Gender and age differences in the associations between personality traits and depressive symptoms among Chinese adults: Based on China Family Panel Study

Are Big Five personality traits associated with trajectories of depressive symptom among middle-aged and older adults in China?

BACKGROUND

Personality traits have been confirmed to be associated with mental health, but their influence on the trajectories of depressive symptoms among middle-aged and older adults in China is not well understood. This study seeks to identify distinct trajectories of depressive symptoms and explore their relationship with the Big Five personality traits in China.

METHODS

Data was collected from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) for 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2012 were used in this study. 5376 individuals aged 45 and older were included in this study. Latent growth mixture modeling was applied to identify distinct trajectories of depressive symptoms, and multinomial logistic regression was used to examine the association between personality traits and these trajectories.

RESULTS

Three depressive symptom trajectories were identified: stable increasing with low starting point (53.18%), descending type with high starting point (8.03%), and stable at middle level (38.78%). Higher extraversion scores was associated with lower depressive symptom trajectories, while higher levels of openness and neuroticism were associated with an increased risk of severe depressive symptom trajectories. Heterogeneity analyses revealed that, among individuals aged 45-60, conscientiousness was negatively associated with depressive symptoms, while openness was positively related to depression. Among older adults (≥ 60 years), extraversion showed the strongest protective effect against depressive symptoms, while higher openness demonstrated a notably stronger association with depression. Additionally, females showed stronger associations between personality traits and depressive symptom than males.

CONCLUSION

Different trajectories of depressive symptoms are observed among middle-aged and older adults in China. The findings underscore the importance of tailored mental health monitoring, with distinct approaches needed for different genders and age groups.

Identifying possible influence factors for depression through social media

BACKGROUND

Nowadays, social media provide a wealth of real-time data on emotional expression. This paper aims to explore possible influence factors for depression using internet-based data, thereby contributing references for psychological research and future depression intervention.

METHODS

Posts under Weibo named "Zoufan" were crawled and manually annotated. Depression levels, personality traits and external factors reflected from these texts were classified by BERT model. Single factor analysis and unordered multinomial logistic regression analysis were conducted for the relationship between depression and possible influence factors. Random forest analysis was applied to evaluate the significance these factors.

RESULTS

The final dataset included 50,306 users. Among personality traits, high extraversion and agreeableness were found to be protective factors against depression (p < 0.01), while high neuroticism was identified as a significant risk factor (p < 0.01). Concerning external factors, family-related issues increased the risk of extreme depression (p < 0.01), while romantic relationships were associated with mild (p < 0.01) and moderate depression (p < 0.05). Furthermore, interpersonal relationship challenges were linked to an elevated risk of mild, moderate, and severe depression (p < 0.01). Factors such as love, family, and interpersonal relationships reflect the role of social support, which is crucial in preventing depression.

CONCLUSION

High extraversion and agreeableness reduce the likelihood of depression, while high neuroticism increases the risk. A supportive social environment plays a vital role in depression. Moreover, utilizing big data from social media extends beyond traditional questionnaire-based methods, offering novel perspectives and pathways for mental health research and interventions.

The Influence of the Big Five Personality Factors on Mental Health Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Prospective Study

The Big Five personality factors (PF) are considered to be predictive of mental health problems, but it is unclear if these factors equally contributed to mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to before the pandemic. This prospective study aimed to fill this knowledge gap. For this purpose data was extracted from the population-based LISS-panel. We included adult respondents (Nmales = 1,838, Nfemales = 1892) who participated in three surveys before the pandemic (T1March-2019, T2May-2019, T3November-2019) and in three surveys during the pandemic in 2020 (T4March-2020, T5May-2020, T6november-2020). Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to examine and compare the longitudinal associations between PF at T2May-2019 and moderate-severe anxiety and depressions symptoms (ADS) at T3November-2019, and longitudinal associations between PF at T5May-2020 and ADS at T5November-2020 among males and females. Control variables (pre-existing ADS, lack support, demographics) were retrieved from the T1March-2019 and T4March-2020 surveys, respectively. For the present study we distinguished five levels (very high to very low) of each PF. For both sexes, those with (very) low emotional stability and/or conscientiousness had considerably higher rates of ADS compared to those with very high levels of the same trait. These findings were similar both before and during the pandemic. Moreover, we found no indications that those with a certain level of a PF during the pandemic were more of less at risk for ADS or persistent ADS, than those with the same level of the same PF before the pandemic. Thus, we found no indications that the pandemic affected the impact of personality factors on moderate-severe anxiety and depressions symptoms.

The Relationship between Big Five Personality Traits and Depression in the German-Speaking D-A-CH Region Including an Investigation of Potential Moderators and Mediators

Considerable evidence links the "Big Five" personality traits (neuroticism, extroversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness) with depression. However, potential mediating and moderating factors are less well understood. We utilized data from a cross-sectional survey of 3065 German-speaking adults from the D-A-CH region to estimate multivariable-adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervalsbetween personality traits and lifetime prevalence of depression (overall and stratified by sex and age). We further explored proportions mediated by psychosocial factors optimism, empathy, perspective-taking, work-life balance, and interpersonal trust. High levels of neuroticism were associated with more than two-fold higher odds of depression, whereas higher levels of conscientiousness were associated with approximately 30% lower odds of depression. The association with neuroticism persisted in all investigated subgroups; apparently, stronger associations for females and participants aged ≥60 years did not correspond to statistically significant interactions. Overall and across all strata, the association of neuroticism with depression appeared to be mediated in part by the considered psychosocial factors; optimism explained the largest proportion of the association. Our results provide empirical evidence for the dynamic predisposition model. Further investigations of these relationships are warranted in longitudinal data with more precise outcome assessments.

A network analysis bridging the gap between the big five personality traits and burnout among medical staff

BACKGROUND

Burnout is a common issue among medical professionals, and one of the well-studied predisposing factors is the Big Five personality traits. However, no studies have explored the relationships between these traits and burnout from a trait-to-component perspective. To understand the specific connections between each Big Five trait and burnout components, as well as the bridging effects of each trait on burnout, we employed network analysis.

METHODS

A cluster sampling method was used to select a total of 420 Chinese medical personnel. The 15-item Chinese Big Five Personality Inventory-15 (CBF-PI-15) assessed the Big Five personality traits, while the 15-item Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS) assessed burnout components. Network analysis was used to estimate network structure of Big Five personality traits and burnout components and calculate the bridge expected influence.

RESULTS

The study revealed distinct and clear relationships between the Big Five personality traits and burnout components. For instance, Neuroticism was positively related to Doubt significance and Worthwhile, while Conscientiousness was negatively related to Accomplish all tasks. Among the Big Five traits, Neuroticism displayed the highest positive bridge expected influence, while Conscientiousness displayed the highest negative bridge expected influence.

CONCLUSIONS

The network model provides a means to investigate the connections between the Big Five personality traits and burnout components among medical professionals. This study offers new avenues for thought and potential targets for burnout prevention and treatment in medical personnel, which can be further explored and tested in clinical settings.

Effect of the personality traits of healthy Japanese workers on depressive symptoms and social adaptation, and on the achievement rate of exercise therapy to prevent major depression

Background

This study determined the effects of personality traits on depressive symptoms and social adaptation in healthy workers, and the effects of depressive symptoms or social adaptation before and after exercise therapy, and personality traits before exercise therapy on the achievement rates of exercise therapy aimed at preventing major depression.

Methods

Two hundred fifty healthy Japanese workers were given an eight-week walking program as exercise therapy. After excluding 35 participants who had dropped or provided incomplete information, 215 were included in the analysis. The Japanese version of the NEO five-factor inventory was used to assess participants' personality traits before the exercise therapy. Depressive symptoms were evaluated using the Japanese version of the Zung self-rating depression scale (SDS-J) and social adaptation was evaluated using the Japanese version of the social adaptation self-evaluation scale (SASS-J) before and after the exercise therapy.

Results

The SDS-J scores correlated with neuroticism and negatively correlated with extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness before the exercise therapy. The SDS-J was also negatively correlated with openness in women, but not in men, while the SASS-J was associated with extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness, and negatively correlated with neuroticism. There was no significant change in levels of depression before and after exercise therapy; however, social adaptation increased significantly in men. No association was found between SDS-J and SASS-J scores before the exercise therapy and the achievement rate. The achievement rates of exercise therapy were negatively correlated with SDS-J or SASS-J after exercise therapy in women. The SDS-J after exercise therapy was correlated with neuroticism in men and negatively correlated with extraversion in women. The SASS-J after exercise therapy was negatively correlated with neuroticism and correlated with extraversion and openness in men. In contrast, the SASS-J after exercise therapy correlated with openness and agreeableness in women. Conscientiousness was correlated with the achievement rate of exercise therapy in men, but not with the various personality traits in women.

Conclusion

Depressive symptoms and social adaptation were differently associated with personality traits and achievement rates before and after exercise therapy. Conscientiousness before exercise therapy predicted a higher achievement rate for exercise therapy in men.