Hi y’all. Sorry about the delay since my last post. February is a busy month for my family, so I let some things fall by the wayside.

I’m back with another installment of analysis about the men’s rights subreddit. In Part 1, I went into some of the basic demographics of the movement – analyzing how the men’s rights Reddit community breaks down in terms of race, sex, gender, age, and education. I also presented data on variables like religiosity/spirituality, political orientation, employment, and the geographic distribution of the community. I got some great feedback on that post, and I have some interesting ideas for future analyses related to those variables. Speaking of which – if you think of some type of analysis you’d be curious to see while reading this post, please mention it!

In the meantime, I want to continue on with the larger-scale analyses that I’d planned from the beginning. Today, I will present data on the Big Five personality factors.

One of the most widely-utilized models of personality within the psychological sciences is the Big Five Factor Model. The five factors of this model are Neuroticism (sometimes framed in the reverse light as Emotional Stability), Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Intellect/Imagination (referred to as Openness to Experience in some personality research). A large number of scales are available to assess these personality factors, ranging from very long (e.g., the IPIP-NEO-120), to mid-length (e.g., Berkeley’s BFI) to very short (e.g., the TIPI). For this study, I decided to use the IPIP-BFM-20 (International Personality Item Pool – Big Five Factor Markers – 20-item version). I chose this particular scale for two reasons:

A) This scale contains only 20 items, meaning it would be quick for participants to complete (thus helping to avoid participant fatigue, given the many other variables measured in this study).

B) This scale was developed and refined using data from a Polish sample (although translated back into English for publication). The items on this scale differ (though only slightly) from another 20-item scale developed through testing on American samples (the Mini-IPIP). It is not clear whether the slightly different factor loadings of items contained within each scale is directly due to the IPIP-BFM-20 having been developed through Polish data, or if it is due to the IPIP-BFM-20 having been developed through non-American data. I placed my hope in the latter – and because I expected to find a sizable non-American contingent (perhaps even the majority) within my Reddit sample, I hoped that the IPIP-BFM-20 would give me a reliable measure of personality for non-US residents, while still adequately measuring Americans (due to its overall similarity to the Mini-IPIP).

Before describing the data, it would be useful for everyone to have an understanding each of the Big Five personality dimensions. I think the Society for Judgment & Decision-Making (SJDM) has a brilliantly brief synopsis of what each personality factor measures as well as the way high/low scores are interpreted. See also Wikipedia’s article on the Big Five. If, for some reason, the SJDM website is unavailable, here is the word-for-word text of their page:

“Openness is characterized by originality, curiosity, and ingenuity. This factor is sometimes referred to as Culture because of its emphasis on intellectualism, polish, and independence of mind. This factor is also sometimes referred to as Intellect because of its emphasis on intelligence, sophistication, and reflection.

Conscientiousness is characterized by orderliness, responsibility, and dependability. This factor is sometimes referred to as Dependability.

Extraversion is characterized by talkativeness, assertiveness, and energy. This factor is sometimes referred to as Surgency.

Agreeableness is characterized by good-naturedness, cooperativeness, and trust. While this factor is most commonly called Agreeableness, it can also be seen as a combination of friendliness and compliance.

Neuroticism is characterized by upsetability and is the polar opposite of emotional stability. This factor is sometimes scored in the opposite direction and referred to as Emotional Stability.”

You’ll notice that I will be referring to “Openness” as “Intellect/Imagination” instead. That is because the authors of the scale I used to measure these personality factors used that term. I respect their judgment that the items of their reduced scale more accurately reflect Intellect/Imagination than other titles for that personality dimension. However, the same is not true for Neuroticism (which is labeled “Emotional Stability” in the IPIP-BFM-20). Because Neuroticism/Emotional Stability are merely opposite framings of the same construct, I will use the term I prefer.

On to the data!

In the present sample, the reliability of the Extraversion subscale was very good (Cronbach’s α = 0.85); reliability of the Agreeableness subscale was good (α = 0.78); reliability of the Conscientiousness subscale was sufficient (α = 0.71); and reliability of the Neuroticism subscale was sufficient (α = 0.71). The Intellect/Imagination subscale was found to have sub-par reliability in this sample (α = 0.61), although comparable to that observed by Topolewska et al. (creators of the IPIP-BFM-20; 0.61-0.65; see Table 3) and only slightly below that observed by Donellan et al. (creators of the Mini-IPIP; 0.65-0.7; see Table 1). Results are still presented, but one must be wary of drawing firm conclusions based upon scales with less-than-optimal reliability.

The first analysis I performed on these personality factors was a comparison between Expert and Lay redditors. See Part 0.5 of this series for a review of what makes an Expert vs. Layperson. Independent samples t-tests revealed no significant differences between these groups. Similarly, no significant differences were observed between U.S. residents and non-residents on any personality factor (the implications of the lack of differences here will be made clear later in this post).

Also of interest to readers may be possible sex differences on these personality factors. Only one significant difference was observed between male and female redditors: Females (M=2.53, SD=0.91) were significantly lower in Conscientiousness than their male peers (M=3.07, SD=0.87), t(214)=2.296, p = .023. However, this finding is very possibly just an artifact of the small number of females who completed the Big Five personality scale (n=15).

Here is a table depicting means, standard deviations, and alpha for the present study on each personality factor. Keep in mind that these scores are on a scale from 1-5 (so 3 is the midpoint).

Personality Dimension Mean St. Dev. Cronbach’s α Extraversion 2.61 0.97 0.85 Agreeableness 3.91 0.78 0.78 Conscientiousness 3.03 0.87 0.71 Neuroticism 2.00 0.82 0.71 Intellect/Imagination 4.20 0.58 0.61

How do the people of r/MensRights differ from the wider population? This is a difficult question to answer. There are many different scales measuring the Big Five, and I have not been able to find normed data for any of them. The closest I have found is data from a study by Srivastava, John, Gosling, & Potter. In an online supplement to this article (found in downloadable format here, under the heading “Are there norms for the BFI?”), they provide means and standard deviations for participants of each age, ranging from 21-60. For the sake of getting some idea of how MensRights redditors may differ from the general population, I used these data.

In order to compare between the data published by Srivastava et al. and my own, I needed to transform the data. I elected to average scores across the age ranges I presented in Part 1 to allow me to use larger comparison samples from the Reddit data. This was done in part because I had to limit the analyses to data from U.S.-based redditors (because the data from Srivastava et al. is from the U.S.). The age ranges I will present analyses for are 21-30 (n=51), 31-40 (n=22), and 41-50 (n=15). U.S. Participants from the Reddit sample under age 21 and over age 60 were excluded because Srivastava and colleagues did not present data for those age ranges. Participants ranging in age from 51-60 were excluded from these analyses because after limiting the data to U.S. residents so few people (n=4) fell into this subset that the comparison would more closely mirror a case study than a mean difference test. To prepare the data provided by Srivastava et al. for comparison, I extracted means for each decade age group by multiplying the mean of each specific age by the number of respondents who were that age. All weighted means for each age range were added, and then divided by the total number of respondents who fell within that decade range.

So, as you can imagine there are numerous caveats to this analysis:

I am comparing data from two separate studies.

The Reddit sample sizes for the two older age groups in this analysis are small, which leaves open the door to false positives.

The data against which I am comparing the Reddit sample is not actually normed – it is just the closest approximation that I was able to lay my hands on.

I am only able to use data from my study that reflects the responses of U.S. residents.

All of that being said, I want to present the findings as food for thought. This information suggests differences that may be present, and it could be used to help develop a priori hypotheses about differences to be tested in future research specifically designed for such assessment. In the descriptions that follow, I will refer to the data from Srivastava & colleagues as the “estimated population mean.”

Adults aged 21-30.

Participants from the Reddit sample (aged 21-30) differed significantly from the estimated population mean on four of five personality factors: Extraversion (M reddit =2.54, M pop =3.28), t(50)=5.106, p < .001; Conscientiousness (M reddit =3.23, M pop =3.55), t(50)=2.48, p = .017; Neuroticism (M reddit =2.02, M pop =3.28), t(50)=9.809, p < .001; and Intellect/Imagination (M reddit =4.20, M pop =3.94), t(50)=3.095, p = .003. Redditors (M=3.82, SD=0.95) did not differ significantly from the estimated population mean (M=3.66) for Agreeableness.

These findings indicate that U.S.-based r/MensRights redditors within the 21-30 age range may be lower in extraversion, conscientiousness, and neuroticism than members of the general U.S. population of the same age. They also suggest that these redditors may be higher in intellect/imagination than the general population, but not different in terms of agreeableness. Here is a graphic representation of those differences (N. S. indicates non-significant differences).

Adults aged 31-40.

Participants from the Reddit sample (aged 31-40) differed significantly from the estimated population mean on three of five personality factors: Conscientiousness (M reddit =2.84, M pop =3.68), t(21)=4.318, p < .001; Neuroticism (M reddit =1.82, M pop =3.19), t(21)=6.97, p < .001; and Intellect/Imagination (M reddit =4.33, M pop =3.9), t(21)=4.109, p = .001. Redditors did not differ significantly from the estimated population means for Extraversion (M reddit =2.92, M pop =3.27) or Agreeableness (M reddit =4.0, M pop =3.76).

These findings suggest that U.S.-based r/MensRights redditors aged 31-40 may be lower in conscientiousness and neuroticism than the same-aged general public. They also may be higher in intellect/imagination, but may not significantly differ from the general population in terms of extraversion or agreeableness. These indications should be taken with an even bigger grain of salt than those for adults aged 21-30, because the sample is much smaller. Here is a graphic representation of those differences (N. S. indicates non-significant differences).

Adults aged 41-50.

Participants from the Reddit sample (aged 41-50) differed significantly from the estimated population mean on four of five personality factors: Extraversion (M reddit =2.58, M pop =3.24), t(14)=2.766, p = .015; Conscientiousness (M reddit =3, M pop =3.79), t(14)=3.764, p = .002; Neuroticism (M reddit =1.77, M pop =3.09), t(14)=7.635, p < .001; and Intellect/Imagination (M reddit =4.45, M pop =3.89), t(14)=3.763, p = .002. Redditors (M=4.17) did not differ significantly from the estimated population mean (M=3.9) for Agreeableness.

These findings suggest that U.S.-based r/MensRights redditors aged 41-50 may be lower in extraversion, conscientiousness, and neuroticism than the same-aged general public. They may be higher in intellect/imagination, but may not significantly differ from the general population in terms of agreeableness. These indications should be taken with the highest level of caution of the three sets, as the sample of redditors is the smallest in these comparisons (this is especially true for the finding with respect to extraversion, as the statistical test yielded a significance [p] value not far below conventional threshold). Here is a graphic representation of those differences (N. S. indicates non-significant differences).

Trends across age.

Incorporating the three age group comparisons above, it seems that there are some common ways in which r/MensRights redditors may differ from the general U.S. population across the lifespan. The data indicate that these redditors may be lower both in conscientiousness and neuroticism than the general public no matter their age. The findings are less consistent with extraversion, but there does seem to be a trend (a difference was found in 2/3 age group comparisons) that redditors may be lower in this trait than the general public. In all age groups, the data indicate that r/MensRightsers may be higher in intellect/imagination than the general public, and that there is little to no difference between them in terms of agreeableness.

Given that there were no observable personality differences between U.S. residents and non-residents in the Reddit sample analyzed here, it is very possible that these same general differences would emerge between non-U.S. community members of r/MensRights and non-U.S. populations. However, it is equally possible that non-U.S. populations may differ enough from the estimated U.S. population means that either no differences or alternative differences would emerge.

As I’ve hopefully made clear already, the Reddit-to-population comparisons I’ve presented here should be interpreted with caution. These points are food for thought, and their only practical application should be the development of hypotheses to test in future research. These should not be interpreted as scientific findings due to the nature of the comparisons. I am confident that every person reading this post has some ideas about why these differences may exist (assuming they are replicable through more empirical work) – or even why participants of this study showed the pattern of results they did, outside the context of a comparison to estimated population parameters. I have a few ideas about that myself, which I intend to investigate in future installments.