Chunk #48 — PERSONALITY TRAIT DIMENSIONS — The Five-Factor Model — Evidence bearing on causal models — Personality during and after a depressive episode
Studies of personality and psychopathology may be complicated by the influence of participants’ mood states on reports of their personalities (the concomitants model). For example, many studies have found that individuals with MDD report higher levels of N/NE when they are depressed than when they are not depressed (Hirschfeld et al. 1983b, Kendler et al. 1993, Ormel et al. 2004a). In contrast, the evidence for mood state effects on E/PE is weaker and less consistent (de Fruyt et al. 2006, Kendler et al. 1993, Morey et al. 2010). However, the influence of mood state on personality should not be overstated. Even though levels of N/NE decline significantly after remission from a depressive episode (i.e., absolute stability), individuals’ relative positions with respect to levels of N/NE (i.e., rank-order stability) tend to be moderately well preserved (de Fruyt et al. 2006, Morey et al. 2010). Moreover, clinical trials suggest that changes in depressive symptoms are not necessarily accompanied by changes in personality (Quilty et al. 2008b, Tang et al. 2009).
