Relationships between personality traits and depression in the light of the “Big Five” and their different facets

Prospective Associations Between Personality Traits and Major Depressive Disorder Symptom Severity: The Mediating Role of Illness Representations

Major depressive disorder (MDD) patients' personality traits and illness representations are linked to MDD severity. However, the associations between personality and illness representations in MDD and the mediating role of illness representations between personality and MDD severity have not been investigated. This study aimed to prospectively investigate the aforementioned associations and the possible mediating role of illness representations between personality and MDD severity. One hundred twenty-five patients with a MDD diagnosis, aged 48.18 ± 13.92 (84% females), participated in the study. Personality traits were measured with the Traits Personality Questionnaire at baseline. Illness representations were measured with the Illness Perception Questionnaire-Mental Health about five months later (mean = 5.08 ± 1.14 months). MDD severity was measured about 10 months after the baseline assessment (mean = 9.53 ± 2.36 months) with the Beck Depression Inventory. SPSS 29 and AMOS 27 were used to conduct correlational and parallel mediation analyses. According to the results, Neuroticism was positively and Extraversion was negatively linked to MDD severity. Negative MDD impact representations fully mediated these associations. Neuroticism and Extraversion are linked to future MDD severity through patients' representations of MDD's impact. Restructuring maladaptive representations about MDD's impact can be a promising way to reduce symptom severity in patients with high Neuroticism and low Extraversion levels.

Transdiagnostic clustering of self-schema from self-referential judgements identifies subtypes of healthy personality and depression

Introduction

The heterogeneity of depressive and anxiety disorders complicates clinical management as it may account for differences in trajectory and treatment response. Self-schemas, which can be determined by Self-Referential Judgements (SRJs), are heterogeneous yet stable. SRJs have been used to characterize personality in the general population and shown to be prognostic in depressive and anxiety disorders.

Methods

In this study, we used SRJs from a Self-Referential Encoding Task (SRET) to identify clusters from a clinical sample of 119 patients recruited from the Institute of Mental Health presenting with depressive or anxiety symptoms and a non-clinical sample of 115 healthy adults. The generated clusters were examined in terms of most endorsed words, cross-sample correspondence, association with depressive symptoms and the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire and diagnostic category.

Results

We identify a 5-cluster solution in each sample and a 7-cluster solution in the combined sample. When perturbed, metrics such as optimum cluster number, criterion value, likelihood, DBI and CHI remained stable and cluster centers appeared stable when using BIC or ICL as criteria. Top endorsed words in clusters were meaningful across theoretical frameworks from personality, psychodynamic concepts of relatedness and self-definition, and valence in self-referential processing. The clinical clusters were labeled "Neurotic" (C1), "Extraverted" (C2), "Anxious to please" (C3), "Self-critical" (C4), "Conscientious" (C5). The non-clinical clusters were labeled "Self-confident" (N1), "Low endorsement" (N2), "Non-neurotic" (N3), "Neurotic" (N4), "High endorsement" (N5). The combined clusters were labeled "Self-confident" (NC1), "Externalising" (NC2), "Neurotic" (NC3), "Secure" (NC4), "Low endorsement" (NC5), "High endorsement" (NC6), "Self-critical" (NC7). Cluster differences were observed in endorsement of positive and negative words, latency biases, recall biases, depressive symptoms, frequency of depressive disorders and self-criticism.

Discussion

Overall, clusters endorsing more negative words tended to endorse fewer positive words, showed more negative biases in reaction time and negative recall bias, reported more severe depressive symptoms and a higher frequency of depressive disorders and more self-criticism in the clinical population. SRJ-based clustering represents a novel transdiagnostic framework for subgrouping patients with depressive and anxiety symptoms that may support the future translation of the science of self-referential processing, personality and psychodynamic concepts of self-definition to clinical applications.

Depressive and Anxious Symptoms Increase with Problematic Technologies Use Among Adults: The Effects of Personal Factors Related to Health Behavior

Background

Depression and anxiety disorders are a significant and growing health problem that has a significant impact on psychosocial functioning and quality of life. The onset and severity of mental health problems have been related to various biological, psychosocial, and behavioral variables.

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to explore the association among the severity of depression and anxiety, problematic information and communications technology (ICT) use, and some related personal factors with health behavior among adults. It also analyzes the moderating role of personal factors in the relationship between the problematic use of ICT and anxiety and depression.

Patients and Methods

Descriptive, bivariate, multivariate and moderation analyzes of data from 391 participants of 35-74 years old in primary health care centers located in Aragón (Spain) were performed between July 2021 and July 2022. The primary outcome was the severity of depressive and anxious symptoms as continuous variable.

Results

Low sense of coherence (β = -0.058; p = 0.043), low self-esteem (β = -0.171; p=0.002), and low self-efficacy (β = -0.122; p= 0.001), are predictors of having more severe depressive symptoms. Furthermore, low self-esteem (β = -0.120; p= 0.012), low self-efficacy (β = -0.092; p=0.004), and high problematic use of ICT (β = 0.169; p = 0.001), are predictors of having more severe anxiety symptoms. Moderation analyzes were significant in the effect of self-efficacy (b = -0.040, p=0.001) and resilience (b = -0.024, p=0.033) on the relationship between problematic ICT use and anxiety.

Conclusion

The problematic use of ICT and personal factors are related to depressive and anxiety symptoms. The interrelationship between problematic ICT use, personal factors, and depression needs to be further explored.

Protocol for an observational cohort study on psychological, addictive, lifestyle behavior and highly prevalent affective disorders in primary health care adults

Background

Depression and anxious symptoms are prevalent in the general population, and their onset and persistence may be linked to biological and psychosocial factors, many of which are lifestyle-related. The way we manage our care, physical and emotional health and/or discomfort is highly influenced by our own abilities, skills and attitudes despite life's circumstances. The main aim of this protocol to analyze the relationship between psychological constructs (self-efficacy, activation, health literacy, resilience, personality traits, sense of coherence, self-esteem), and the presence of affective-emotional problems (anxiety, depression) and addictions in primary health care.

Methods

This is a protocol of a prospective longitudinal cohort study including people of 35-74 years old of Aragon primary health care centers (Spain). Three evaluations will be conducted: baseline evaluation, and follow-up assessments five and ten years after recruitment. The primary outcomes will be severity of depression, severity of anxiety, and addictive behaviors. A detailed set of secondary outcomes will be assessed across all three assessments. This will include psychosocial or personal factors on health behavior, social support, lifestyle patterns, quality of life, the use of health and social resources, and chronic comorbid pathology.

Discussion

The analysis of the impact of psychological constructs and lifestyles on the mental health of people and communities will provide evidence that will make it possible to better address and prevent these prevalent problems and address their improvement from a more global and holistic perspective. The evaluation of psychological constructs should be incorporated into health services to improve people's ability their self-care, the level of knowledge of managing their disease and their physical, mental and social health.

Clinical trial registration

https://www.isrctn.com/, identifier ISRCTN12820058.

The problem with confidence: too much and too little results in poorer achievement, inner conflict, and social inhibition

Introduction

Confidence is defined as the feelings and thoughts people have during a task that result in judgments about their performance. Evidence suggests that confidence is trait-like, but thus far research on the relative match between confidence and accuracy has been primarily restricted to over-confidence effects, and subject to the methodological flaws involved with using difference scores. We sought to answer an exploratory question in this research, whether discrepancies in ability and confidence in either direction reliably predicted individual differences on a broad-spectrum and commercially available personality test, the California Psychological Inventory (CPI260).

Methods

Participants were 220 employed adults who had previously taken the CPI260 for career development purposes. They were invited to complete a measure of cognitive ability and confidence in return for feedback on the same. Data were modeled using polynomial regression and response surface analysis, to determine whether and how CPI260 personality traits were associated with matches or mismatches between accuracy and confidence in the same test.

Results

We identified negative curvilinear effects along the line of disagreement for four CPI260 scales, suggesting that both under- and over-confidence were associated with personality.

Discussion

In contrast to our expectations, individuals who were under-confident and those who were over-confident had lower achievement potential, less social confidence, and more inner conflict than other individuals in this sample. Although preliminary, these findings suggest that both over-confident and under-confident individuals are aware of potential weaknesses that impede their functioning.

The effects of adverse childhood experiences on depression and suicidal behaviors are partially mediated by neuroticism: A subclinical manifestation of major depression

Introduction

Neuroticism, a personality trait, can predict major depressive disorder (MDD). The current study aims to determine whether a) neuroticism is a feature of the acute state of MDD, including suicidal behaviors (SB); and b) adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with neuroticism in MDD.

Methods

This study included 133 participants, 67 healthy controls and 66 MDD patients, and assessed the Big 5 Inventory (BFI), ACEs using the ACE Questionnaire, and the phenome of depression using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS) scores to assess current SB.

Results

Neuroticism was significantly higher in MDD than controls, and it explained 64.9% of the variance in the depression phenome (a latent vector extracted from HAM-D, BDI, STAI, and current SB scores). The other BFI domains had much less (extraversion, agreeableness) or no effect (openness, conscientiousness). One latent vector could be extracted from the phenome, lifetime dysthymia, lifetime anxiety disorders and neuroticism scores. Neglect (physical and emotional) and abuse (physical, neglect and sexual) account for approximately 30% of the variance in this latent vector. Partial Least Squares analysis showed that the effects of neglect on the phenome were partially mediated by neuroticism, whereas the effects of abuse were completely mediated by neuroticism.

Discussion

Neuroticism (trait) and the MDD phenome (state) are both manifestations of the same latent core, with neuroticism being a subclinical manifestation of MDD.

Relationships of the Big Five facets and dysfunctional attitudes with depression

There are two parallel lines of research on the relationship between personality and depression, one based on the Big Five personality model and one on Beck's cognitive theory of depression. However, no study has jointly examined the dimensions and facets of the Big Five and the dysfunctional attitudes of Beck's theory. This was the objective of the present study. The Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R), the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS-A), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-IA) were applied to 221 adults from the Spanish general population (53.7% females; mean age: 38.3 years). Various multiple linear regression analyses revealed that only the facet of depression was significantly related to depressive symptomatology. The different associations of the broad and specific personality traits and the need to control as many third variables as possible to prevent the finding of spurious relationships are discussed.

The diagnostic and predictive potential of personality traits and coping styles in major depressive disorder

BACKGROUND

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a global public health concern that is notably underdiagnosed and undertreated due to its complexity and subjective diagnostic methods. A holistic diagnostic procedure, which sufficiently considers all possible contributors to MDD symptoms, would improve MDD diagnosis and treatment. This study aims to explore whether personality and coping styles can predict MDD status and differentiate between depressed patients and healthy individuals.

METHODS

Seventy healthy controls (N = 54 females) were matched to 70 MDD patients for age, sex, ethnicity, and years of education. MDD severity was measured using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, while personality traits and coping styles were measured by the Ten-Item Personality (TIPI) and Brief COPE questionnaires, respectively. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to investigate the diagnostic and predictive potential of personality and coping styles. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were also conducted to examine their discriminative ability to distinguish between depressed and healthy individuals.

RESULTS

Introversion, lack of organisation skills, and neuroticism were statistically significant in predicting MDD status. Dysfunctional coping strategies, such as denial and self-blame, were also shown to significantly predict MDD status. ROC analyses found both the TIPI questionnaire (AUC = 0.90), and dysfunctional coping (as measured by Brief COPE) (AUC = 0.90) to be excellent predictors of MDD.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings demonstrate the diagnostic and predictive potential of personality and coping styles for MDD in the clinical setting. They also demonstrate the remarkable ability of personality and coping styles to differentiate between depressed patients and healthy controls.

Do Personality Traits Influence the Association Between Depression and Dementia in Old Age?

Depression and personality traits are independent predictors of dementia or cognitive impairment. Despite the well-established relationship between these two psychosocial factors and dementia, no research has been documented on how personality traits can influence dementia in older adults exhibiting depressive symptoms. This study explores the influence of personality traits on the association between change in depression and dementia in old age. A population-based longitudinal cohort study involving two waves of data collected 5 years apart, containing 2210 American older adults, from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project to explore if personality traits influence how change in depression predicts the development of dementia. We assessed these relationships while adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics. Change in depression increased the likelihood of dementia at T2 by 4.2% (AOR = 1.04, p = 0.019) in the co-variate adjusted model. Personality traits, overall, did not influence how depression predicts the development of dementia. However, agreeableness individually nullified the effect of depression on the development of dementia, whereas extraversion was the only personality trait that significantly predicted dementia. Prosocial behaviors should be promoted in old age as these appear to be protective. In addition, early life education and a strong social support can keep the depression–dementia spectrum at bay in old age.

The dyadic effects of personality traits on depression in advanced lung cancer patients and caregivers: The mediating role of acceptance of illness

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to explore the intrapersonal and interpersonal effects of three personality traits-neuroticism, extraversion and conscientiousness-on depression and examine whether acceptance of illness mediates the actor and partner effects in advanced lung cancer patients and caregivers using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Mediation Model (APIMeM).

METHODS

A total of 304 dyads of advanced lung cancer patients and caregivers were studied. Personality traits, acceptance of illness and depression were measured using 44-item Big Five Inventory, the Acceptance of Illness (AIS) scale and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9).

RESULTS

The APIMeMs suggested that there were significant actor-actor effects of the three personality traits on depression through their own acceptance of illness. Additionally, significant actor-partner effects of neuroticism and extraversion on depression were also found. Specifically, patients' neuroticism was negatively related to their own acceptance of illness, which increased caregivers' depression, and caregivers' higher extraversion was related to their own higher acceptance of illness, which reduced patients' depression. Furthermore, a significant partner-actor effect was only found in the neuroticism model. Patients' neuroticism was negatively related to caregivers' acceptance of illness, which increased caregivers' depression.

CONCLUSION

The three personality traits had both interpersonal and intrapersonal effects on depression in advanced lung cancer patient-caregiver dyads, and acceptance of illness played an important mediating role in these relationships.

Associations between Facets and Aspects of Big Five Personality and Affective Disorders:A Systematic Review and Best Evidence Synthesis

BACKGROUND

Big Five personality traits correlate with affective disorders, with neuroticism considered a risk factor, and conscientiousness and extroversion considered protective factors. However, the relationships between affective disorders and lower-order personality facets and aspects are less clear.

METHOD

A systematic review was carried out to identify studies measuring associations between lower-order personality constructs and affective disorders. Big Five facets were measured using the NEO-PI-R, and aspects using the BFAS. PsycINFO, EMBASE, MedLine and OpenGrey were searched from January 1^st, 1985 to June 30^th, 2020. Fifteen studies met criteria and reported a total of 408 associations. Data were analysed using best evidence synthesis.

RESULTS

Most facets of neuroticism were positively associated with affective disorders. Positive emotion in extroversion, and competence and self-discipline in conscientiousness, were negatively associated with affective disorders. Trust in agreeableness, and actions in openness, were negatively associated with anxiety disorders, whereas fantasy in openness was positively associated with anxiety disorders. At the aspect level, withdrawal in neuroticism was positively associated with MDD, whereas industriousness in conscientiousness was negatively associated with MDD.

LIMITATIONS

Due to the use the heterogenous measures between studies, a meta-analysis could not be performed. Only Big Five personality constructs were investigated, limited to BFAS personality aspects, and NEO-PI-R personality facets.

CONCLUSIONS

Neuroticism, positive emotion, competence and self-discipline correlate with various anxiety and depressive disorders. These facets may be endophenotypes for affective disorders in general. Future research is needed to investigate mediating pathways between personality facets and affective disorders.

Influence of depression and self-esteem on oral health-related quality of life in students

Objective

We aimed to investigate the influence of depression and self-esteem on oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) in students.

Methods

Among the 67 included participants, we measured self-esteem using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, severity of depression using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), personality dimensions with the Neuroticism–Extraversion–Openness Five-Factor Inventory, and OHRQoL using the Oral Health Impact Profile 49 (OHIP-49).

Results

Among all participants, 7.5% (n = 5) had the dominant personality trait openness to experience, 11.9% (n = 8) presented a neurotic personality type, and 64.% (n = 11) had an extraverted personality type. The most frequent was conscientious personality type, accounting for 64.2% (n = 43) of participants. Our results showed a significant correlation between increased PHQ-9 scores and OHIP scores (Spearman’s r = 0.280); thus, participants with poorer oral health tended to have more severe depression. An increase in depression severity was significantly and positively correlated with increased scores across the other two OHIP subcategories, physical pain (Spearman’s r = 0.314) and physical disability (Spearman’s r = 0.290).

Conclusion

The presence and severity of depression influences OHRQoL. An important factor in the presence of depression and level of self-esteem is the personality type, especially the neuroticism dimension.