Personality and risk for serious mental illness

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Psychology
• Developmental Neuroscience

Background:

• Certain personality traits are associated with an elevated risk of developing severe mental illness (SMI).
• Understanding these traits in at-risk youth is crucial for early intervention.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate personality differences in youth at risk for SMI across various clinical stages.
• To compare these personality profiles with healthy controls (HCs).

Main Methods:

• The NEO-Five-Factor Inventory-3 assessed personality in four groups: asymptomatic at-risk youth (Stage 0), youth with early symptoms (Stage 1a), youth with attenuated syndromes (Stage 1b), and HCs.
• Participant numbers were 41 (Stage 0), 52 (Stage 1a), 108 (Stage 1b), and 42 (HCs).

Main Results:

• Symptomatic participants displayed significantly higher neuroticism and lower extraversion and conscientiousness than non-symptomatic individuals.
• Compared to normative data, symptomatic youth showed low extraversion and conscientiousness, while those with attenuated syndromes scored high on neuroticism.

Conclusions:

• The personality profiles observed in symptomatic stages align with those reported for established mental disorders.
• Identifying these personality profiles may facilitate the early detection of individuals at high risk for SMI.