interviewed25 years later to determine if they had experienced major depression. Excluding individuals with an episode of major depression before 1974, each 1 SD difference in higher neuroticism was associated with a 31% greater risk for a first episode of major depression over the 25-year period, controlling age, sex, and extroversion (Kendler, Gatz, Gardner, & Pederse, 2006). Fewer studies of the utility of neuroticism in predicting other mental disorders have been conducted, but a prospective study of a birth cohort of 5,362 individuals found the odds of later meeting criteria for schizophrenia to be 93% greater for individuals with high neuroticism scores at age 16 (Van Os & Jones, 2001). In addition, a longitudinal study of a New Zealand birth cohort found that risk for a suicide attempt at ages 15–21 years was 225% greater for youth in the highest quartile of neuroticism at age 14 than for youth in the lowest quartile, controlling for socioeconomic status, sensation seeking, depression and other mental disorders, and stressful life events (Fergusson, Woodward, & Horwood, 2000). Moreover, these risk factors were related to suicide attempts multiplicatively, such that the risk for a suicide attempt among youth with both high neuroticism scores and other
