Big Five personality facets explaining variance in anxiety and depressive symptoms in a community sample

Personality traits as predictors of depression across the lifespan

BACKGROUND

Depression is a major public health concern. A barrier for research has been the heterogeneous nature of depression, complicated by the categorical diagnosis of depression which is based on a cluster of symptoms, each with its own etiology. To address the multifactorial etiology of depression and its high comorbidity with anxiety, we aimed to examine the relations between personality traits, diverse behavioral, cognitive and physical measures, and depression and anxiety over the lifespan.

METHOD

Our sample was drawn from the NKI-RS, a community-based lifespan sample (N = 1494 participants aged 6 to 85). Analyses included multivariate approach and general linear models for group comparisons and dimensional analyses, respectively. A machine learning model was trained to predict depression using many factors including personality traits.

RESULTS

Depression and anxiety were both characterized by increased neuroticism and introversion, but did not differ between themselves. Comorbidity had an additive effect on personality vulnerability. Dimensionally, depression was only associated with personality in adolescence, where it was positively correlated with neuroticism, and negatively correlated with extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. The relationship between anxiety and personality changed over time, with neuroticism and conscientiousness being the most salient traits. Our machine learning model predicted depression with 70 % accuracy with neuroticism and extraversion contributing most.

LIMITATIONS

Due to the cross-sectional design, conclusions cannot be drawn about causal relationships between personality and depression.

CONCLUSION

These results underscore the impact of personality on depressive disorders and provide novel insights on how personality contributes to depression across the lifespan.

Personality and Pain Outcomes in Rheumatic Disease: The Mediating Role of Psychological Flexibility

BACKGROUND

Chronic pain is associated with increased disability and vulnerability to emotional disorders. Personality and psychological flexibility (PF) describe interindividual differences that shape the adjustment to chronic pain. Specifically, PF was found to be associated with pain, fatigue, anxiety, and depression intensity. Although previous studies established strong correlations between personality and pain outcomes, evidence on the nature of this relationship is scarce. Therefore, the objective of this study is to explore the mediating effect of PF on the relationship between personality and distress.

METHODS

This transversal study included 108 participants (age M = 56.7, SD = 11.3) diagnosed with musculoskeletal chronic pain. Self-reported measures were administered by the medical care team. Multiple mediation models were performed for estimating the indirect effects on each outcome variable.

RESULTS

After controlling for age and gender covariates, we found that PF completely mediated the relationship between personality traits and all pain outcomes and partially mediated the impact of extraversion on anxiety. In addition, emotional stability also had an indirect effect on anxiety through PF.

CONCLUSIONS

Personality traits and PF are significant predictors of pain outcomes. PF represents a core process mediating the impact of personality traits on the perceived intensity of pain, fatigue, anxiety, and depression in patients with rheumatic disease. These results could facilitate the application of individualized psychological interventions in clinical contexts targeting the reduction of emotional avoidance and in chronic pain patients.

Longitudinal relationship between psychological distress and personality traits

Personality traits are typically assumed to predict psychological distress, with little attention paid to the potential influence of psychological distress on personality traits. Recent empirical findings, however, challenge this prevailing view by demonstrating the potential for personality traits to change and suggesting the plausible influence of chronic distress on these traits. This study aimed to examine the mutual within-person associations between psychological distress and the Big Five personality traits. The primary research question was whether a change in psychological distress is associated with a change in personality traits (and vice versa) after approximately 4 years. A nationally representative sample from Australia (N = 22,837), collected at four time points over 13 years, was used. The random-intercept cross-lagged panel model was used to partition variance into between-person and within-person components. Results showed that there was no temporal within-person association between openness and distress. Extraversion and conscientiousness were found to have bidirectional within-person relationships with distress, suggesting that increases in extraversion and conscientiousness are associated with decreases in distress over time and vice versa. Emotional stability and agreeableness showed unidirectional relationships with distress, with increased distress predicting decreased emotional stability and increased agreeableness predicting decreased distress. Therefore, except for openness, the other traits had at least one significant within-person link to psychological distress. These findings unveil a reciprocal longitudinal linkage between personality traits and psychological distress, highlighting the potential negative impact of prolonged psychological distress on the developmental trajectory of personality traits.

The influence of big five personality traits on anxiety: The chain mediating effect of general self-efficacy and academic burnout

BACKGROUND

As an important factor affecting personal health, anxiety has always been valued by people. Prior research has consistently shown that personality traits is associated with anxiety level,but little is known about the inner mechanism of this relationship. To fill the gap, the present research aims to explore the chain mediating role of general self-efficacy and academic burnout in the relationship between big five personality and anxiety.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was performed from September to November 2022. Self-reported questionnaires including the Big Five Personality Questionnaire, General Self-Efficacy Scale, College Student's academic burnout Scale, Generalized Anxiety Scale and demographic characteristics were distributed to 2505 college students in a university in Hebei Province, of which 2,471 were valid. Statistical analysis was carried out through SPSS26.0 and SPSS PROCESS macro.

RESULTS

Results showed four of the big five personality characters (i.e., extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness) were negatively correlated with anxiety. Neuroticism was positively correlated with anxiety. Moreover, general self-efficacy was found to be negatively correlated with academic burnout and anxiety; academic burnout was positively correlated with anxiety. Finally, general self-efficacy and academic burnout mediated the relationship between personality traits (i.e., extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness) and anxiety.

CONCLUSIONS

Personality traits (i.e., extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, and openness) could influence anxiety through the chain mediating effects of general self-efficacy and academic burnout. Interventions focusing on anxiety reduction may be successful in increasing general self-efficacy and decreasing students' academic burnout.

The interplay of personality traits, anxiety, and depression in Chinese college students: a network analysis

Background

Anxiety and depression are among the greatest contributors to the global burden of diseases. The close associations of personality traits with anxiety and depression have been widely described. However, the common practice of sum scores in previous studies limits the understanding of the fine-grained connections between different personality traits and anxiety and depression symptoms and cannot explore and compare the risk or protective effects of personality traits on anxiety and depression symptoms.

Objective

We aimed to determine the fine-grained connections between different personality traits and anxiety and depression symptoms and identify the detrimental or protective effects of different personality traits on anxiety and depression symptoms.

Methods

A total of 536 college students from China were recruited online, and the average age was 19.98 ± 1.11. The Chinese version of the Ten-Item Personality Inventory, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 was used to investigate the personality traits and symptoms of anxiety and depression of participants after they understood the purpose and filling method of the survey and signed the informed consent. The demographic characteristics were summarized, and the scale scores were calculated. The network model of personality traits and symptoms of anxiety and depression was constructed, and bridge expected influence (BEI) was measured to evaluate the effect of personality traits on anxiety and depression. The edge accuracy and BEI stability were estimated, and the BEI difference and the edge weight difference were tested.

Results

In the network, 29 edges (indicating partial correlations between variables) bridged the personality community and the anxiety and depression community, among which the strongest correlations were extraversion-fatigue, agreeableness-suicidal ideation, conscientiousness-uncontrollable worry, neuroticism-excessive worry, neuroticism-irritability, and openness-feelings of worthlessness. Neuroticism had the highest positive BEI value (0.32), agreeableness had the highest negative BEI value (-0.27), and the BEI values of neuroticism and agreeableness were significantly different from those of most other nodes (p < 0.05).

Conclusion

There are intricate correlations between personality traits and the symptoms of anxiety and depression in college students. Neuroticism was identified as the most crucial risk trait for depression and anxiety symptoms, while agreeableness was the most central protective trait.

Personality, dietary identity, mental and sleep health in vegans and vegetarians: A preliminary cross-sectional study

Background and Aims

Plant-based diets have gained popularity over the past decade. However, research regarding mental and sleep health benefits of following plant-based diets are conflicting. As there are associations between mental/sleep health and various personality traits, and personality may differ between individuals who follow different diets, in this preliminary study, we examined the associations between mental and sleep health and (i) personality and (ii) dietary identity in individuals who follow vegan and vegetarian diets.

Methods

Cross-sectional data on sociodemographic, personality traits, dietarian identity, overall mental health, depression, anxiety, stress, and sleep quality were collected from 57 vegan/vegetarian participants between the ages of 18-40.

Results

After controlling for various sociodemographic and lifestyle factors, linear regression models revealed that (i) higher dietarian private regard was a significant predictor of better overall mental health, (ii) lower levels of extraversion and higher levels of empathy predicted depression, (iii) higher levels of neuroticism and empathy predicted anxiety, (iv) higher levels of neuroticism, dietarian centrality, and neuroticism × centrality predicted stress, (v) higher levels of conscientiousness, lower levels of dietarian centrality, but higher levels of personal motivation and dietary strictness, as well as conscientiousness × centrality, conscientiousness × personal motivation, and conscientiousness × strictness predicted better sleep quality.

Conclusions

These preliminary findings suggest that not only personality traits, but also dietary identity was indeed related to mental and sleep health in individuals who follow plant-based diets.

Effects of Neuroticism on Differences in Symptom Structure of Life Satisfaction and Depression-Anxiety among College Students: A Network Analysis

Object: Numerous studies show that depression and anxiety have an adverse effect on life satisfaction among college students. Moreover, neuroticism affects depression, anxiety, and life satisfaction. Comparing the low-neuroticism and high-neuroticism groups, the current study used network analysis to examine the relationship between depression, anxiety, and life satisfaction among college students. Methods: A sample consisted of 1233 college students from China who completed the Big Five Inventory-2 (BFI-2), Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS), and Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS).All students were divided into two groups according to levels of neuroticism. Depression-anxiety symptom networks and flow networks were formed. Results: "Insomnia" (SAS19) and "Sleep disturbance" (SDS4) are bridge symptoms of groups with varying neuroticism. In addition, compared to the group with low levels of neuroticism, the group with high levels of neuroticism showed more depression symptoms in bridge symptoms and greater global strength. Many depression-anxiety symptoms are negatively associated with life satisfaction, and "Emptiness" (SDS18) is an important symptom in the high-neuroticism group's flow network. Conclusion: This study contributes to our understanding of the connection between depression, anxiety, neuroticism, and life satisfaction. In addition, the current study identified the essential symptoms to target in depression and anxiety intervention and life satisfaction enhancement among college students.

The Relationship Between Personality Traits and Clinical Decision-Making, Anxiety and Stress Among Intern Nursing Students During COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Study

Purpose

The aim of this study was to investigate whether the personality traits of intern nursing students could serve as valid predictors of their psychological status and clinical decision making. Additionally, we aimed to understand the psychological state of intern nursing students during the regular epidemic prevention and control stage of COVID-19.

Participants and Methods

This study was designed as a cross-sectional survey. A total of 181 intern nursing students involved in clinical placements participated in this study. Participants provided relevant data by completing the Big Five Inventory-44, the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, the Perceived Stress Scale 14, and the Clinical Decision-Making in Nursing Scale.

Results

The results showed that neuroticism (β = -0.282, p < 0.01) and openness (β = 0.302, p < 0.001) played significant roles in predicting clinical decision-making skills among intern nursing students. Regression analysis also showed extraversion (β = -0.249, p < 0.01), openness (β = 0.2, p < 0.01), and neuroticism (β = 0.391, p < 0.001) could significantly predict stress in intern nursing students. The agreeableness (β = -0.354, p < 0.001) and neuroticism (β = 0.237, p < 0.01) could also predict the anxiety of intern nursing students. Additionally, some intern nursing students still suffered from anxiety and stress in the context of the ongoing pandemic.

Conclusion

Personality traits are good predictors of clinical decision-making, anxiety and stress among intern nursing students. In conclusion, the openness in personality traits of intern nursing students should be valued and cultivated in clinical work, which will benefit the development of nursing talents.

Role of personality traits in determining the association between social participation and mental health: A cross-sectional study in Japan

The role of personality in determining the association between social participation and mental health was examined by a cross-sectional study. We analyzed data from 4981 older adults aged 65-84 years who were recruited via a mail survey in one region of Japan. We defined poor mental health using a score ≤12 points on the World Health Organization-Five Well-Being Index-Japanese. Personality traits were measured by 10 Item Personality Inventory-Japanese. In women, higher openness positively moderated the association between private group participation (volunteering, sports, hobby, and learning) and mental health, while higher neuroticism negatively moderated it. This study contributes to knowledge about mental health, personality, and participation. The findings provide provisional evidence about recommending private group participation for women with high openness but not those with high neuroticism.

The Big Five Personality Traits as Predictors of Negative Emotional States in University Students in Taiwan

Negative emotional states, such as stress, anxiety, and depression, are prevalent in university students. Personality traits have been shown to be associated with a wide range of behaviors in students, such as academic motivation, achievement, and social well-being. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between the Big Five personality traits and negative emotion states in university students in Taiwan. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 580 university students in Taiwan. Negative emotional states were evaluated using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) and the Big Five personality traits were measured using the 48-item Big Five Inventory. A hierarchical linear regression analysis was used to assess the factors associated with DASS-21 scores. Neuroticism (standardized beta [std. β] = 0.45, p < 0.001) and openness (std. β = 0.12, p = 0.003) were significantly associated with DASS-21 scores, while agreeableness (std. β = -0.10, p = 0.007) was significantly and inversely associated with DASS-21 scores. Personality traits could be used to identify students at risk of negative emotional states and to undertake appropriate preventive strategies.

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.

Gender and age differences in the associations between personality traits and depressive symptoms among Chinese adults: Based on China Family Panel Study

This study aims to explore the associations between personality traits and depressive symptoms among Chinese adults and analyse the gender and age differences in the associations. A national representative sample of 28,628 adults aged 18 and above were selected from the 2018 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) data. The short version of the Big Five Inventory (CBF-PI-15) and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D 8) were used to measure personality traits and depressive symptoms respectively. Binary logistic regression models were employed to analyse the associations between personality traits and depressive symptoms in the whole participants, different age groups and genders respectively. After adjustment, higher levels of conscientiousness, extraversion and agreeableness were related to lower level of depressive symptoms, while higher levels of openness and neuroticism were related to higher level of depressive symptoms (p < 0.05). A significant interaction between gender and conscientiousness on depressive symptoms was found (interaction p = 0.005), and the association between conscientiousness and depressive symptoms was stronger in males than females (p < 0.001). Significant interactions between age and conscientiousness (interaction p = 0.007), agreeableness (interaction p = 0.001) on depressive symptoms were found respectively. Moreover, the associations of conscientiousness and agreeableness with depressive symptoms were strongest among old group, followed by middle-aged group, and then young group (p < 0.05). In conclusion, conscientiousness, extraversion and agreeableness had negative associations with depressive symptoms, while openness and neuroticism had positive associations with depressive symptoms. The negative association between conscientiousness and depressive symptoms was stronger among males than females, and the negative associations of conscientiousness and agreeableness with depressive symptoms were strongest among old group, followed by middle-aged group, and then young group.

Stratification of individuals with lifetime depression and low wellbeing in the UK Biobank

BACKGROUND

Previous studies stratified patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) based on their clinical characteristics. This study used this approach in individuals with lifetime MDD who reported low wellbeing, a group of high clinical relevance.

METHODS

We selected participants in the UK Biobank (UKB) with lifetime MDD and a wellbeing score in the lowest 25 %. A wellbeing score was previously created considering happiness, belief that own life is meaningful, health satisfaction and functioning in relevant areas. In the selected group, we applied latent class analysis using mood-spectrum symptoms and personality traits as input variables, then we compared the clinical-demographic and genetic (polygenic risk scores, PRSs) characteristics of the identified classes.

RESULTS

A total of 13,896 individuals were included and a model with five classes showed the best performance. The most common class (31.25 %) was characterised by periods of irritable mood and trait irritability with high neuroticism. A rarer class (16.49 %) showed depressive-manic mood fluctuations and risk-taking personality, higher percentage of males, atypical depressive symptoms, lower socio-economic status, higher PRS for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and lower PRS for education. The second most common class (29.79 %) showed worry as main personality trait with low risk of manic/irritable manifestations. The remaining classes showed an anxious-irritable personality profile and a purely depressive profile (4.92 % and 17.55 %, respectively).

LIMITATIONS

Our results may reflect the characteristics of UKB participants.

CONCLUSIONS

Subthreshold manic/irritable mood fluctuations and personality traits irritability and neuroticism may distinguish the most common groups with poor wellbeing in lifetime MDD.

The Mediating Role of Extra-family Social Relationship Between Personality and Depressive Symptoms Among Chinese Adults

Objectives: This study aims to explore the associations of personality traits and extra-family social relationship with depressive symptoms among Chinese adults.

Methods: A nationally representative sample of 29,810 adults aged 16 and above were selected from 2018 CFPS. Personality and depressive symptoms were measured using CBF-PI-15 and the CES-D8 scale. Extra-family social relationship was assessed through the self-rated evaluation. The multiple regression analysis and the PROCESS macro were used for the mediation analysis.

Results: Extraversion (OR = 0.807, 95% CI = 0.773, 0.842), agreeableness (OR = 0.795, 95% CI = 0.756, 0.835) and extra-family social relationship (OR = 0.927, 95% CI = 0.913, 0.941) had negative associations with depressive symptoms. Extra-family social relationship could mediate between extraversion and depressive symptoms (Indirect effect = −0.049,95% CI = −0.060, −0.039) as well as agreeableness (Indirect effect = −0.056, 95% CI = −0.068, −0.046) and depressive symptoms. Comparing to females, the indirect effect accounts for a higher proportion of total effect in males.

Conclusion: Extra-family social relationship might mediate the association between extraversion and depressive symptoms as well as agreeableness and depressive symptoms.

Network Analysis of the Relationship Between Trait Depression and Impulsiveness Among Youth

Objective

Both impulsiveness and trait depression are the trait-level risk factors for depressive symptoms. However, the two traits overlap and do not affect depressive symptoms independently. This study takes impulsiveness and trait depression into a whole construct, aiming to find the complex associations among all facets and explore their relative importance in a trait network. It can help us find the key facets that need consideration in preventing depression.

Materials and Methods

We used the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS) and Trait Depression Scale (T-DEP) as measuring tools, conducted network analysis, and applied the Graphic Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (GLASSO) algorithm to estimate the network structure and compute the linkage and centrality indexes. The accuracy and stability of the indexes were estimated through bootstrapping. All the computations were performed by R script and packages.

Results

We found that "trait anhedonia" was connected with "non-planning" and "cognitive" impulsiveness, while "trait dysthymia" was connected with "motor" impulsiveness. "Cognitive" impulsiveness had a statistically significant higher expected influence than "motor" impulsiveness and had the trend to be dominant in the network. "Trait dysthymia" had a statistically significant higher bridge expected influence than "cognitive" impulsiveness and had the trend to be the key facet linking impulsiveness with trait depression. "Non-only children" had higher network global strength than "only children." All indexes were accurate and stable.

Conclusion

The present study confirms the complex associations among facets of trait depression and impulsiveness, finding that "cognitive" impulsiveness and "trait dysthymia" are the two key factors in the network. The results imply that different facets of impulsiveness should be considered respectively regarding anhedonia and dysthymia. "Cognitive" impulsiveness and "trait dysthymia" are critical to the prevention of depression.

Criteria A and B of the Alternative DSM-5 Model for Personality Disorders (AMPD) Capture Borderline Personality Features Among Adolescents

The recent development of a dimensional view toward personality disorder opens up the field of personality research based on the constructs of personality functioning (Criterion A) and maladaptive personality traits (Criterion B) as core components of personality pathology. However, little is known about the roles of these aspects in relation to borderline personality features during adolescence. The current study aimed at exploring the associations of Criterion A and B and their contribution in predicting borderline personality features in adolescence. A sample of 568 adolescents aged 11-17 (M = 14.38, SD = 1.57; 42.4% males) from different backgrounds (community-based, psychiatric inpatients, and youth forensic care) completed a set of questionnaires among which were measures of personality functioning, maladaptive personality traits, and borderline personality features. The findings reveal that Criterion A and B are strongly interrelated and both are significant in predicting borderline personality features in adolescents. Further, the results showed the incremental value of Criterion A beyond the level of underlying psychopathology and maladaptive personality traits suggesting the distinctive function of Criterion A to capture the features of borderline personality. These findings extend the knowledge about the dimensional aspects of personality pathology in adolescence. The implications in relation to the new personality disorder model in the ICD-11 are highlighted.