Do parental rearing and personality characteristics have a buffering effect against psychopathological manifestations among Iranian refugees in Sweden?

Development of Self-Directedness and Cooperativeness in Relation to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Trajectories After Military Deployment

Background

Personality traits, such as the character traits self-directedness and cooperativeness, might play a role in the risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after deployment to a combat zone. However, it is unclear whether these traits are preexisting risk factors or if event-related changes might also be associated with PTSD symptoms over time. Therefore, the current aim was to assess if military deployment is associated with changes in cooperativeness and self-directedness and to study how these traits are related to PTSD symptom trajectories.

Methods

In a large cohort of military personnel (N = 1007), measurements were performed before, at one and six months, and two and five years after deployment to Afghanistan. Linear mixed-effect models were used to assess the individual change in the traits over time and to study the relation with potential predictors.

Results

Cooperativeness was found to remain stable, whereas self-directedness was found to slightly decrease over time. This decrease was related to the development of PTSD symptoms over time. Furthermore, lower levels of self-directedness were associated with the symptomatic trajectories of PTSD symptoms. Lower levels of cooperativeness were only associated with the recovered PTSD trajectory.

Conclusions

So, not only do the findings confirm that lower levels of these character traits are associated with the development of PTSD symptoms, it was also shown that there are differences in the relation between these traits and the course of PTSD symptoms. Studying methods to promote the levels of these character traits might help to improve the resiliency of military personnel.

Personality and Emotional Intelligence in Teacher Burnout

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between teacher's personality types, emotional intelligence and burnout and to predict the burnout levels of 147 teachers in the city of Mashhad (Iran). To this end, we have used three inventories: Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), NEO Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI), and Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-I). We used Homogeneity Analysis and Multiple Linear Regression to analyze the data. The results exhibited a significant relationship between personality types and emotional intelligence and the three dimensions of burnout. It was indicated that the best predictors for emotional exhaustion were neuroticism and extroversion, for depersonalization were intrapersonal scale of emotional intelligence and agreeableness, and for personal accomplishment were interpersonal scale and conscientiousness. Finally, the results were discussed in the context of teacher burnout.

A prospective study on personality and the cortisol awakening response to predict posttraumatic stress symptoms in response to military deployment

Few prospective studies on pre-trauma predictors for subsequent development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have been conducted. In this study we prospectively investigated whether pre-deployment personality and the cortisol awakening response (CAR) predicted development of PTSD symptoms in response to military deployment. Furthermore, we hypothesized that potential effects of age, childhood trauma and previous deployment on development of PTSD symptoms were mediated via pre-deployment personality, CAR and PTSD symptoms. Path analysis was performed on data from 470 male soldiers collected before and six months after a 4-month deployment to Afghanistan. Before deployment, personality was assessed with the short-form Temperament-Character Inventory and the Cook-Medley Hostility scale. In addition, pre-deployment saliva sampling for assessment of the CAR was performed immediately after awakening and 15, 30 and 60min thereafter. Pre-deployment high hostility and low self-directedness represented intrinsic vulnerabilities for development of PTSD symptoms after deployment. The CAR assessed before deployment did not predict PTSD symptoms after deployment. Pre-deployment low-to-moderate PTSD symptoms were associated with PTSD symptoms after deployment. As hypothesized, the effects of age and childhood trauma on PTSD symptoms after deployment were mediated via personality and pre-deployment PTSD symptoms. However, the number of previous deployments was not related to development of PTSD symptoms. The total model explained 24% of variance in PTSD symptoms after military deployment.

Patterns of temperament and character in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder and their association with symptom severity

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to identify the patterns of temperament and character of patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and to explore the relationship between the patterns of temperament and character and PTSD symptoms severity.

METHODS

Temperament and character features of 130 patients with PTSD (n = 65) and age and sex-matched healthy controls (n = 65) were evaluated using the Temperament and Character Inventory. Severity of PTSD symptoms and general anxiety symptoms was measured with the Impact of Events Scale-Revised (IES-R) and the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HARS).

RESULTS

Patients with PTSD showed significantly higher scores on subscales of harm avoidance and self-transcendence and lower scores on self-directedness and cooperativeness compared to controls. Harm avoidance and self-transcendence scores were significantly associated with PTSD symptom severity as measured by IES-R but not with general anxiety symptom severity as measured by HARS.

CONCLUSIONS

Patterns of temperament and character of patients with PTSD were significantly different from those of healthy controls. In addition, these patterns are specifically associated with the PTSD symptom severity.