Type D personality, quality of life and physical symptoms in the general population: a dimensional analysis

Type D personality, the interaction of negative affectivity (NA) and social inhibition (SI), has been associated with a range of adverse health-related outcomes in cardiac patients and healthy participants. However, recent studies which have adopted a dimensional approach to Type D found no effect of Type D (NA × SI) on mortality or quality of life, after controlling for its constituent elements. To date, no study has determined if Type D is associated with negative health outcomes in healthy individuals when conceptualised as a dimensional variable.

A cross-sectional self-report study with 177 healthy participants.

Physical symptoms and quality of life.

Using the traditional categorical analysis for Type D, it was found that Type D's report significantly more symptoms and significantly lower quality of life than non-Type D's report. However, when analysed as a dimensional construct (NA × SI), using multiple regression analysis, Type D (NA × SI) was not a significant predictor of physical symptoms or quality of life, after controlling for the main effects of NA and SI separately.

These findings support those of recent studies that have identified null effects of Type D on outcome when analysed as a dimensional construct.