Comparison of Personality Traits and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Styles in Patients with and without Allergy with Healthy People

Allergy is one of the most common diseases that is rapidly increasing. Since this disease is a psychosomatic disease, to evaluate the factors affecting it, a combination of biological and psychological factors should be considered. The aim of this study was to compare the personality traits and emotion regulation styles in patients with and without allergy with healthy people. This descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study was conducted in the Allergy Clinic in Urmia city in 2017. In this study, 100 patients (50 patients with allergy, and 50 patients without allergy) and 50 healthy people were selected through matching with the patient group using convenience sampling method. Data were collected using Personality Trait Questionnaire (PTQ) and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ). Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance, Levin and Scheffe test. Neuroticism was more common in patients with and without allergy than those healthy people (P=0.001). Patients with allergy obtained lower scores of the extraversion trait and adaptive emotion regulation compared to the other two groups (P=0.001). There was no significant difference between the three groups in terms of agreeableness and openness to experience.  It seems necessary to use psychological interventions in the training of emotion regulation skills and pay attention to the personality traits in these patients.