title: Personality and depression: explanatory models and review of the evidence.
abstract: Understanding the association between personality and depression has implications for elucidating etiology and comorbidity, identifying at-risk individuals, and tailoring treatment. We discuss seven major models that have been proposed to explain the relation between personality and depression, and we review key methodological issues, including study design, the heterogeneity of mood disorders, and the assessment of personality. We then selectively review the extensive empirical literature on the role of personality traits in depression in adults and children. Current evidence suggests that depression is linked to traits such as neuroticism/negative emotionality, extraversion/positive emotionality, and conscientiousness. Moreover, personality characteristics appear to contribute to the onset and course of depression through a variety of pathways. Implications for prevention and prediction of treatment response are discussed, as well as specific considerations to guide future research on the relation between personality and depression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York 11794-2500, USA. daniel.klein@stonybrook.edu
authors.forename: Daniel N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.forename: Roman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kotov
authors.forename: Sara J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Bufferd
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D035841:Behavioral Research / Q000379:methods; D002648:Child; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010551:Personality; D010552:Personality Assessment; D013694:Temperament