Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health

Volume 8, Issue 3-4, December 2018, Pages 124 - 133

The Predictive Value of Personality Traits for Psychological Problems (Stress, Anxiety and Depression): Results from a Large Population Based Study

Authors
Zeinab Alizadeh1, 2, Awat Feizi2, 3, *, , Mehri Rejali2, *, , Hamid Afshar3, Ammar Hassanzadeh Keshteli4, Peyman Adibi5
1Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health, Torbat Heydariyeh University of Medical Sciences, Torbat Heydariyeh, Iran
2Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
3Psychosomatic Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
4Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
5Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine and Integrative Functional, Gastroenterology Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

Co-corresponding author with equal contribution.

* Corresponding authors. Emails: awat_feiz@hlth.mui.ac.ir, rejali_m@yahoo.com
Corresponding Authors
Awat Feizi, Mehri Rejali
Received 19 December 2016, Accepted 11 November 2017, Available Online 31 December 2018.
DOI
10.2991/j.jegh.2017.11.003How to use a DOI?
Keywords
Personality traits; stress; anxiety; depression; ROC analysis
Abstract

The current study aimed to determine the prognostic values of personality traits for common psychological problems in a large sample of Iranian adult. In a large sample of healthy people (n = 4763) who lived in Isfahan province; the NEO-FFI was used to assess the personality traits; depression and anxiety were assessed using the “Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)” also stress was measured through Persian validated version of General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). Receiver Operating Characteristics Curve (ROC) analysis was used as main statistical method for data analysis. ROC analysis showed neuroticism was the best predictor for all psychological problems with highest area under the curve (AUC) (95% confidence interval) for stress, 0.837 (0.837–0.851), anxiety 0.861 (0.847–0.876) and depression 0.833 (0.820–0.846) (p < .001) and the corresponding cut-off points (sensitivity, specificity), were 21.5 (77%, 66%), 22.5 (81%, 77%) and 20.5 (77%, 74%), respectively .Other personality traits were significant protective factors for being affected with psychological problems (p < .001). Similar findings were observed separately in women and men. The present study showed that the neuroticism is significant risk factor for being affected with three psychological problems while other traits are significant protective factors. Personality traits are useful indices for screening psychological problems and an effective pathway toward prevention in general population.

Copyright
© 2018 Atlantis Press International B.V.
Open Access
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licences/by-nc/4.0/).

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Journal
Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health
Volume-Issue
8 - 3-4
Pages
124 - 133
Publication Date
2018/12/31
ISSN (Online)
2210-6014
ISSN (Print)
2210-6006
DOI
10.2991/j.jegh.2017.11.003How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2018 Atlantis Press International B.V.
Open Access
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licences/by-nc/4.0/).

Cite this article

TY  - JOUR
AU  - Zeinab Alizadeh
AU  - Awat Feizi
AU  - Mehri Rejali
AU  - Hamid Afshar
AU  - Ammar Hassanzadeh Keshteli
AU  - Peyman Adibi
PY  - 2018
DA  - 2018/12/31
TI  - The Predictive Value of Personality Traits for Psychological Problems (Stress, Anxiety and Depression): Results from a Large Population Based Study
JO  - Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health
SP  - 124
EP  - 133
VL  - 8
IS  - 3-4
SN  - 2210-6014
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/j.jegh.2017.11.003
DO  - 10.2991/j.jegh.2017.11.003
ID  - Alizadeh2018
ER  -