Long-term stability of personality traits in a clinical psychiatric sample

Figures & data

Figure 1. Flow chart over recruitment and attrition to a follow-up study of stability in personality traits in young psychiatric out-patients.

Table 1. Comparison of participants and drop-outs according to data from 2003.

Descriptive from 2003	Participants n = 95	Lost at follow-up n = 105	p
Mean age (years)	22.5	22.3	.540
Female	86.3%	75.2%	.048
Any anxiety disorder	64.2%	70.5%	.345
Any mood disorder	80.0%	74.3%	.338
Any substance abuse/dependence	3.2%	12.4%	.016
Any eating disorder	24.2%	30.5%	.322
	Participants n = 95	Lost at follow-up n = 86
Personality traits in 2003	T-score (SD)	T-score (SD)	p
Somatic trait anxiety	61.7 (12.7)	61.3 (14.0)	.848
Psychic trait anxiety	66.2 (12.6)	65.9 (13.0)	.891
Stress susceptibility	62.0 (13.4)	64.8 (15.2)	.184
Lack of assertiveness	59.2 (13.4)	56.1 (12.6)	.104
Impulsiveness	49.0 (9.8)	52.3 (10.0)	.026
Adventure seeking	48.3 (10.6)	52.2 (11.3)	.017
Detachment	43.6 (10.5)	45.2 (11.4)	.346
Social desirability	46.4 (10.0)	46.1 (12.8)	.828
Embitterment	59.3 (11.5)	61.5 (12.6)	.238
Trait irritability	55.0 (9.6)	57.0 (11.1)	.180
Mistrust	53.9 (14.0)	56.1 (14.5)	.293
Verbal trait aggression	49.6 (10.1)	52.1 (11.3)	.124
Physical trait aggression	44.0 (9.2)	46.6 (10.8)	.086
Neuroticism scale	60.4 (9.6)	61.0 (10.4)	.702
Aggressiveness scale	50.4 (5.8)	51.8 (5.7)	.106
Extraversion scale	47.0 (6.6)	49.9 (7.6)	.006

Figure 2. SSP-scores (mean T-score with 95 % CI) in 95 former psychiatric patients in 2003 and at follow-up in 2016.

Table 2. Personality traits measured by SSP in participants (n = 95) presented as T-scores (50 = median in a normative sample).

CPRS-S-A ≤ 10 (n = 48)	SSP	Mean (SD) 2003	Mean (SD) 2016	t^a	p
	Somatic trait anxiety	59.0 (11.3)	46.8 (8.1)	6.75	≤.001
	Psychic trait anxiety	63.0 (12.7)	47.5 (9.6)	10.01	≤.001
	Stress susceptibility	59.2 (11.7)	48.2 (12.0)	6.01	≤.001
	Lack of assertiveness	56.7 (13.3)	47.5 (10.4)	5.79	≤.001
	Impulsiveness	49.5 (10.7)	45.6 (9.6)	2.69	.010
	Adventure seeking	51.0 (10.2)	45.3 (10.6)	3.46	.001
	Detachment	42.9 (11.1)	45.2 (9.5)	1.80	.079
	Social desirability	47.6 (9.4)	50.1 (11.8)	1.37	.176
	Embitterment	57.7 (11.8)	47.3 (9.3)	6.60	≤.001
	Trait irritability	54.0 (9.5)	48.5 (10.3)	3.89	≤.001
	Mistrust	53.2 (14.4)	43.1 (9.9)	6.49	≤.001
	Verbal trait aggression	50.9 (9.2)	47.3 (8.7)	2.67	.010
	Physical trait aggression	44.5 (9.3)	42.5 (7.8)	1.53	.132
	Neuroticism scale	58.1 (9.1)	46.7 (7.0)	10.34	≤.001
	Aggressiveness scale	50.8 (5.7)	48.7 (5.8)	2.59	.013
	Extraversion scale	47.8 (6.9)	45.4 (5.7)	2.52	.015
CPRS-S-A > 10 (n = 47)	SSP	Mean (SD) 2003	Mean (SD) 2016	t	p
	Somatic trait anxiety	64.5 (13.6)	61.6 (8.9)	1.63	.110
	Psychic trait anxiety	69.4 (11.8)	62.5 (8.2)	5.32	.000
	Stress susceptibility	64.8 (14.5)	67.4 (12.0)	1.38	.175
	Lack of assertiveness	61.8 (13.2)	59.1 (10.5)	1.65	.105
	Impulsiveness	48.5 (9.0)	46.6 (11.8)	1.26	.214
	Adventure seeking	45.5 (10.4)	41.6 (10.4)	2.66	.011
	Detachment	44.4 (10.0)	53.2 (11.6)	5.95	.000
	Social desirability	45.3 (10.5)	44.1 (11.3)	0.65	.520
	Embitterment	61.0 (11.1)	59.8 (10.5)	0.93	.358
	Trait irritability	56.0 (9.7)	55.5 (10.7)	0.31	.759
	Mistrust	54.6 (13.6)	54.1 (13.4)	0.36	.722
	Verbal trait aggression	48.3 (10.8)	47.1 (8.3)	0.76	.452
	Physical trait aggression n = 46	43.4 (9.3)	44.7 (9.8)	0.95	.347
	Neuroticism scale	62.8 (9.7)	60.8 (7.0)	1.88	.067
	Aggressiveness scale	49.9 (5.9)	48.9 (5.2)	1.05	.302
	Extraversion scale	46.1 (6.29	47.1 (7.1)	1.23	.226

Comparisons of ratings in 2003 and 2016, presented separately for those with a with CPRS-S-A scores ≤ 10 and >10.

^a Performed by paired sample t-test.

Table 3. Participants CPRS-S-A scores (n = 93)^a as a predictor for change (Δ) in SSP scales (T-scores) over 13 years.

	Crude model			Adjusted model^b
Changes in SSP scales	Intercept (SE)	B (SE)	R^2	Intercept (SE)	B (SE)	R^2
Δ Somatic trait anxiety	−14.99 (2.23)***	0.62 (.16)***	0.14	−12.23 (3.56)***	0.70 (.17)***	0.22
Δ Psychic trait anxiety	−18.22 (1.78)***	0.60 (.13)***	0.20	−15.90 (3.00)***	0.65 (.14)***	0.18
Δ Stress susceptibility	−15.86 (2.26)***	1.00 (.16)***	0.30	−14.31 (3.81)***	1.09 (.18)***	0.28
Δ Lack of assertiveness	−9.68 (2.08)***	0.31 (.15)*	0.05	−10.72 (3.50)***	0.41 (.16)*	0.03
Δ Impulsiveness	−3.76 (1.84)*	0.08 (0.13)	0.01	−2.85 (3.06)	0.14 (0.14)	0.01
Δ Adventure seeking	−6.48 (1.96)***	0.13 (0.14)	0.01	−5.81(3.24)	0.16 (0.15)	0.02
Δ Detachment	1.18 (1.75)	0.39 (.12)**	0.09	1.78 (2.93)	0.42 (.14)**	0.09
Δ Social desirability	4.31 (2.34)	−0.32 (0.17)	0.04	1.02 (3.89)	−0.35 (0.18)	0.04
Δ Embitterment	−13.52 (1.82)***	0.65 (.13)***	0.22	−11.91 (2.89)***	0.73 (.14)***	0.29
Δ Trait irritability	−7.90 (1.81)***	0.43 (.13)**	0.11	−8.63 (3.09)**	0.39**	0.07
Δ Mistrust	−10.77 (2.06)***	0.48 (.15)**	0.10	−4.21 (3.34)	0.57 (.16)***	0.15
Δ Verbal trait aggression	−3.70 (1.83)*	0.11 (0.13)	0.01	−7.05 (2.99)*	0.09 (−14)	0.05
Δ Psychical trait aggression	−3.02(1.67)	0.23 (0.12)	0.04	−5.94 (2.75)*	0.25 (0.13)	0.06
Δ Neuroticism-scales	−13.84 (1.34)***	0.61 (.10)***	0.31	−11.55 (2.15)***	0.69 (.10)***	0.36
Δ Aggressiveness-scales	−2.43 (1.11)*	0.07 (0.08)	0.01	−4.89 (1.89)*	0.04 (0.09)	0.01
Δ Extraversion-scales	−3.02 (1.14)**	0.20 (.08)*	0.06	−2.29 (1.91)	0.24 (.09)**	0.06

^a Only participants with complete data were included, two persons missed evaluation of personality disorders.

^b Adjusted for any anxiety disorder, any mood disorder, any substance related disorder, any eating disorder, any personality disorder, and number of current diagnoses in 2003.

***p<.001; **p<.01; and *p<.05.