Big Five personality traits, BIS/BAS dimensions and meteoropathy: a mediation model.

Background: The main goal of this cross-sectional study was to assess the relationship between Big Five personality traits and meteoropathy and the role of the behavioural activation system (BAS) and the behavioural inhibition system (BIS) as mediators in this relationship.

Participants and procedure: The sample consisted of 1,336 women and men gathered via the online recruitment platform from the general population. The participants' ages ranged from 18 to 76 years (M = 29.52, SD = 11.67). The Polish version of the Ten Item Personality Inventory was used to assess Big Five personality traits. The BIS and BAS were diagnosed using the Polish version of the original BIS/BAS scales. Meteoropathy was assessed using the Polish adaptation of the METEO-Q questionnaire.

Results: Meteoropathy correlated negatively with emotional stability and positively with the BIS level and BAS Reward Responsiveness. BIS negatively correlated with emotional stability. The correlations between meteoropathy and other personality variables were nonsignificant. The analysis indicated a significant indirect relationship between emotional stability and meteoropathy through BIS. We demonstrated the importance of neuroticism (low emotional stability) and the BIS dimension for the development of meteoropathy symptoms.

Conclusions: Neuroticism and the BIS dimension were important for the development of meteoropathy symptoms. The results may be helpful in assessing the risk of developing meteoropathy in a healthy population.