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A longitudinal study of personality and major depression in a population-based sample of male twins

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 April 2007

AYMAN H. FANOUS ,
MICHAEL C. NEALE ,
STEVEN H. AGGEN  and
KENNETH S. KENDLER
AYMAN H. FANOUS*
Affiliation:
Washington VA Medical Center, Washington, DC, USA Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, USA Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
MICHAEL C. NEALE
Affiliation:
Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
STEVEN H. AGGEN
Affiliation:
Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
KENNETH S. KENDLER
Affiliation:
Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
*
*Address for correspondence: Ayman H. Fanous, M.D., Washington VA Medical Center, 50 Irving St NW, Washington, DC 20422, USA. (Email: [email protected])
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Abstract

Background

The relationship between personality and psychiatric illness is complex. It is not clear whether one directly causes the other.

Method

In a population-based sample of male twins (n=3030), we attempted to predict major depression (MD) from neuroticism (N) and extraversion (E) and vice versa, to evaluate the causal, scar, state, and prodromal hypotheses. In a longitudinal, structural equation twin model, we decomposed the covariation between N and MD into (a) genetic and environmental factors that are common to both traits, as well as specific to each one and (b) direct causal effects of N at time 1 on subsequent MD, as well as between MD and subsequent N.

Results

E was negatively correlated with lifetime and one-year prevalence of MD. N predicted the new onset of MD, and was predicted by both current and past MD. It did not predict the time to onset of MD. All of the covariation between N and MD was due to additive genetic and individual-specific environmental factors shared by both traits and a direct causal path between MD and N assessed later. No genetic factors were unique to either trait.

Conclusions

In men, N may be a vulnerability factor for MD but does not cause it directly. However, MD may have a direct causal effect on N. The genetic overlap between N and MD in men may be greater than in women.

Type
Original Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 37 , Issue 8 , August 2007 , pp. 1163 - 1172
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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