Saudi Cultural Missions Theses & Dissertations
Permanent URI for this communityhttps://drepo.sdl.edu.sa/handle/20.500.14154/10
Browse
2 results
Search Results
Item Restricted INFLUENCE OF COMMUNICATIVE SETTING AND PERSONALITY TRAITS ON CODE-SWITCHING BEHAVIOR AMONG FOREIGN LEARNERS OF ARABIC IN SAUDI ARABIA(Saudi Digital Library, 2025) Albahoth, Zakria Mohammed; bin Abdul Jabar, Mohd AzidanIndividuals may code-switch to express their cultural identity, maintain social connections, or navigate complex social hierarchies. Foreign students are seriously lacking in learning and implementing modern cross-cultural language practices, mainly using personality traits and emotional attachments while visiting another country for study purposes. Further, code-switching is a common phenomenon, and it is the extent to which individual differences in personality traits and emotional states influence language choice and switching patterns. From a psycholinguistic perspective, it is still unknown if individual differences in one’s personality characteristics, including extraversion, openness, agreeableness, consciousness, and introversion, would modulate the frequency with which code-switching occurs. The present study aims to explore and understand how internal factors (personality and emotion) interact with external sociolinguistic pressures to influence code- switching frequency of non-Arabic speakers in Saudi Arabia. A structural ii equation modeling approach using the quantitative research method was applied to test the hypotheses proposed in the present study. Overall, 93 individuals engaged in conversations where their language behavior was observed and analyzed. Personality traits were measured by indicators based on a 4-point Likert scale. The communicative setting was measured by indicators based on a 5-point Likert scale. In contrast, the frequency of code- switching was measured based on counting participants during the survey. The findings from the present study revealed that agreeableness has a significant negative impact on inter-sentential and intra-sentential code- switching. Furthermore, conscientiousness has no significant impact on inter- sentential and intra-sentential code-switching. Similarly, extraversion has no significant impact on inter-sentential code-switching; on the other hand, it has a significant impact on intra-sentential code-switching. Neuroticism has a significant impact on inter-sentential code-switching, whereas it has an insignificant impact on the intra-sentential code-switching. Moreover, the present study indicated that openness has no significant impact on inter- sentential and intra-sentential code-switching. In addition, interlocutor type has no significant on inter-sentential code-switching. Thus, the interlocutor’s knowledge of Arabic has a significant impact on intra-sentential code- switching. A conversational setting has a significant impact on inter-sentential and intra-sentential code-switching. In addition, knowledge type has a significant impact on inter-sentential code-switching and has an insignificant impact on intra-sentential code-switching. Finally, emotional state has a significant impact on inter-sentential and intra-sentential code-switching. These findings suggest that individual and situational factors influence code- iii switching behavior, highlighting the complex nature of bilingual language use. Understanding these factors can enhance our comprehension of language use in bilingual or multilingual contexts. The findings emphasized the importance of considering individual and situational variables when examining code- switching phenomena. Overall, the study contributes to our understanding of the intricate dynamics of code-switching and provides valuable insights for linguistics research and language education.10 0Item Restricted PERSONALITY TRAITS AS RISK FACTORS FOR RECURRENT DEPRESSION AND OTHER DEPRESSION OUTCOMES(University of Birmingham, 2024) Altaweel, Nada; Marwaha, StevenBackground: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common, debilitating, highly recurrent disorder representing a significant health concern and a leading cause of disability and mortality worldwide. Despite effective treatments, many depressed patients relapse, with around 50% to 80% likely to experience further episodes after achieving recovery. Personality has been proposed as an essential risk factor for recurrent depression. However, researchers have addressed limited personality traits and focused on personality disorders, leaving the role of many other personality traits in recurrent depression unclear. This thesis aimed to identify what personality traits contribute to the risk of recurrent depression in addition to other MDD outcomes (onset, persistence, recovery). Methods: Chapter two comprises a systematic review of personality traits as risk factors for relapse/recurrence in MDD. Chapter three includes a secondary data analysis that used prospective data from the Adults Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS, 2000) to evaluate the association between borderline, obsessive-compulsive, and dependent personality traits and the change of depression status at 18 months (onset, persistence, and recovery). Chapter four presents a case-control study that examines the association between emotional dysregulation, affective lability, impulsivity, and recurrent depression. Results: The systematic review revealed that individuals with high neuroticism, borderline, obsessive-compulsive and dependent personality traits or disorders are more prone to the risk of recurrence compared to those without these traits. Additionally, the secondary data analysis study showed that borderline personality was the most robust factor; increased dependent personality traits were significantly associated with persistent MDD, and elevated traits of obsessive-compulsive personality were found to be related to the onset of MDD. The case-control study showed that emotional dysregulation and childhood maltreatment could work as risk factors for recurrent depression. Conclusion: These findings have important theoretical and practical implications, including efforts to develop targeted intervention plans tailored to patients’ characteristics. This thesis concludes by contextualising the findings within the existing literature, addressing their limitations, and proposing future directions. Overall, this thesis presents valuable insight into the role of personality traits in the risk of recurrent depression, highlighting their role in other important MDD outcomes and emphasising the need for further investigations in this area.27 0