Relationships of personality traits and stress to gingival status or soft-tissue oral pathology: an exploratory study

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships of personality traits and stress with gingival inflammation and with soft-tissue oral pathology.

Personality traits of psychoticism (P), extroversion and introversion (E), and neuroticism (N) were measured with Eysenck's personality questionnaire (EPQ). Stress was measured with a modified organizational and individual assessment survey (OIAS) developed by Hendrix. Military recruits from Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri, were examined for soft-tissue oral pathology and gingival status at weeks one (n = 241) and six (n = 61) of basic combat training (BCT). The EPQ and OIAS were administered to 217 recruits during week six of BCT. A discriminant analysis was used to determine correlations among study variables.

Significant correlations (P < .05) were found between personality traits and various measures of tolerance of stress. Little variance was found between groups originally presenting with or without disease. Only physical stress (P < .005) was shown to affect soft-tissue pathology, while gingival inflammation correlated significantly to E scores (P < .02), tolerance to change (P < .02), and anxiety (P < .05).

Data support a possible relationship among certain personality traits, stress variables, and gingival inflammation or soft-tissue pathology in recruits with extreme personality characteristics or perception of high physical stress levels in basic combat training.