Obsessive-compulsive severity, gender, and religiosity as predictors of personality trait scores

Abstract

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) impacts 1%—4% of the United States population. Scrupulosity, or obsessions related to morality and religion, is the fifth most common obsession. Although clinicians and researchers may have ample assessment information about their clients, such as OCD severity, gender, and religious background, little research in the field has shown how these variables relate to personality factors. Using Amazon's Mechanical Turk, we recruited 230 participants to (a) determine if scrupulosity were predictive of openness and neuroticism while accounting for gender, OCD severity, and religiosity; (b) investigate whether religious identity interacted with scrupulosity when predicting openness and neuroticism; and (c) examine if gender identity contributed to openness and neuroticism. Using linear mixed models, we found that higher scrupulosity predicted lower levels of openness across all religious groups, and that higher scrupulosity was associated with higher negative emotionality for nonreligious individuals. Implications for practice and continued research are discussed.