The more specific facets of personality revealed an interesting pattern of associations (see Table 1). Consistent with previous research (Marsland et al. 2008), the hostility component of Neuroticism, rather than other aspects of negative affectivity, was associated with higher IL-6. Similarly, although factor-level Extraversion was unrelated to IL-6, the activity facet showed the expected negative correlation, whereas the positive emotionality aspects of Extraversion were unrelated to IL-6. In addition, N5: Impulsivity and N6: Vulnerability correlated positively and, following the factor-level association, all facets of Conscientiousness correlated negatively with IL-6.
