Predicting anxiety and depression from personality: Is there a synergistic effect of neuroticism and extraversion?

In a longitudinal study of college students, B. S. Gershuny and K. J. Sher (1998) found that high neuroticism, and low extraversion had a synergistic effect in predicting anxiety and depression 3 years later. This article attempted to replicate their finding using data from 2 community samples: (a) a cross-sectional survey of 2,677 persons aged 18–79 years, and (b) a longitudinal study in which 441 persons aged 70 or older were followed over 3–4 years. Both studies found that neuroticism predicted anxiety and depression, but there were no Neuroticism x Extraversion interaction effects. These results cast doubt on the generalizability of the original findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family history of alcoholism and the stability of personality in young adulthood.

The authors examined the magnitude and durability of personality differences related to family history of alcoholism (FH) and the development of alcohol use disorders (AUDs) in late adolescence and early adulthood. Data were taken from a longitudinal sample (N = 487; approximately half FH-positive [+]) who completed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (H. J. Eysenck & S. B. G. Eysenck, 1975) at 3 points spanning 11 years (participants were 18 years old at baseline). Hierarchical linear analyses showed that FH+ participants had higher levels of neuroticism and psychoticism over the study period, independent of AUD. Despite relatively large mean decreases in neuroticism (as well as extraversion), the magnitude of the between-groups differences found at age 18 were maintained over the next decade. These changes thus reflect stable underlying differences in personality and not artifacts of higher rates of AUDs in FH+ individuals, recently living in an alcoholic home, vulnerability to the developmental challenge of leaving home, and/or a developmental lag. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Eyelid conditioning and personality: Positive results from nonpartisans.

79 undergraduates selected on the basis of either high- or low-response probability on the last 60 of 300 conditioning trials obtained significantly different scores on measures of manifest anxiety, extraversion, and neuroticism, and significant correlations occurred among these personality measures. The results are discussed in terms of the theoretical positions of Spence and Eysenck. (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A further attempt to differentiate violent from nonviolent offenders by means of a battery of psychological tests.

30 male Ss who had been convicted of violent offenses and 30 convicted on nonviolent offenses (mean ages 17.5 and 17.4 yrs, respectively) were administered the WAIS, Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory (BDHI), the Hostility and Direction of Hostility Questionnaire, and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. Only 6 of the dependent variables differentiated between the 2 groups at or beyond the .05 level of significance. They were Information, Comprehension, Verbal IQ, Object Assembly, Full Scale IQ, and Assault. With the exception of Assault (a BDHI subscale), all the variables come from the WAIS. There were no significant differences between the 2 groups on S. B. Eysenck and H. J. Eysenck's (1975) personality dimensions of extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism. (French abstract) (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting actual behavior from the explicit and implicit self-concept of personality.

The authors present a behavioral process model of personality that specifies explicit and implicit aspects of the self-concept of personality as predictors of actual behavior. An extensive behavioral study (N = 130) including a variety of relevant social situations was conducted. This approach allowed reliable measurement of more than 50 behavioral indicators. A priori assignment of indicators to the Big Five dimensions was conducted on the basis of theory and expert ratings. In line with the authors’ model, 3 main findings were revealed: First, direct measures (questionnaires) of personality predicted actual behavior for all Big Five dimensions. Second, indirect measures (implicit association tests) of neuroticism and extraversion also predicted actual behavior. Third, the predictive validity of these indirect measures was incremental. The authors were additionally able to show that controlling for valence did not affect any of these results. Implications and future prospects for the study of personality and actual behavior are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluating stability and change in personality and depression

Critics have argued that personality factors believed to represent a vulnerability to depression are not stable and are therefore state dependent. However, conclusions regarding the stability of personality and the relation between personality and depression have been drawn (a) without differentiating relative stability among individual differences from absolute stability of change scores and (b) without explicitly modeling change in personality as a function of change in depression. The relation between neuroticism and depression was examined in a sample of depressed outpatients (N = 71) receiving a 5-week trial of pharmacotherapy. Measures of neuroticism and extraversion demonstrated both relative stability and absolute change, and changes in neuroticism and extraversion scores were modestly or not at all accounted for by changes in depression scores. Claims that personality scores are not stable and are state dependent must be reconsidered.     

Impulsive motor behavior: Effects of personality and goal salience.

This experiment used a circle tracing paradigm to extend our recent theoretical development concerning the contributions of extraversion and neuroticism to impulsive performance on continuous motor tasks. Ss (N?=?137) completed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire and were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 circle conditions: The goal condition provided subjects with a salient behavioral end point for their tracings, whereas the no-goal condition promoted behavioral uncertainty. In both conditions, Ss were asked to trace the circle under neutral and inhibition instructions. Using J. A. Gray's impulsivity and anxiety dimensions to group subjects, impulsive subjects under inhibition instructions displayed significantly faster tracing speed than nonimpulsive subjects in the presence of a salient goal, whereas anxious subjects appeared behaviorally impulsive in a situation promoting uncertainty and response conflict. Conceptualizing impulsivity and anxiety in terms of extraversion and neuroticism, with impulsive Ss as neurotic extraverts and anxious Ss as neurotic-introverts, it is proposed that Ss' level of extraversion determines the type of stimuli to which they are responsive and that level of neuroticism influences the magnitude of this reaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Temperament, personality, and the mood and anxiety disorders.

Reviews the literature on temperament, personality, and mood and anxiety disorders. The review is organized primarily around L. A. Clark and D. Watson's (1991) tripartite model for these disorders, but other influential approaches are also examined. Negative affectivity (or neuroticism) appears to be a vulnerability factor for the development of anxiety and depression, indicates poor prognosis, and is itself affected by the experience of disorder. Positive affectivity (or extraversion) is related more specifically to depression, may be a risk factor for its development, suggests poor prognosis, and also may be affected by the experience of disorder. Other personality dimensions (e.g., anxiety sensitivity, attributional style, sociotropy or dependency, autonomy or self-criticism, and constraint) may constitute specific vulnerability factors for particular disorders. It is suggested that more longitudinal and measurement-based research that jointly examines anxiety and depression is needed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality and risk of cognitive impairment 25 years later.

The authors examined the relationship between personality and cognitive impairment in 4,039 members of the Swedish Twin Registry. Neuroticism and extraversion scores were collected in 1973 at midlife, and cognitive impairment was assessed in the same group 25 years later. Data were analyzed with case-control and co-twin control designs. Greater neuroticism was associated with higher risk of cognitive impairment in the results from case-control, but not from co-twin, analyses. Compared with both extraversion and introversion, moderate extraversion was associated with lower risk of cognitive impairment in both case-control and co-twin designs, as was the combination of high neuroticism and low extraversion. Findings are discussed in the context of theories related to personality, psychological distress, arousal, and cognitive function. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relation of eyelid conditioning to manifest anxiety, extraversion, and rigidity.

The performance of 100 male and 60 female college students in an eyelid conditioning situation was correlated with personality measures of anxiety, neuroticism, extraversion, and rigidity. As predicted by the writers' drive theory, scores on the (MA) scale and the Neuroticism scale of the Maudsley Personality Inventory were significantly related to performance (p     

Are anxiety and depression just as stable as personality during late adolescence? Results from a three-year longitudinal latent variable study.

Although considerable evidence shows that affective symptoms and personality traits demonstrate moderate to high relative stabilities during adolescence and early adulthood, there has been little work done to examine differential stability among these constructs or to study the manner in which the stability of these constructs is expressed. The present study used a three-year longitudinal design in an adolescent/young adult sample to examine the stability of depression symptoms, social phobia symptoms, specific phobia symptoms, neuroticism, and extraversion. When considering one-, two-, and three-year durations, anxiety and personality stabilities were generally similar and typically greater than the stability of depression. Comparison of various representations of a latent variable trait-state-occasion (TSO) model revealed that whereas the full TSO model was the best representation for depression, a trait stability model was the most parsimonious of the best-fitting models for the anxiety and personality constructs. Over three years, the percentages of variance explained by the trait component for the anxiety and personality constructs (73–84%) were significantly greater than that explained by the trait component for depression (46%). These findings indicate that symptoms of depression are more episodic in nature, whereas symptoms of anxiety are more similar to personality variables in their expression of stability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

A cross-cultural comparison of personality in adults and children: Singapore and England.

493 men (mean age 28.24 yrs) and 501 women (mean age 26.65 yrs) in Singapore completed the adult Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ). Similarly, 250 Singapore boys (mean age 13.14 yrs) and 508 girls (mean age 13.28 yrs) completed the Junior EPQ. Correlations between items were calculated for men and women, boys and girls separately. Factor analyses were performed on the resulting matrices, and indices of factor comparison were calculated for all 4 groups, comparing the factors extracted and rotated with similar factors from the original British standardizations. All the indices were high (.91) for the children and even higher (.96) for the adults. It is concluded that similar personality dimensions are to be found in the 2 countries. Findings support the idea that the dimensions of neuroticism, psychoticism, and extraversion are of universal applicability. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Structural convergence of mood and personality: Evidence for old and new directions.

Using factor analytic techniques, extensively researched 2-dimensional models of mood structure (D. Watson and A. Tellegen; see record 1986-00110-001) and personality structure (H. J. and M. W. Eysenck, 1985) were examined for their degree of convergence. As hypothesized, it was shown that extraversion and positive affect share a common dimension in combined mood–personality space and that neuroticism and negative affect together define the 2nd dimension of this space. Significantly, this finding held whether mood was assessed as a state or a trait. The circumplex structure of trait and state mood was also assessed, providing strong support for most octants of the Watson and Tellegen model. Finally, scales of state mood, trait mood, and personality were assessed and differentiated according to theoretical expectations. Implications for research based on a unified map of the 2-dimensional personality–mood space were elucidated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship between the five-factor model of personality and Axis I disorders in a nonclinical sample.

The relationship between the 5-factor model (FFM) of personality and Axis I disorders was evaluated in a nonclinical sample of 468 young adults. In general, scores on the 5 personality dimensions of neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness (assessed via the NEO Five-Factor Inventory) distinguished Ss with and without a variety of Axis I diagnoses from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-III-Revised (DSM-III-R). In several instances, results indicate that scores on these dimensions were differentially sensitive to diagnosis. Furthermore, scores on these 5 personality dimensions accounted for unique variance in several Axis I diagnoses above and beyond that accounted for by a general measure of current psychopathological symptoms. These results support the utility of the FFM of personality in Axis I diagnostic assessment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neuroticism as a common feature of the depressive and anxiety disorders: A test of the revised integrative hierarchical model in a national sample.

The revised integrative hierarchical model of depression and anxiety (S. Mineka, D. Watson, & L. A. Clark, 1998) proposes that high levels of neuroticism are shared between the depressive and anxiety disorders. This perspective was evaluated with data from the National Comorbidity Survey (N = 5,847), a population-based community sample. Analyses were based on both a broadband (i.e., diagnostic class) and a narrowband (i.e., specific disorder) approach. Results supported the model insofar as high neuroticism was shared across the depressive and anxiety disorders and was particularly elevated in people with comorbid depression and anxiety. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for understanding the association between personality and the depressive and anxiety disorders in a community sample and for the revised integrative hierarchical perspective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality and leader effectiveness: A moderated mediation model of leadership self-efficacy, job demands, and job autonomy.

The trait theory of leadership is advanced by a joint investigation of the mediating role of (a) leadership self-efficacy (LSE = leader's perceived capabilities to perform leader roles) in linking neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness with leader effectiveness and (b) the moderating role of job demands and job autonomy in influencing the mediation. Using K. J. Preacher, D. D. Rucker, and A. F. Hayes' (2007) moderated mediation framework, the authors tested the model (over a 2-year period) with matched data from 394 military leaders and their supervisors. Results showed that LSE mediated the relationships for neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness with leader effectiveness. Moderated mediation analyses further revealed that LSE mediated the relationships for (a) all 3 personality variables for only those leaders with low job demands; (b) neuroticism and conscientiousness for only those leaders with high job autonomy; and (c) extraversion, regardless of a leader's level of job autonomy. Results underscore the importance of accounting for leaders' situational contexts when examining the relationships between personality, LSE, and effectiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Consensual validation of personality traits: Evidence from self-reports and ratings.

Self-reports from 281 21–89 yr olds were correlated with their spouses' ratings of them on a set of 18 traits in the domains of neuroticism, extraversion, and openness to experience. Correlations ranged from .30 to .58 for the individual scales and from .51 to .60 for the 3 global domain scores. A multitrait, multimethod analysis, including the Eysenck Personality Inventory as a 2nd self-report instrument, showed evidence of convergent and divergent validity in both men and women. The use of a personality inventory format for ratings and the choice of spouse as rater contributed to the relatively high agreement, and agreement was probably moderated by the observability of the trait as well as S's gender. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotionality and mental health: Longitudinal findings from the normative aging study.

The present longitudinal study examined the relation between the temperament types of emotionality and extraversion, as assessed by the Eysenck Personality Inventory-Q (Floderus, 1974), and self-reported psychological symptoms 10 years later, as assessed by the revised version of the Hopkins Symptom Checklist (SCL-90-R; Derogatis, 1983). The sample consisted of 1,324 older men, participants in the Normative Aging Study. Those high in emotionality were expected to report higher levels of symptoms than those low in emotionality. Symptoms of depression and anxiety, however, were hypothesized to be higher among emotional introverts, whereas hostility and psychoticism were expected to be higher among emotional extraverts. Canonical correlation analysis showed that emotionality and extraversion accounted for 25% of the variance in mental health 10 years later. However, emotionality accounted for most of the variance, with extraversion accounting for only 2%. The results are interpreted as support for the construct of negative affectivity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social phobia: An analysis of possible developmental factors.

Sixty-eight individuals with specific or generalized social phobia and 25 normal controls were assessed for presence of a family history of anxiety, childhood shyness, traumatic conditioning experiences, neuroticism, and extraversion. Subtype differences emerged, including significantly greater neuroticism and a more frequent history of shyness in the generalized subtype. Those with the generalized subtype also had significantly lower extraversion scores, and those with the specific subtype had a significantly higher frequency of traumatic conditioning episodes. Together, traumatic conditioning and childhood shyness predicted the presence of social phobia, although other unidentified factors also appeared to be relevant. The results are discussed in terms of potentially different modes of onset for the subtypes of social phobia and the role of neuroticism and introversion in the development of the disorder. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)