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Neuroticism and psychological distress: To what extent is their association due to person-environment correlation?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2020

G.B. Ploubidis  and
S. Frangou
G.B. Ploubidis*
Affiliation:
Centre for Population Studies, Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London, London, United Kingdom
S. Frangou
Affiliation:
Section of Neurobiology of Psychosis, Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College of London, London, United Kingdom
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail address: George.Ploubidis@LSHTM.ac.uk (G.B. Ploubidis).
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Abstract

Objective

To examine to what extent the association between neuroticism and psychological distress is related to individuals’ inherent vulnerability or their tendency to self-select high-risk environments or situations.

Method

Data was drawn from both waves (1984/1985 and 1991) of the Health and Lifestyle Survey. Psychological distress was evaluated using the 30-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30) and neuroticism was assessed with the Eysenck Personality Inventory. A checklist of life events was completed in the second wave only. A Latent State Trait model was estimated to decompose psychological distress into its environmental-contextual and individual-specific components.

Results

Neuroticism accounted for 31 and 10% respectively of the variance of the environmental-contextual and individual-specific psychological distress components.

Conclusions

Our results favour the notion that individuals with high-levels of neuroticism tend to self-select situations likely to lead to adversity and distress.

Keywords

Psychological distressNeuroticismPerson-environment correlation
Type
Original article
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , January 2011 , pp. 1 - 5
Copyright
Copyright © Elsevier Masson SAS 2011

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