Conscientiousness and adherence to the oral contraceptive pill: a cross-sectional analysis of the facets of conscientiousness

Abstract

We examine the association between a six-facet model of conscientiousness and adherence to the Oral Contraceptive Pill (OCP), to investigate if these 6 facets can account for variation in adherence to the OCP. Cross-sectional data were collected from an opportunity sample of 243 female participants who were current users of the OCP, via online survey. Data were analysed using correlation and standard regression. The 60-item Chernyshenko Conscientiousness Scale (CCS), the 10-item IPIP Conscientiousness (IPIP C) subscale and the 5-item OCP Medication Adherence Report Scale (MARS) were employed. Both the total CCS (ρ = -0.26, p < 0.01) and the IPIP C scale (ρ = -0.22, p < 0.01) were associated with MARS. All facets measured by the CCS had small to medium-sized statistically significant correlations (r > -0.18 and r < -0.23, p < 0.05) with OCP adherence with the exception of traditionalism. Within a multivariable model, the six facets accounted for 7.1% of variance (p < 0.01) in adherence to the OCP. No one facet made a significant unique contribution to the model. These findings replicate and extend previous links between conscientiousness and OCP adherence. Further research should be conducted to establish the reliability of these findings in a general population of OCP users. Future interventions should focus on the development of interventions which take conscientiousness into consideration.

Attitudes towards social distancing in response to COVID‐19

“…We expected that personality, particularly conscientiousness, would have a direct effect on attitudes toward social distancing and adherence to the SAH order (Eustace et al, 2018;Lima et al, 2018;Molloy et al, 2014 ); however, it did not. This may be reflective of the intensity of media coverage and widespread concern in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

“…Personality traits of conscientiousness, extraversion, and neuroticism (Costa & McCrae, 1995) are likely to be relevant for understanding adherence to social distancing recommendations. For example, conscientious individuals are dutiful rules-followers and conscientiousness is predictive of health behaviors such as medication adherence (Eustace et al, 2018;Molloy et al, 2014 ) and adherence to instructions during cancer treatment (Lima et al, 2018).…”

Conscientiousness and engagement with national health behaviour guidelines

“…While research has demonstrated that conscientiousness is related to many individual health behaviours (e.g. Eustace et al, 2018;Furnham & Cheng, 2018;Steptoe, Easterlin & Kirschbaum, 2017;Wilson et al, 2016), and a few have created summary health behaviour variables which can give an indication of a healthy lifestyle more broadly (Hampson et al, 2015;Joyner et al, 2018;Takahashi et al, 2013), we are not aware of any studies which have assessed participants' adherence to national health guidelines as a benchmark for health behaviour. Therefore, this is an important finding because it highlights the value of health behaviour guideline adherence indexes for future research.…”