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Background: The present study aimed to explore women's perception of men with different addictions in terms of their short- and long-term mate value. Objectives: 2,525 women (age range: 18–40, M = 28.35, SD = 6.39) were randomized to six conditions in a vignette-based experiment where a male of otherwise high mating value was described as suffering from either gambling, gaming, cannabis, anabolic androgenic steroid, and alcohol addiction or as not suffering from addiction (control). Results: Regarding long-term mate value of the target, the control target was rated higher than each of the targets. The gaming target was rated higher than the alcohol, cannabis, and gambling targets. Finally, the AAS target was rated as higher on long-term mate value than the alcohol and gambling addiction targets. Conclusions: Overall, women seem to perceive risk-taking in the face of uncertainty, reflected by gambling addiction, as an attractive behavioral tendency in men in terms of short-term mating. In contrast, potential long-term mates with gaming or chemical addictions are viewed more negatively, probably because it signals inadequate time and resources to be invested in a relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The present study investigates the longitudinal relationship between problematic gambling (PG) and the five factor model's personality traits using autoregressive cross-lagged models. Methods: The data used in the current study was collected by a national survey in 2013 (n = 10,081) and a follow-up study (n = 5,848) in 2015. PG was measured using Canadian Problem Gambling Index (CPGI) while personality was assessed using Mini-International Personality Item Pool (MINI-IPIP). Participants who completed the CPGI and all the personality items during both waves (n = 2,702) were analysed. Results: The results show that neuroticism had positive cross-lagged associations with CPGI. In contrast, conscientiousness and agreeableness in 2013 were found to have inverse cross-lagged effect on CPGI in 2015. Finally, openness and extraversion did not have any cross-lagged associations with CPGI. Conclusion: PG poses serious negative implications for the involved individuals as well as their associated close social circle. Hence, it is important to understand predictors of PG for prevention purposes. Personality traits are one of the influential frameworks for examining uncontrolled psychopathological behaviors like PG. The study findings offer significant theoretical as well as practical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The aim of the present meta-analysis was to synthesize results from the association between problem gambling (PG) and dimensions of the five factor model of personality and to identify potential moderators (gambling diagnosis: yes/no, comorbidity: yes/no and trait assessment: four or fewer items vs. five items or more) of these associations in meta-regressions. Methods: Searches were conducted in six databases; Medline, Web of Science, PsychInfo, Google Scholar, OpenGrey, and Cochrane Library (conducted on February, 22, 2021). Included studies: (1) reported a relationship between PG and at least one of the personality traits in the five-factor model, (2) contained information of zero-order correlations or sufficient data for such calculations, and (3) were original articles published in any European language. Case-studies, qualitative studies, and reviews were excluded. All articles were independently screened by two authors. Final agreement was reached through discussion or by consulting a third author. Risk of bias of the included studies was assessed by the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Data were synthesized using a random effects model. Results: In total 28 studies, comprising 20,587 participants, were included. The correlations between PG and the traits were as follows: Neuroticism: 0.273 (95% CI = 0.182, 0.358), conscientiousness −0.296 (95% CI = −0.400, −0.185), agreeableness −0.163 (95% CI = −0.223, −0.101), openness −0.219 (95% CI = −0.308, −0.127), and extroversion −0.083 (95% CI = −0.120, −0.046). For all meta-analyses the between study heterogeneity was significant. Presence of gambling diagnosis was the only moderator that significantly explained between-study variance showing a more negative correlation to extroversion when participants had a gambling diagnosis compared to when this was not the case. Discussion: The results indicated some publication bias. Correcting for this by a trim-and-fill procedure showed however that the findings were consistent. Clinicians and researchers should be aware of the associations between personality traits and PG. Previous studies have for example showed neuroticism to be related to treatment relapse, low scores on conscientiousness to predict treatment drop-out and agreeableness to reduce risk of treatment drop-out. Systematic Review Registration: PROSPERO (CRD42021237225). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tools for reliable assessment of socially sensitive or transgressive behavior warrant constant development. Among them, the Crosswise Model (CM) has gained considerable attention. We systematically reviewed and meta-analyzed empirical applications of CM and addressed a gap for quality assessment of indirect estimation models. Guided by the PRISMA protocol, we identified 45 empirical studies from electronic database and reference searches. Thirty of these were comparative validation studies (CVS) comparing CM and direct question (DQ) estimates. Six prevalence studies exclusively used CM. One was a qualitative study. Behavior investigated were substance use and misuse (k = 13), academic misconduct (k = 8), and corruption, tax evasion, and theft (k = 7) among others. Majority of studies (k = 39) applied the "more is better" hypothesis. Thirty-five studies relied on birthday distribution and 22 of these used P = 0.25 for the non-sensitive item. Overall, 11 studies were assessed as high-, 31 as moderate-, and two as low quality (excluding the qualitative study). The effect of non-compliance was assessed in eight studies. From mixed CVS results, the meta-analysis indicates that CM outperforms DQ on the "more is better" validation criterion, and increasingly so with higher behavior sensitivity. However, little difference was observed between DQ and CM estimates for items with DQ prevalence estimate around 50%. Based on empirical evidence available to date, our study provides support for the superiority of CM to DQ in assessing sensitive/transgressive behavior. Despite some limitations, CM is a valuable and promising tool for population level investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between anabolic-androgenic steroid (AAS) use and aggression and psychological distress requires further elucidation. No previous study has examined whether the latent patterns of aggression and psychological distress are the same in male and female AAS users. Multigroup latent class analysis (MLCA) can be used to classify individuals into groups based on their responses on a set of variables, and to investigate measurement invariance across subgroups. We therefore conducted a MLCA to identify discrete subgroups of aggression and psychological distress in AAS users, and used measurement invariance to examine whether the identified subgroups can be applied to both sexes. We also examined the relationship between sex and subgroup belongingness. The sample comprised 206 AAS users (females = 58.30%) aged 14–56 (mean = 26.86, SD = 7.12) years. They completed questionnaires assessing demographics, AAS use, aggression, and psychological distress. Based on the MLCA, five subgroups were identified: high aggression moderate distress users (HAMoD: 07.63%), moderate aggression distress users (18.64%), moderate direct aggression-mild indirect aggression moderate distress users (22.95%), mild direct aggression-moderate indirect aggression-distress users (11.71%), and low aggression mild distress users (LAMiD: 39.06%). Although a homogenous five-class solution was the best model for both sexes, sex was significantly associated with the probability of subgroup membership. In particular, members of the HAMoD subgroup were more likely to be male whereas members of the LAMiD subgroup were more likely to be female. Our study provides novel empirical evidence of the idiosyncratic patterns of aggression and psychological distress among male and female AAS users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Physical attractiveness is a major motive for anabolic-androgenic steroid (AAS) use. Since majority of AAS users are men, we investigated heterosexual women's ratings of the physical, sexual and romantic attractiveness of AAS-using and non-using men. Methods: A sample of 112 AAS-non-using heterosexual women (age range: 15–81, M = 29.61 years) was randomized to two independent conditions: food (n = 50) and AAS (n = 62). After exposure to a vignette (varied in AAS use or food consumption) and the target image of a moderately muscular man (same across conditions), participants in both conditions rated their respective target on physical, short-term sexual, and long-term romantic attractiveness. We compared ratings of the two targets using an independent t-test. Results: Compared to the non-using target, the AAS-using target received lower ratings (t = −2.61, p <.05, Cohen's d = 0.50) on long-term romantic attractiveness. Conclusion: Heterosexual women rate perceived AAS-using men as less attractive for long-term romantic relationships. Preventive and harm reduction interventions may benefit from highlighting this finding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is a dearth of longitudinal studies on risk factors for anabolic–androgenic steroid (AAS) use and intent. Objectives: We conducted a longitudinal investigation of factors associated with AAS use intent from age 18 to 19, examining particularly the role of physical and verbal aggression. A sample of Norwegians completed questionnaires containing demographic, AAS use and intent, other addictions, aggression, and health measures at ages 18 (N = 1333, females = 58.9%) and 19 (N = 1277, females = 61.7%). The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlations, and hierarchical multiple regression. Results: Results show that AAS use prevalence increased from 1 person at age 18 to 4 persons at age 19. Intent to use AAS, being male, living alone, and AAS use (all at 18 years) were associated with higher AAS use intent at 19 years. We found no associations between physical or verbal aggression and AAS use intent from ages 18 to 19. Conclusions: Our findings indicate temporal stability in AAS use intent, as well as the influence of demographic and health factors on AAS use intent from ages 18 to 19. Implications of findings for practice and future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers have been showing growing interest in the relationship between personality and mate retentions behaviors. There is evidence that the Dark Triad of personality (i.e., Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) may be associated with mate retention behavior in romantic relationships. Yet, most of the mentioned studies have been conducted in Western samples. The present study aimed to examine the relationship between the Dark Triad and mate retention behaviors in Iranian married individuals. Descriptive statistics and evaluation of sex differences suggested that Iranian men scored significantly higher on domains of mate retention. Women scored higher on narcissism. Correlational analyses indicated that Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy are positively correlated with Benefit-Provisioning, Cost-Inflicting, and overall mate retention. Therefore, individuals who score higher on the Dark Triad traits employ mate retention strategies to prevent dissolution of their marital relationships. The findings are clearly consistent with previous findings in Western cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is the first to directly investigate the relationship between the Dark Triad traits and considering cosmetic surgery. The sample consisted of 222 university students, aged between 18 and 37 ( M = 24.59, SD = 4.17), from Tehran, Iran. Participants completed the Short Dark Triad scale and 'consider' subscale of Acceptance of Cosmetic Surgery Scale. Descriptive statistics and evaluation of sex differences suggested that psychopathy was significantly higher in men and considering cosmetic surgery was significantly higher in women. Correlational analyses showed that psychopathy was associated with considering cosmetic surgery in men and women. Machiavellianism was associated with considering cosmetic surgery in women, but not men. Narcissism was not found to be related to considering cosmetic surgery. Findings of this study indicated that psychopathy is associated with considering cosmetic surgery. Moreover, sex moderated the relationship between Machiavellianism and considering cosmetic surgery. Implications of this exploratory study and future directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective:This study aimed to investigate the associations between perfectionism cognitions, religiosity and the desired number of children in young women. Background:The desired number of children has been found to correlate with personality and individual difference. Methods:A sample of 281 women was selected from university settings in Tehran, Iran. Participants ranged in age from 18 to 39 years (M = 23.7, SD = 3.7). All participants responded to a paper-and-pencil survey consisting of measures of perfectionism cognitions, intrinsic religiosity and the desired number of children. Results:Bivariate correlations indicated that, as hypothesised, perfectionism cognitions were negatively associated with the number of children desired (p < .05). Additionally, intrinsic religiosity was positively associated with the desired number of children (p < .01). Finally, regression analysis suggested that, as hypothesised, perfectionism cognitions and intrinsic religiosity could significantly predict the desired number of children (R2 = .19). Conclusion:Findings of the present study were explained in the light of an evolutionary approach on reproductive psychology. Those with high perfectionistic cognitions desire a smaller number of children and more religious women desire a larger number of children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Dark Triad traits—Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy—have been considered as socially aversive personality traits. Evolutionary studies on the Dark Triad and mating behavior suggest that these traits may serve as adaptive mechanisms in different mating contexts, especially short-term mating orientation. Using a sample from Iran ( N = 281), we examined the associations between the Dark Triad and long-term mate preferences in women. Psychopathy was negatively associated with preference for Kindness/Dependability and Religiosity/Chastity. Moreover, narcissism was positively associated with preference for Status/Resources, Attractiveness/Sexuality, and Education/Intelligence. The associations between Machiavellianism and the dimensions of mate preferences were statistically non-significant. Limitations of the study are noted and the findings are discussed in the light of evolutionary approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study investigated the psychometric properties of the Persian translation of the Mate Retention Inventory–Short Form (MRI-SF) in Iran. We also investigated sex differences in the use of mate retention tactics and investigated the relationships between mate retention behaviors and a number of related cultural constructs. Participants (N =308) ranged in age from 18 to 57 years. All participants were in a committed romantic relationship, with mean relationship length of 63.5 months (SD=73.8). Participants completed the Persian translation of the MRI-SF and measures of religiosity, relationship satisfaction, self-esteem, and socioeconomic status. Cultural measures specific to Iran were also included, such as Mahr (for married individuals), self-perceived Qeiratiness (for men), and self-perceived jealousy (for women). Mahr is a mandatory amount of money or possessions paid or promised to be paid by the groom to the bride at the time of the marriage contract. Qeirati is a male-specific adjective in Persian meaning protective against unwanted attention toward a man’s romantic partner. Female jealousy is usually regarded the counterpart of male Qeiratiness in Iranian culture. The 19 mate retention tactics formed a two-component structure, consistent with previous research. Results demonstrate adequate internal consistency of 2-item assessments of mate retention tactics. Observed sex differences accorded with previous mate retention research and are discussed in reference to evolutionary perspectives on human mating. Several significant associations emerged between mate retention tactics and Iranian culture-specific variables and are discussed from a cross-cultural perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]