van de Berg Robert, Dirani Mohamed, Chen Christine Y, Haslam Nicholas, Baird Paul N
Centre for Eye Research Australia, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2008 Mar;49(3):882-6. doi: 10.1167/iovs.07-0930.
A long-held view among the medical and broader community is that people who are short-sighted (myopic persons) have distinctive personality characteristics such as introversion and conscientiousness. However, existing research on this question is flawed, and its findings are inconsistent. The authors therefore aimed to determine whether myopia and personality are associated.
The authors examined twins recruited through the Australian Twin Registry and a clinical-based family sample through a proband from a Melbourne Excimer Laser Clinic. There was no relation between family members and twins recruited in our study. Each individual underwent a full eye examination, completed a standard medical and general questionnaire, and was administered a five-factor model International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) inventory (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism). Myopia was defined as worse than or equal to -0.50 (DS) spherical equivalent in the eye with the least refractive error.
Data from 633 individual twins aged 18 to 83 years (mean, 53.04 years) and 278 family members aged 11 to 90 years (mean, 49.84 years) were analyzed. Prevalence of myopia was 35.7% for twins and 47.6% for family members. Mean spherical equivalent was +0.13 DS (95% CI, +/-0.16) for twins and -1.13 DS (95% CI, +/-0.25) for family members. Correlation and regression results for personality for both sample cohorts after multivariate analysis did not support the view that myopic persons are introverted or conscientious; however, there was a significant but small association between myopia and Agreeableness (r = 0.08, P < 0.05). In multivariate analysis with age, sex, education, and the five personality factors entered as predictors, Openness was the only significant personality predictor of myopia in both samples.
This is the first multivariate study to assess links between personality and myopia using the IPIP. The long-held view that myopic persons are introverted and conscientious may reflect intelligence-related stereotypes rather than real correlations. Furthermore, the predictive characteristic of intellect, subsumed in Openness, appeared to be representative of a previously reported link between intellective abilities (IQ) and myopia rather than personality and myopia.
医学界及更广泛的群体长期以来一直认为，近视的人（近视者）具有独特的性格特征，如内向和尽责。然而，关于这个问题的现有研究存在缺陷，其结果也不一致。因此，作者旨在确定近视与性格是否相关。
作者通过澳大利亚双胞胎登记处招募了双胞胎，并通过墨尔本准分子激光诊所的一名先证者选取了一个基于临床的家庭样本。我们研究中招募的家庭成员与双胞胎之间没有关联。每个个体都接受了全面的眼部检查，完成了一份标准的医学和一般问卷，并接受了五因素模型国际个性项目池（IPIP）量表（开放性、尽责性、外向性、宜人性、神经质）的测试。近视被定义为屈光不正最小的眼睛的等效球镜度数小于或等于-0.50（DS）。
分析了633名年龄在18至83岁（平均53.04岁）的双胞胎个体和278名年龄在11至90岁（平均49.84岁）的家庭成员的数据。双胞胎的近视患病率为35.7%，家庭成员为47.6%。双胞胎的平均等效球镜度数为+0.13 DS（95%可信区间，±0.16），家庭成员为-1.13 DS（95%可信区间，±0.25）。多变量分析后两个样本队列的性格相关性和回归结果不支持近视者内向或尽责的观点；然而，近视与宜人性之间存在显著但较小的关联（r = 0.08，P < 0.05）。在将年龄、性别、教育程度和五个性格因素作为预测变量的多变量分析中，开放性是两个样本中近视唯一显著的性格预测因素。
这是第一项使用IPIP评估性格与近视之间联系的多变量研究。长期以来认为近视者内向且尽责的观点可能反映了与智力相关的刻板印象，而非真实的相关性。此外，包含在开放性中的智力的开放性这一预测特征，似乎代表了先前报道的智力能力（智商）与近视之间的联系，而非性格与近视之间的联系。
