Association of personality traits with dental visit procrastination by Japanese university students

BACKGROUND: Procrastination is a psychological trait that causes individuals to put off doing things that need to be done. It has recently shown to result in the worsening of symptoms due to delays in seeking medical care. However, it is not clear how perception of dental disease influences dental visits. This study examined the associations of procrastination and personality traits with delayed dental visits for both acute and chronic conditions. METHODS: Of 599 university students queried, the data of 549 subjects (mean age 19.7 years) were analyzed. A general procrastination scale (GPS), the Big Five personality traits, and oral hygiene habits were used for analysis. The participants were asked about illness awareness conditions related to dental disease, perception of pain in the oral region due to acute oral symptoms and chronic symptoms. The participants were asked the number of days until they decided that treatment was required. Based on the bimodal shape of the distribution, those who answered at least eight days for acute or chronic conditions were classified as the procrastination (P) group and the others as the non-procrastination (Non-P) group. RESULTS: Significant differences in GPS scores were found between the groups for both acute and chronic conditions, with significant differences in the Big Five traits of extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism for an acute condition and extraversion, openness, and neuroticism for a chronic condition. There were no significant differences regarding oral hygiene habits between the groups for either condition. Next, using a Bayesian network, the probabilistic causal relations among procrastination, the Big Five traits, and delays in dental visits for both acute and chronic conditions were analyzed. Among the Big Five traits, conscientiousness and neuroticism were directly related to GPS score. Interestingly, agreeableness was directly related to delays in dental visits only for an acute condition and showed a negative effect, while dental student status had a positive effect on delays in dental visits. CONCLUSIONS: The results showed that procrastination and dentistry department are factors that directly influence delays in dental visits, while agreeableness, a Big Five trait, has a negative effect on individuals with an acute condition. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13030-023-00288-z.