Our findings broaden the understanding of personality and depression in the elderly in several ways. First, in addition to the anticipated effect of Neuroticism, our findings highlight the role of low Conscientiousness in predicting incident depression among the frail elderly. Individuals low in Conscientiousness may be more challenged by needing to manage their own care, navigating the complexities of the health care delivery system, and achieving personal goals despite limitations.(53) Second, our findings highlight the importance of considering styles or combinations of personality domains. The analysis of styles suggests that rather than high Conscientiousness being protective, low Conscientiousness confers risk for mood disorders in this sample. Moreover, this risk is not solely specific to combinations of low Conscientiousness with high Neuroticism, but is also seen in combination with high or low scores on Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Openness. The findings that both low and high levels of Extraversion confer risk for depression in this context is particularly noteworthy as prior research on the role of low Extraversion in depression have been conflicting.(26)(54) Too often it is erroneously assumed that either high
