ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Personality and Social Psychology
Adverse childhood experiences and personality traits associate with excessive fatigue in Norwegian nurses
Stand Hiestand 1
Ståle Pallesen 2,3
Ingeborg Forthun 4
Siri Waage 5,3
Truls Ostbye 6
Øystein Vedaa 7
Bjørn Bjorvatn 5,3
1. University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
2. Department of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
3. Norwegian Competence Center for Sleep Disorders, Haukeland Universitetssjukehus, Bergen, Norway
4. Department of Disease Burden, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Folkehelseinstituttet, Oslo, Norway
5. Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
6. Global Health Institute, Duke University, Durham, United States
7. Department of Health Promotion, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Folkehelseinstituttet, Oslo, Norway
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Abstract
This longitudinal cohort study investigated adverse childhood experiences and personality traits in relation to excessive fatigue in nurses. This study investigated adverse childhood experiences and different personality traits and their impact on excessive fatigue in nurses. Adverse childhood experiences were assessed with four questions previously used in the Norwegian context. Personality traits included the Big Five traits (Mini-IPIP), morningness-eveningness (Horne and Östberg Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire-reduced scale), circadian type (flexibility and languidity, Circadian Type Inventory), and workaholism (Bergen Work Addiction Scale). Questionnaire data was collected at various time points from an ongoing cohort study known as the Survey of Shift work, Sleep, and Health (REK VEST, no. 088.88). Fatigue was assessed using the Chalder Fatigue Questionnaire and excessive fatigue was considered as scores of ≥4. The study sample included 741 non-pregnant Norwegian nurses. Logistic regression analyses were used to investigate associations between adverse childhood experiences, personality traits, and excessive fatigue. Nurses who lacked a trusted adult in childhood (adjusted odds ratios (aOR)=4.68, 95% CI=1.97–11.11), reported bad memories (aOR=4.94, CI=2.70–9.03), or perceived their childhood as difficult (aOR=4.53, CI=2.40– 8.57) had >4x the odds of excessive fatigue. High neuroticism (aOR=2.37, CI=1.56–3.59), low conscientiousness (aOR=2.02, CI=1.30–3.12), and high languidity (aOR=5.01 CI=2.98–8.39) increased odds of excessive fatigue. Morning types had lower (aOR=0.65 CI=0.45–0.93), while evening types had higher odds (aOR=1.55 CI=1.02–2.34) of excessive fatigue compared to intermediate types. Lastly, workaholism increased odds of excessive fatigue (aOR=2.70 CI=1.21– 6.04). In conclusion, our study indicates that adverse childhood experiences and personality traits This is a provisional file, not the final typeset article have a significant impact on excessive fatigue, suggesting that some factors related to fatigue may be non-modifiable within the working environment. .
Summary
Keywords
Adverse childhood experiences, circadian, Fatigue, Personality, Workaholism
Received
19 December 2025
Accepted
17 February 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Hiestand, Pallesen, Forthun, Waage, Ostbye, Vedaa and Bjorvatn. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Stand Hiestand
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