Bridging personality, time poverty, and rest intolerance: a network analysis

Rest intolerance-the inability to rest without experiencing negative emotions or cognitive distress-is an emerging psychological phenomenon. This study aimed to explore the complex interplay among personality traits, state anxiety, perceived time poverty, and rest intolerance.

Using a sample of 541 college students, we constructed a 13-node regularized partial correlation network at the dimension level, excluding one unreliable subscale.

Results revealed that Neuroticism, Time Pressure, and Negative Feelings emerged as the central nodes within their respective psychological domains. Crucially, bridge centrality analysis identified State Anxiety, Neuroticism, Negative Feelings, and Time Pressure as the core bridge nodes connecting the broader psychological network.

These findings clarify a "trait-cognition-emotion" interactive pattern where individuals with high neuroticism are particularly susceptible to internalizing time pressure and state anxiety, which is subsequently associated with rest intolerance. This study elucidates the micro-level structural relationships of rest intolerance and provides plausible targets for future intervention studies to mitigate rest intolerance among vulnerable individuals.