ABSTRACT
ObjectiveTo explore the personality traits of Han Chinese women with recurrent depression.MethodsAssessed by the Big Five Inventory (BFI),a comparison research was conducted between 118 Han Chinese women with recurrent depression and 65 sex,race and culture background matched health controls.Results Han Chinese women with recurrent depression scored lower in extraversion,conscientiousness and openness ( 17.93± 5.43,30.24 ± 5.94,30.03 ± 7.33 ) than matched controls ( 20.72 ± 3.79,31.94 ± 3.84,32.75 ± 5.32 ),while scored higher in neuroticism (21.38 ± 3.91) than the later one ( 27.57 ± 6.19 ).A binary logistic regression model,with group (case vs.control) as dependent variable and extroversion,conscientiousness,openness and neuroticism as independent variables,was built to assess each personality dimension's independent impact on recurrent depression.It came out to be that only extraversion ( OR =0.881,95％ CI =0.083-0.966,P=0.007) and neuroticism ( OR =1.225,95％ CI =1.134-1.323,P ＜ 0.01 ) were statistically significantly associated with recurrent depression ( P＜ 0.05 ).ConclusionIn the big five personality model,extraversion and neuroticism might act as independent personality traits to impact Han Chinese women with recurrent depression in a positive and negative way respectively.