Mediating and moderating effects of attentional control on the relationship between personality traits and attentional bias among Chinese medical students

This study aimed to explore the mediating and moderating effects in the relationship between personality traits and attentional bias. A cross-sectional study was conducted among Chinese medical students. A total of 1047 Chinese medical students completed self-report measures of extraversion, neuroticism, attentional control, attention to positive information (API) and negative information (ANI). The data were analyzed with correlation, structural equation modeling, and multiple linear regression. The results revealed that attentional control mediated the effects of extraversion and neuroticism on attentional bias. Moreover, the association of neuroticism and ANI, and that of extraversion and API were both moderated by attentional control. These results extended our understanding of the relationship between extraversion, neuroticism, and attentional bias, by demonstrating that attentional control may serve as a protective factor for amplifying the positive emotional bias of extraverts and alleviating or eliminating the negative emotional bias of neurotics.