PERSONALITY AND DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS: INDIVIDUAL PARTICIPANT META-ANALYSIS OF 10 COHORT STUDIES

Abstract

Background: Personality is suggested to be a major risk factor for depression but large-scale individual participant meta-analyses on this topic are lacking.

Method: Data from 10 prospective community cohort studies with 117,899 participants (mean age 49.0 years; 54.7% women) were pooled for individual participant meta-analysis to determine the association between personality traits of the five-factor model and risk of depressive symptoms.

Results: In cross-sectional analysis, low extraversion (pooled standardized regression coefficient (B) = -.08; 95% confidence interval = -0.11, -0.04), high neuroticism (B = .39; 0.32, 0.45), and low conscientiousness (B = -.09; -0.10, -0.06) were associated with depressive symptoms. Similar associations were observed in longitudinal analyses adjusted for baseline depressive symptoms (n = 56,735; mean follow-up of 5.0 years): low extraversion (B = -.03; -0.05, -0.01), high neuroticism (B = .12; 0.10, 0.13), and low conscientiousness (B = -.04; -0.06, -0.02) were associated with an increased risk of depressive symptoms at follow-up. In turn, depressive symptoms were associated with personality change in extraversion (B = -.07; 95% CI = -0.12, -0.02), neuroticism (B = .23; 0.09, 0.36), agreeableness (B = -.09; -0.15, -0.04), conscientiousness (B = -.14; -0.21, -0.07), and openness to experience (B = -.04; -0.08, 0.00).

Conclusions: Personality traits are prospectively associated with the development of depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms, in turn, are associated with changes in personality that may be temporary or persistent.

Keywords: depression risk; depressive disorders; neuroticism; personality; prospective studies; psychiatric epidemiology; publication bias.

Figure 1

Cross-sectional associations between Five-Factor Model personality traits and depressive symptoms. Values are regression coefficients (and 95% confidence intervals) per 1 standard deviation increment in personality trait. Personality traits are adjusted for each other in addition to sex, age and race/ethnicity. Add Health, National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health; BHPS, British Household Panel Survey; GSOEP, German Socio-Economic Panel Study; HILDA, Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia; HRS, Health and Retirement Study; MIDUS, Midlife in the United States; NCDS, National Child Development Study; US, Understanding Society; WLSG, Wisconsin Longitudinal Study Graduate Sample; WLSS, Wisconsin Longitudinal Study Sibling Sample.

Figure 2

Longitudinal associations between Five-Factor Model personality traits and depressive symptoms adjusted for baseline depressive symptoms. Values are regression coefficients (and 95% confidence intervals) per 1 standard deviation increment in personality trait. Personality traits are also adjusted for each other in addition to sex, age and race/ethnicity. Add Health, National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health; BHPS, British Household Panel Survey; GSOEP, German Socio-Economic Panel Study; HILDA, Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia; HRS, Health and Retirement Study; MIDUS, Midlife in the United States; WLSG, Wisconsin Longitudinal Study Graduate Sample; WLSS, Wisconsin Longitudinal Study Sibling Sample.

Figure 3

Associations between depressive symptoms and personality change between baseline and follow-up. Analyses are adjusted for sex, age, race, and follow-up time. Values are regression coefficients (and 95% confidence intervals) indicating linear change in personality traits T-score. Add Health, National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health; BHPS, British Household Panel Survey; GSOEP, German Socio-Economic Panel Study; HILDA, Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia; HRS, Health and Retirement Study; MIDUS, Midlife in the United States; WLSG, Wisconsin Longitudinal Study Graduate Sample; WLSS, Wisconsin Longitudinal Study Sibling Sample.