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


METHODS
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.
Ploubidis
G B
GB
Centre for Population Studies, Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London, London, United Kingdom. George.Ploubidis@LSHTM.ac.uk
Frangou
S
S
D004777:Environment; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009497:Neurotic Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D010555:Personality Inventory; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications* / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires