Structural Associations of NEO Personality Dimensions with Symptoms of Anxiety and Depressive Disorders

The aim of this study was to determine common and specific factors of anxiety and depressive disorders based on the NEO personality dimensions. Four hundred and thirteen students of Tabriz University (200 males, 213 females) selected by cluster sampling responded to the following questionnaires: NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI), Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI), Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ), Maudsley Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory (MOCI), Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN), and Phobic Stimuli Response Scales (PSRS). The data were analysed using the confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The findings suggest a better fitness of the five-factor structure for anxiety and depressive disorders compared with the six-factor structure. The findings support the validity of only three NEO personality factors. Of various structural models evaluated, the best fitting pertained to the structure in which higher-order dimensions of neuroticism, extraversion and conscientiousness significantly predicted anxiety and depressive disorders. Neuroticism is a common factor between anxiety and depressive disorders, extraversion is specific to depression, and social phobia and conscientiousness are specific factors for obsessive-compulsive disorder.