title: Personality domains, duration of untreated psychosis, functioning, and symptom severity in first-episode psychosis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Early-course psychotic disorders have been extensively studied in terms of phenomenology, but little is known about the influence of personality traits on clinical features of first-episode psychosis. The aim of this study was to explore how the "big five" personality domains (neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) are associated with treatment delay (duration of untreated psychosis, DUP), functioning, and positive and negative symptom severity.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data for these analyses were obtained from 104 participants enrolled from psychiatric inpatient units in Atlanta, Georgia, between August 2008 and March 2011. The NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) was used to assess personality domains, and all other variables were measured in a standardized and rigorous manner using psychometrically sound instruments. Correlational analyses and multiple linear regressions were carried out to examine the strength of associations between variables of interest.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Findings indicated that except for openness, all of the other personality variables contributed to some extent to the variance in DUP. Conscientiousness was positively correlated with functioning. Agreeableness was independently negatively associated with positive symptom severity and extraversion was independently negatively correlated with negative symptom severity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We report the first evidence suggesting that DUP is in part driven by personality domains. Functioning and symptom severity are also associated with those domains. Personality should be taken into account in order to better understand the phenomenology of early-course psychotic disorders as well as treatment-seeking behaviors.
authors.affiliation: Lenox Hill Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, New York, NY, USA; Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine at Hofstra University, Department of Psychiatry, Hempstead, NY, USA. Electronic address: mcompton@nshs.edu.
authors.forename: Michael T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Compton
authors.affiliation: Georgia State University, Department of Psychology, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bakeman
authors.affiliation: The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Washington, DC, USA.
authors.forename: Yazeed
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Alolayan
authors.affiliation: Lenox Hill Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, New York, NY, USA; Scuola di Specializzazione in Psichiatria, Dipartimento di Medicina, Università degli Studi di Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: Pierfrancesco Maria
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Balducci
authors.affiliation: Lenox Hill Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, New York, NY, USA; Scuola di Specializzazione in Psichiatria, Dipartimento di Medicina, Università degli Studi di Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bernardini
authors.affiliation: Lenox Hill Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Beth
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Broussard
authors.affiliation: The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Washington, DC, USA.
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Crisafio
authors.affiliation: Emory University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cristofaro
authors.affiliation: Emory University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Amar
authors.affiliation: Emory University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.affiliation: Tufts University School of Medicine, Physician Assistant Program, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Claire Ramsay
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Wan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010551:Personality; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Duration of untreated psychosis; First-episode psychosis; Negative symptoms; Personality; Positive symptoms; Psychosis; Schizophrenia