How Five-Factor Personality Traits Affect Psychological Distress and Depression? Results from a Large Population-Based Study

Abstract

The objective of this study was to explore the association of five factors personality traits, as predictor variables, with the depression and psychological distress as joint-dependent variables in an Iranian general population. NEO-big five, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) were used for collecting data regarding personality traits and psychological problems from 3177 participants in a cross-sectional population-based study. Our findings showed that higher neuroticism scores increase the risk of psychological distress and depression score (p<0.05). Participants with higher extraversion scores experienced lower levels of depression and lower risk of psychological distress (p<0.05). Furthermore, higher scores of conscientiousness significantly increase, while agreeableness decreases the scores of psychological distress (p<0.05). It is suggested to perform longitudinal studies focusing on both genetic and environmental factors on the relationships between personality and psychological disorders.