Independent associations between personality traits and clinical characteristics of depression.

Full Abstract

Few studies have examined age of onset and chronicity of depression in the same subject sample. The present study sought to determine whether personality traits related to early onset depression were different from those related to chronic depression. We tested the associations between personality self-reports and clinical characteristics of depression by conducting multiple and logistic regression analyses to determine whether personality uniquely predicted clinical characteristics and whether clinical characteristics uniquely predicted personality, after adjusting for depression severity. We also analyzed data at 6-month follow-up to determine whether age of onset and chronicity maintained their associations with personality. The study found that low levels of positive personality traits had unique associations with chronicity of depression, whereas elevated levels of negative personality traits had unique associations with an earlier onset of depression. Furthermore, associations were generally maintained over time, suggesting that associations between personality and these depression subtypes are stable.

Author information

Author/s: Robison, E Jenna (EJ); Shankman, Stewart A (SA); McFarland, Brian R (BR);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology/Clinical Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60607, USA.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article

Journal: The Journal of nervous and mental disease (J Nerv Ment Dis), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Jul; vol 197 (issue 7) : pp 476-83

Dates: Created 2009/07/14; Completed 2009/07/23; Revised 2009/09/01;

PMID: 19597354, status: MEDLINE (last retrieved date: 9/4/2009)

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