Personality Beyond the Big Five

Preregistration: Personality Beyond the Big Five This preregistration presents a secondary data analysis (Weston et al., 2019) of pooled data sets to test the relationship between autism characteristics as measured by the Autism Quotient Scale (AQ; Baron-Cohen et al., 2001) and measurements of personality beyond the Big Five in a large, age-diverse sample of individuals. Description Since Leo Kanner’s report in 1943, we have learned a great deal about autism. Most recently in the area, DSM-V brought about many changes to the diagnostic criteria and categorization of individuals with autism (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Social Communication Disorder (SCD) came to replace categories formerly named Autistic Disorder, Asperger’s Syndrome, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS). Despite the change in classification, we continue to struggle with the immense heterogeneity of autism and the problems that presents for treatment. Such heterogeneity impedes the progress of clinical trials and evidence-based treatments (Masi et al., 2017). Suggestions have been made to create sub-groups in order to provide the best treatment for these individuals. A study utilized a two factor/three class approach to stratify such a diverse population. Despite being able to create three distinct subgroups, there was still heterogeneity within the subgroups (Georgiades et al., 2013). Another study identified four distinct subgroups of adults with elevated ASD characteristics using Big Five personality traits (Schwartzman et al., 2016). While these findings point towards evidence of multiple autisms with distinct phenotypic profiles (Tordjman et al., 2018), the authors discovered that a great deal of variability remained within the subgroups. Instead of seeing the variability as an impediment to research, it could be argued that variability could be used as leverage when focusing on the individual. In looking at the individual personality trait profiles, there may be patterns and groups that can be identified rather than predefining clusters and groups. This allows for the opportunity to analyze individual differences to create better treatment options for those with autism characteristics. Personality psychology provides the necessary framework to better understand the complex heterogeneity of autism characteristics. A targeted trait therapy could be beneficial for both clinicians and their clients. This focus on unique traits allows for a more personable and individualized treatment as opposed to wholesale, “one-size-fits-all” approaches. Rather than treating a generic diagnosis, clinicians would be able to treat their client for specific behaviors or symptoms to provide optimal, customizable care (Lengel et al., 2016). In the realm of personality psychology, many tend to solely rely on the traits known as the Big Five. Current research shows that ASD characteristics are associated with lower levels of the Big Five personality traits. However, despite seeing lower levels, that does not imply that the trait levels are homogenous in those with ASD. Further, modern personality psychology conceptualizes personality as far more than just the Big Five. Personality beyond the Big Five must be considered to comprehensively articulate the relationship between autism and the complex concept of personality. Such concepts include; attachment, Dark Triad, grit, alexithymia, goals, self-concept clarity, self-esteem, resilience, and purpose (Lodi-Smith et al., 2019). Understanding that personality is more than just the Big Five creates, “an integrative framework for understanding how every person is like all other persons, like some persons, and like no person” (McAdams & Pals, 2006, p. 215). The characteristic adaptations like the aforementioned ones contribute to our uniqueness, further exemplified through our personal narratives and culture (McAdams & Pals, 2006). Hypothesis Due to the lack of research in the area and where research does exist, conflicting findings, we will not create independent hypotheses for each of the personality measures. As the Big Five solely has dominated personality psychology, it is pertinent to explore other measures of personality. In doing so, we hope to help capture the nomological net of personality in the context of autism. Data The planned analyses will be conducted across pooled data (N = 739) from two online samples in which participants completed the AQ. Sample 1 is primarily comprised of undergraduate students and their family members (n = 372, Mage = 23.04, SDage = 23.04, age range = 18 - 63) who completed the AQ for course credit as part of studies by our research team investigating personality in the context of ASD. Sample 2 is primarily older adults (n = 367, Mage = 65.53, SDage = 14.82, age range = 18 - 97) who participated in a study of autism and aging funded by NIH Grant #R21 AG059051-01. Sample 2 participants were primarily recruited through paid advertisements and mailers and entered into a monthly drawing for $100 for their participation. All data was collected with approval of our institution’s IRB and met the APA ethical guidelines for human subjects research. All data is recorded and stored online via REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture) electronic data capture tools hosted at Canisius College. REDCap is a secure, web-based application designed to support data capture for research studies, providing 1) an intuitive interface for validated data entry; 2) audit trails for tracking data manipulation and export procedures; 3) automated export procedures for seamless data downloads to common statistical packages; and 4) procedures for importing data from external sources (Harris et al., 2009). While the primary recruitment effort for the sample is complete, the surveys are not closed to the public at the point of preregistration and the final sample size included in the analyses may vary slightly from this estimate if new individuals participate or an individual skipped a target questionnaire. These data sets are not publically available at the time of preregistration. Data and code for the analyses described below will be posted to the parent OSF for this registration when presenting and submitting findings. Prior Knowledge of the Data & Prior Research Activity The authors have presented findings from this sample in the following manuscripts and at the following professional conferences: -Lodi-Smith, J., Rodgers, J.D., Kozlowski, K.F., Khan, S., Marquez Luna, V., Long, C., Donnelly, J.P., Lopata, C., & Thomeer, M.L. (under review). Autism characteristics and self-reported health in older adulthood. Under review at The Journals of Gerontology, Series B. -Lodi-Smith, J., Rodgers, J.D., Marquez Luna, V., Khan, S., Long, C., Kozlowski, K.F., Donnelly, J.P., Lopata, C., & Thomeer, M.L. (in press). The relationship of age to the Autism-Spectrum Quotient Scale in a large sample of adults. In press at Autism in Adulthood. -Rodgers, J.D., Lodi-Smith, J., Hill, P.H., Spain, S.M., Lopata, C., & Thomeer, M.L. (2018). Personality traits and self-concept clarity mediate the relationship between autism spectrum disorder characteristics and well-being. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 48, 307 – 315. -Lodi-Smith, J. & Rodgers, J.D. (2018, March). Autism Spectrum Disorder and Functional Personality Maturation across the Lifespan. Talk presented at the Personality Dynamics, Processes, and Functioning Preconference at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Atlanta, GA. -Lodi-Smith, J. & Rodgers, J.D. (2020, November). Desired personality trait change and autism spectrum disorder. Poster presented at the 2020 Geneva Centre for Autism Symposium (Virtual Symposium), Montreal. -Lodi-Smith, J., Rodgers, J.D., Khan, S., Long, C., Marquez Luna, V., Kozlowski, K., Donnelly, J.P., Lopata, C., & Thomeer, M.L. (2020, November). Autism characteristics and self-reported health in older adulthood. Poster presented at the 2020 Geneva Centre for Autism Symposium (Virtual Symposium), Montreal. -Lodi-Smith, J., Rodgers, J.D., Marquez Luna, V., Khan, S., Long, C., Kozlowski, K., Donnelly, J.P., Lopata, C., & Thomeer, M.L. (2020, November). The relationship of age to the Autism-Spectrum Quotient scale in a large sample of adults. Poster presented at the 2020 Geneva Centre for Autism Symposium (Virtual Symposium), Montreal. -Virginia, H.J., Brennan, S., Lodi-Smith, J., & Rodgers, J.D. (2018, April). The Relationship of Personal Variability to Symptoms and Outcomes in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Poster presented at the Canisius College 2018 Ignatian Scholarship Day, Buffalo, NY. -DiMayo, S., Rosenthal, M., Stoll, M.M., Virginia, H.J., Lodi-Smith, J., Rodgers, J.D., & the Canisius Identity Development Lab (2017, April). Individuals with high autism spectrum disorder characteristics evidence differences in self-defining memories. Poster presented at the Canisius College 2017 Ignatian Scholarship Day, Buffalo, NY. We have worked with data from these samples on the relationship between the AQ and age (https://osf.io/evh6f/); AQ and healthy aging (https://osf.io/nc3m7); and AQ, self-concept clarity, self-esteem, purpose, and Big Five traits in some of the student data (Rodgers et al., 2018). We are aware of the descriptive statistics for and relationship between variables used in these studies but not of the relationship between these variables and other measures of personality beyond the Big Five. Data already included in our prior work (Rodgers et al., 2018) will not be included in the present manuscript. A research assistant blind to study hypotheses and not involved with this preregistration or analyses has developed R scripts to extract data and descriptive statistics from REDCap but these have not been shared with the authors of this preregistration and no analyses beyon

Fetched live from OpenAlex and de-inverted. Abstracts are not stored in this database: the inverted indexes are 8.6 GB of the frame’s 9.3 GB of text, and the host has 13 GB free.