality traits. Two longitudinal studies investigate the predictive qualities of future-orientated constructs in relation to personality traits, while also focusing on their contribution to the setting and attainment of goals and the perception of well-being. In the first study two cognitive-motivational scales, Hope and Personal Growth Initiative (PGI), were administered to measure two hundred and sixty four participants’ future-orientation. The first aim of this study was to examine the distinctiveness of these two scales in predicting well-being. Results from factor analyses cast doubt on the uniqueness of Hope and PGI, while regression analyses demonstrate Hope to be the strongest, most significant predictor of PWB and SWB. A further aim of the study was to ascertain if future-orientation could account for additional variance in the prediction of well-being, after the influence of the Eysenck’s Personality traits have been controlled for. It was indicated that individuals’ Hope levels do account for residual variance in PWB and SWB. The last aim of the study was to determine if future-orientation could contribute to long-term goal attainment and well-being. The results indicate that participant’s Hope levels did not significantly contribute to long-term goal attainment, however it had a direct, significant effect on long-term PWB. The second study, utilising 117 participants, replicated prior findings that demonstrate Hope, instead of PGI, to be the strongest, most significant predictor of both PWB and SWB. The study also extents prior research by utilising the Big-Five traits in the prediction of PWB and SWB. Factor analyses results indicate Hope to share an underlying factor structure with Openness and Conscientiousness, while PGI share an underlying factor structure with Agreeableness. It was further indicated that participants’ Hope, but not PGI, accounts for residual variance in the prediction of PWB, after controlling for the Big-Five traits. Conversely, Hope and PGI did not account for any residual variance in the prediction of SWB, instead almost 60% of the variance can be attributed to the Big-Five personality traits. Extending the first study, the aim of the second study was to ascertain attainment through independent verification and not participant self-assessment. The results indicate that participants who demonstrate greater levels of Openness and PGI tend to set higher quantitative goals. Although not predictive of goal attainment, participants with greater Openness showed higher performance on the goals. Overall, the results question the distinctiveness of Hope and PGI in the prediction of well-being. It adds to our knowledge of how psychological strengths such as future-orientation can contribute variance to the prediction of well-being after basic personality traits have been controlled for. Finally the results also add to our understanding of how personality traits, as well as, Hope and PGI independently contribute to the setting of goals.

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Women are a particularly vulnerable group when it comes to victimization while intoxicated. Personality traits and characteristics have been shown to have an impact on alcohol consumption. Previous research regarding the Big Five Personality Traits indicates higher drinking levels if a person scores high within “Extraversion” and “Neuroticism”, or scores low within the traits of “Agreeableness” and “Conscientiousness”. Concerning women, “Openness” seems to be the only personality related to alcohol consumption, but previous research is scarce. The main focus of previous research has been on the Big Five Personality Traits, people in general and alcohol consumption. Our focus was Swedish women, age range 18-50 years. We proposed that personality traits could affect alcohol consumption and because of the lack of research we specifically wanted to examine women. The results showed that personality traits have an impact on women’s alcohol consumption. In conclusion, women tend to drink more alcohol if they score high on “Extraversion” and “Neuroticism”, and, if they scored low on “Agreeableness” and “Conscientiousness”. This could mean that personality traits serves as risk factors for alcohol consumption. “Openness” and alcohol consumption showed no association. Future research should investigate how other factors combined with personality traits might affect alcohol consumption. / Kvinnor är en extra utsatt grupp när det kommer till viktimisering i samband med alkoholkonsumtion. Fortsättningsvis, vissa personlighetsdrag och karaktärsdrag har visats påverka alkoholkonsumtion. Tidigare forskning gällande Big-Five-teorin och dess personlighetsdrag indikerar vanligtvis högre nivåer av alkoholkonsumtion om en person skattar högre inom dragen “Utåtriktning” och “Känslomässig instabilitet”, eller skattar lägre inom dragen “Vänlighet” och “Målmedvetenhet”. Gällande kvinnor, draget “Öppenhet” verkar vara det enda som är kopplat till alkoholkonsumtion, men tidigare forskning är begränsad. Huvudfokuset inom tidigare forskning har varit på Big-Five-teorin, människor överlag och alkoholkonsumtion, vi ville därmed specifikt undersöka kvinnliga vanor. Vårt fokus har legat på svenska kvinnor i åldrarna 18- 50 år. Vi menade att personlighetsdrag kunde ha en påverkan på alkoholkonsumtion och ville undersöka specifikt kvinnor vad gäller detta då befintlig forskning ansågs bristfällig. Resultatet visade att olika personlighetsdrag påverkar alkoholkonsumtionen hos kvinnor. Sammanfattningsvis, kvinnor tenderar att dricka mer alkohol om de skattar högt inom “Utåtriktning” och “Känslomässig instabilitet”, och om de skattar lågt inom “Vänlighet” och “Målmedvetenhet”, vilket skulle kunna innebära att olika personlighetsdrag fungerar som riskfaktorer för alkoholkonsumtion. Dock visade “Öppenhet” inte på något samband med alkoholkonsumtion. Framtida forskning bör undersöka hur eventuellt andra faktorer kombinerat med personlighetsdrag kan ha en effekt på alkoholkonsumtion.

Objectifs. Le décrochage d’études universitaires est un comportement marquant la sortie d’un cursus avant l’obtention du diplôme le validant. Il est produit par des processus complexes se manifestant sur les lignes de fragilité du rapport entre la singularité psychique de l’étudiant et le cursus d’études dans lequel il s’inscrit et évolue. Cette thèse vise à préciser les déterminants psychosociaux à l’œuvre dans ces processus. / Introduction. Dropping out of university is a behavior related to leaving a study course without a degree. It is produced by complex processes manifested on the lines of fragility in the relationship between the psychic singularity of the student and the enrollment on specific studies. The aim of this thesis is to precise psychosocial determinants at work in these processes.

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This study tested the utility of three different models of personality, namely the social and personality model, the pathological personality traits model, and the psychological dysregulation model, in predicting overt aggression, relational aggression, and delinquency in a sample of detained boys (ages 12 to 18; M age = 15.31; SD = 1.16). Results indicated that the three personality approaches demonstrated different unique associations with aggression and delinquency. The psychological dysregulation approach, composed of behavioral dysregulation, emotional dysregulation, and cognitive dysregulation, emerged as the overall best predictor of overt aggression, relational aggression, and delinquency. After controlling for the Big Five personality traits, psychological dysregulation accounted for significant variance in overt aggression and delinquency, but not relational aggression. After controlling for callous-unemotional traits and narcissistic traits, psychological dysregulation also accounted for significant variance in overt aggression, relational aggression, and delinquency. Psychological dysregulation did not account for significant variance in aggression or delinquency after controlling for borderline traits. The pathological personality traits approach, comprised of callous-unemotional traits, narcissistic traits, and borderline traits performed second best. In particular, within this approach borderline traits accounted for the most unique variance, followed by narcissistic traits, then callous-unemotional traits. Borderline traits accounted for significant variance in overt aggression, relational aggression, and delinquency when controlling for the Big Five traits, but not after controlling for psychological dysregulation. Narcissistic traits only accounted for significant variance in overt aggression and relational aggression after controlling for the Big Five personality traits, but not after controlling for psychological dysregulation. CU traits only accounted for significant variance in overt aggression after controlling for the Big Five personality traits, but not after controlling for psychological dysregulation. The social and personality model, represented by the Big Five personality traits accounted for the least amount of variance in the prediction of aggression and delinquency, on its own, and when pitted against the other two personality approaches. The exception was that the Big Five personality traits accounted for significant variance in relational aggression beyond narcissistic traits, as well as psychological dysregulation. These findings have implications for assessment and intervention with aggressive and antisocial youth.

<p dir="ltr">Automaticity, an essential attribute of skill, is developed when a task is executed repeatedly with minimal attention and can have both good (e.g., productivity, skill acquisitions) and bad (e.g., accident involvement) implications on workers’ performance. However, the implications of automaticity in construction are unknown despite their significance. To address this knowledge gap, this research aimed to examine methods that are indicative of the development of automaticity on construction sites and its implications on construction safety and productivity. The objectives of the dissertation include: 1) examining the development of automaticity during the repetitive execution of a primary task of roofing construction and a concurrent secondary task (a computer-generated audio-spatial processing task) to measure attentional resources; 2) using eye-tracking metrics to distinguish between automatic and nonautomatic subjects and determine the significant factors contributing to the odds of automatic behavior; 3) determining which personal characteristics (such as personality traits and mindfulness dimensions) better explain the variability in the attention of workers while developing automaticity. To achieve this objective, 28 subjects were recruited to take part in a longitudinal study involving a total of 22 repetitive sessions of a simulated roofing task. The task involves the installation of 17 pieces of 25 ft2 shingles on a low-sloped roof model that was 8 ft wide, 8 ft long, and 4 ft high for one month in a laboratory. The collected data was analyzed using multiple statistical and data mining techniques such as repeated measures analysis of variance (RM-ANOVA), pairwise comparisons, principal component analysis (PCA), support vector machine (SVM), binary logistic regression (BLR), relative weight analyses (RWA), and advanced bootstrapping techniques to address the research questions. First, the findings showed that as the experiment progressed, there were significant improvements in the mean automatic performance measures such as the mean primary task duration, mean primary task accuracy, and mean secondary task score over the repeated measurements (p-value < 0.05). These findings were used to demonstrate that automaticity develops during repetitive construction activities. This is because these automatic performance measures provide an index for assessing feature-based changes that are synonymous with automaticity development. Second, this study successfully used supervised machine learning methods including SVM to classify subjects (with an accuracy of 76.8%) based on their eye-tracking data into automatic and nonautomatic states. Also, BLR was used to estimate the probability of exhibiting automaticity based on eye-tracking metrics and ascertain the variables significantly contributing to it. Eye-tracking variables collected towards safety harness and anchor, hammer, and work area AOIs were found to be significant predictors (p < 0.05) of the probability of exhibiting automatic behavior. Third, the results revealed that higher levels of agreeableness significantly impact increased levels of change in attention to productivity-related cues during automatic behavior. Additionally, higher levels of nonreactivity to inner experience significantly reduce the changes in attention to safety-related AOIs while developing automaticity. The findings of this study provide metrics to assess training effectiveness. The findings of this study can be used by practitioners to better understand the positive and negative consequences of developing automaticity, measure workers’ performance more accurately, assess training effectiveness, and personalize learning for workers. In long term, the findings of this study will also aid in improving human-AI teaming since the AI will be better able to understand the cognitive state of its human counterpart and can more precisely adapt to him or her.</p>