Suggestively associated SNPs from the GWAS meta-analysis were examined in replication cohorts (Table 4). Four SNPs showed association (two with neuroticism, one with depressive symptoms, and two with psychological distress symptoms) at a significance level of 0.05. One of these, rs7582472, was associated with depressive symptoms in German (P=0.013) and NTR (P=0.006) cohorts, and showed allelic effects in the same direction as the meta-analysis result. Replication results for the genes associated with neuroticism (Table 3) were nominally significant for the five genes in LD on chromosome 15. Polygenic scores of personality were significant predictors of trait scores of personality (P<0.05) in the Australian cohort, but they explained very little variance (0.1%) in extraversion and neuroticism. In the German cohort, genetic profile scores of extraversion were negatively correlated with symptoms of anxiety (r=−0.09; P=0.044), depression (r=−0.10; P=0.022) and psychological distress (r=−0.10; P=0.021). In the NTR cohort, genetic profile scores of neuroticism predicted psychological distress (r=0.04; P=0.045).
