爱咬指甲是完美主义者的标志？

Are you mindlessly twisting your hair or biting your nails as you read this article? New research from the University of Montreal suggests that compulsive behaviors like these might say more about your personality than you think.

看这篇文章的时候，你是不是正在无意识地绕弄头发或者咬指甲?蒙特利尔大学的最新研究表明，这些强迫行为或许更能表现你的性格。

People who are generally impatient, or who get bored or frustrated easily, are more likely to engage in repetitive body-focused behaviors such as skin-picking, nail-biting or eyelash-pulling, the researchers found.

研究人员发现，那些一般缺乏耐心、容易感到无聊或是沮丧的人更可能有重复性的身体强迫行为，比如抓皮肤、咬指甲或是拔睫毛。

The study, published in the March issue of the Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, points to perfectionism - a trait that can be more damaging than many people realize - as an underlying cause.

这份出版在《行为治疗与实验性精神病学》三月刊上的研究将这些行为归为完美主义的潜在原因，完美主义比许多人想象的更具危害性。

“We believe that individuals with these repetitive behaviors may be perfectionistic, meaning that they are unable to relax and to perform task at a ‘normal’ pace," Dr. Kieron O'Connor, professor of psychiatry at the university and the study's lead author, said in a press release Tuesday. "They are therefore prone to frustration, impatience, and dissatisfaction when they do not reach their goals. They also experience greater levels of boredom.

齐耳伦•奥康纳博士是蒙特利尔大学精神病学教授，同时也是该项研究的第一作者。他在星期二媒体发布会上表示：“我们认为有这些重复行为的人可能比较追求完美主义，意味着他们不能放松或是以‘正常’的速度完成某项任务，因此，当他们未能达到目标的时候，比较容易感到沮丧、不耐烦、不满意。还有，他们会更加觉得无聊。

In the study, the researchers worked with 48 participants, half of whom regularly engaged in these types of behaviors. The other participants, who didn't engage in these behaviors, acted as a control group. The participants were asked questions about the extent to which they experienced emotions like boredom, anger, guilt, irritability and anxiety. Then, each participant was exposed to situations designed to provoke particular feelings (including relaxation, stress, frustration and boredom). In the boredom scenario, for instance, the subject was simply left alone in a room for six minutes.

在此项研究中，研究者选取了48名参与者，其中一半经常有上述强迫行为。另一半没有这种行为的参与者作为对照组。研究人员询问了参与者在何种程度下会经历无聊、愤怒、愧疚、易怒、焦虑等这些情绪。然后，每个参与者都被置于已设计好的情景中，目的是激起特别的情感(包括放松、压力、沮丧和无聊)，例如，在无聊的情境中，研究对象会被单独留在一个房间里待6分钟。

Participants with a history of fidgety, body-focused behaviors reported greater urges to engage in those behaviors when they were feeling stressed and frustrated. But they didn't report feeling those urges while they were relaxing.

研究表明，有烦躁不安、身体强迫症病史的参与者感到压力大、沮丧时，会有更急切的愿望想要做出那些强迫行为。但是他们放松的时候，并没有表现出这种急切。

If you do bite your nails from time to time, there's no need to worry - you're probably not doing much harm. In fact, the researchers say that such behaviors serve a temporary purpose when we're not able to channel our energy more productively.

如果你时不时会咬指甲，没有什么可担心的——这可能不会有太大的伤害。研究人员表示，事实上，当人们无法充分释放自己的能量来做成一些事情时，这些行为可以暂时帮助人们排解。

"The positive effects of the habits are stimulation and a (maladaptive) way of regulating emotion," O'Connor said in an email to The Huffington Post. "What triggers the habit is largely frustration and impatience so the action substitutes for more constructive action."

“这些习惯的正面影响是刺激和(适应不良时的)情绪控制方式，奥康纳在写给赫芬顿邮报的邮件中说道。“出现这些习惯很大程度上是由于沮丧和缺乏耐心，所以这些行为代替了更具建设性的行为。

Vocabulary

twist hair：绕弄头发

nail-biting：咬指甲癖

perfectionism：完美主义

underlying：潜在的

fidgety：烦躁不安的

maladaptive：不适应的