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Neuroticism, extraversion, life events and depression

The Cardiff Depression Study

MRC Social Genetic and Developmental Psychiatric Research Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, London

KATE REDMAN, PhD, TANYA HARRIS, PhD, ARSHAD MAHMOOD, MRCPsych and STEPHANIE SADLER, MRCPsych

Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff

ANDREA PICKERING, BSc and PETER McGUFFIN, FRCPsych

MRC Social Genetic and Developmental Psychiatric Research Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, London

Correspondence: Anne Farmer, MRC Social Genetic and Developmental Psychiatric Research Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, III Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF, UK

Declaration of interest Funded by a grant from the Wellcome Trust.

Background Certain personality traits may mediate the relationship between familiality and adversity in causing depression.

Aims To examine whether the neuroticism and extraversion scales of the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) represent enduring traits underlying the vulnerability to respond to adversity by developing depressive episodes.

Method A total of 108 subjects with depression and their siblings were compared with 105 healthy control subjects and their siblings. All were interviewed using the Schedules for the Clinical Assessment of Neuropsychiatry and the Life Events and Difficulties Schedule. Subjects also completed the EPI.

Results Both neuroticism and extraversion were familial and correlated with mood and life event measures. There were no differences on either measure between the never-depressed siblings of probands with depression and controls. Regression analyses showed that the major influence on neuroticism was current mood.

Conclusions Neither extraversion nor neuroticism measures trait vulnerability to depression, and neuroticism scores mainly reflect symptoms of depression.

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