title: PERSONALITY AND DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS: INDIVIDUAL PARTICIPANT META-ANALYSIS OF 10 COHORT STUDIES.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Personality is suggested to be a major risk factor for depression but large-scale individual participant meta-analyses on this topic are lacking.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data from 10 prospective community cohort studies with 117,899 participants (mean age 49.0 years; 54.7% women) were pooled for individual participant meta-analysis to determine the association between personality traits of the five-factor model and risk of depressive symptoms.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In cross-sectional analysis, low extraversion (pooled standardized regression coefficient (B) = -.08; 95% confidence interval = -0.11, -0.04), high neuroticism (B = .39; 0.32, 0.45), and low conscientiousness (B = -.09; -0.10, -0.06) were associated with depressive symptoms. Similar associations were observed in longitudinal analyses adjusted for baseline depressive symptoms (n = 56,735; mean follow-up of 5.0 years): low extraversion (B = -.03; -0.05, -0.01), high neuroticism (B = .12; 0.10, 0.13), and low conscientiousness (B = -.04; -0.06, -0.02) were associated with an increased risk of depressive symptoms at follow-up. In turn, depressive symptoms were associated with personality change in extraversion (B = -.07; 95% CI = -0.12, -0.02), neuroticism (B = .23; 0.09, 0.36), agreeableness (B = -.09; -0.15, -0.04), conscientiousness (B = -.14; -0.21, -0.07), and openness to experience (B = -.04; -0.08, 0.00).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Personality traits are prospectively associated with the development of depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms, in turn, are associated with changes in personality that may be temporary or persistent.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hakulinen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.|National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Marko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Elovainio
authors.affiliation: Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.|Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pulkki-Råback
authors.affiliation: Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Marianna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Virtanen
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, United Kingdom.|Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Mika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kivimäki
authors.affiliation: Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jokela
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010551:Personality / Q000502:physiology*; D012307:Risk Factors
keywords: depression risk; depressive disorders; neuroticism; personality; prospective studies; psychiatric epidemiology; publication bias