title: The importance of personality and life-events in anxious depression: from trait to state anxiety.
abstract: Anxious depression is associated with severe impairment and bad prognoses. We hypothesize that recent life-events are associated with more anxiety in late-life depression and that this is conditional upon the level of certain personality traits.
  
  
  
  Baseline data of the Netherlands Study of Depression in Older Persons (NESDO) were used. In 333 patients (≥60 years) suffering from a major depressive disorder, anxiety was assessed with the BAI, personality traits with the NEO-FFI and the Mastery Scale, and life-events with the Brugha questionnaire. Multiple linear regression analyses were applied with anxiety severity as dependent and life-events and personality traits as independent variables.
  
  
  
  147 patients (44.1%) had recently experienced one or more life-events. The presence of a life-event is not associated with anxiety (p = .161) or depression severity (p = .440). However, certain personality traits interacted with life-events in explaining anxiety severity. Stratified analyses showed that life-events were associated with higher anxiety levels in case of high levels of neuroticism and openness and low levels of conscientiousness or mastery.
  
  
  
  In the face of a life-event, personality traits may play a central role in increased anxiety levels in late-life depression.
authors.affiliation: a University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen , Department of Psychiatry, Interdisciplinary Center of Psychopathology of Emotion regulation (ICPE) , Groningen , the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Date C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: van der Veen
authors.affiliation: a University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen , Department of Psychiatry, Interdisciplinary Center of Psychopathology of Emotion regulation (ICPE) , Groningen , the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Silvia D M
authors.initials: SDM
authors.lastname: van Dijk
authors.affiliation: b GGZinGeest and VU University Medical Center , Department Psychiatry/EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research , Amsterdam , the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Hannie C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Comijs
authors.affiliation: a University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen , Department of Psychiatry, Interdisciplinary Center of Psychopathology of Emotion regulation (ICPE) , Groningen , the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Willeke H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: van Zelst
authors.affiliation: a University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen , Department of Psychiatry, Interdisciplinary Center of Psychopathology of Emotion regulation (ICPE) , Groningen , the Netherlands.|c University of Groningen , Research School of Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences (BCN) , Groningen , the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Schoevers
authors.affiliation: a University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen , Department of Psychiatry, Interdisciplinary Center of Psychopathology of Emotion regulation (ICPE) , Groningen , the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Richard C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Oude Voshaar
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D010551:Personality / Q000502:physiology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
keywords: Anxious depression; life-events; personality