The predictive power of personality through psychopathology in Alzheimer’s disease: a control study of self-report and baseline retrospective assessment

ABSTRACT

Although there is a growing body of literature on the Alzheimer’s disease (AD) personality changes, its relationships with personality disorders are still largely understudied. The relationships between the Five-Factor Model and the Axis II personality disorders were explored in the context of current and baseline personality in AD. The study was conducted with four groups who were administered the NEO-FFI and the PDQ-4+, mainly in interview sessions. Self-report measurement: AD Group, 40 female participants (M = 81.48 years); Control Group, 47 female participants from the population at large (M = 76.81 years). Baseline retrospective measurement: AD Group Informants (n = 40); Control Group Informants (n = 47). Three logistic regressions were computed. The baseline Neuroticism moderates the Neuroticism in the current clinical state. High Neuroticism, low Openness, high Cluster B, and baseline high Neuroticism, predicted the presence of AD diagnosis, accounting for 85% of the variance. In order to increase sensitivity towards an earlier diagnosis in AD, future empirically-based research should take into account an assessment set of structural personality variables.

KEYWORDS:

• Alzheimer’s disease
• personality
• psychopathology
• aging
• mental health

Acknowledgments

The authors want to thank all of the study Participants. Special thanks to the Centro Hospitalar Psiquiátrico de Lisboa, Portugal.

Disclosure Statement

Joana Henriques-Calado and Maria Eugénia Duarte-Silva, declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a doctoral grant from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) (ref. SFRH/BD/44515/2008) awarded to the first author, and by funds of CICPSI, Research Center for Psychological Science, Faculdade de Psicologia, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal.