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Evaluating stability and change in personality and depression

D A Santor1, R M Bagby, R T Joffe

  • 1Department of Psychology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. dsantor@is.dal.ca

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
|January 7, 1998
PubMed
Summary

Personality traits like neuroticism are more stable than previously thought, even during depression treatment. Changes in depression did not significantly alter personality scores, challenging the idea that personality is merely a temporary state.

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Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Psychiatry
  • Clinical Psychology

Background:

  • Critics question the stability of personality traits linked to depression vulnerability.
  • Previous research often failed to distinguish relative vs. absolute stability and model personality change as a function of depression change.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine the stability of personality, specifically neuroticism and extraversion, in depressed outpatients undergoing pharmacotherapy.
  • To investigate whether changes in depression influence personality scores during treatment.

Main Methods:

  • Assessed neuroticism and extraversion in 71 depressed outpatients over a 5-week pharmacotherapy trial.
  • Analyzed both relative and absolute stability of personality scores.
  • Modeled changes in personality as a function of changes in depression.

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Main Results:

  • Neuroticism and extraversion demonstrated both relative stability and absolute change.
  • Changes in depression scores explained only a modest or negligible amount of the variance in personality score changes.

Conclusions:

  • The assumption that personality scores are unstable and state-dependent requires re-evaluation.
  • Personality traits show a degree of stability irrespective of short-term changes in depressive symptoms.