Abstract
The heritability of schizophrenia and most personality traits has been well established, but the role of personality in susceptibility to schizophrenia remains uncertain. The aim of this study was to test for an association between personality traits and Neurological Soft Signs (NSS), a well-known biological marker of schizophrenia, in non-psychotic relatives of patients with schizophrenia. For this purpose, we evaluated the NSS scale and personality measured by the Temperament and Character inventory (TCI-R) in three groups of subjects: 29 patients with schizophrenia, 24 unaffected relatives and 37 controls. The results showed that patients with schizophrenia were more asocial (higher harm avoidance and lower reward dependence), more perseverative (higher persistence), and more schizotypal (lower self-directedness and cooperativeness, higher self-transcendence). The unaffected relatives showed higher harm avoidance, lower self-directedness and cooperativeness than the healthy controls. Higher NSS scores and sub-scores were found in patients and non-psychotic relatives compared with the controls. Among all the patients, total NSS scores were positively correlated with harm avoidance but negatively correlated with novelty seeking and persistence. Total NSS were also correlated with low scores on self-directedness and cooperativeness, which are indicators of personality disorder. Our results show that susceptibility to NSS and to schizophrenia are both related to individual differences in the temperament and character features in non-psychotic relatives of patients with schizophrenia. High harm avoidance, low persistence, low self-directedness and low cooperativeness contribute to both the risk of NSS and schizophrenia. These findings highlight the value of using both assessments to study high risk populations.
Highlights
The etiology of schizophrenia is still largely unknown, the genetic basis of this disorder has been well established (Singh et al, 2014)
No significant differences between groups were observed in terms of age or gender; patients with schizophrenia and non-psychotic relatives showed significantly less years of education than controls (Table 1)
No significant differences were observed in self-directedness or cooperativeness scores between patients and relatives
Summary
The etiology of schizophrenia is still largely unknown, the genetic basis of this disorder has been well established (Singh et al, 2014). Among the different models for studying personality, Cloninger’s model is the one with the most explicit neurobiological basis (Cloninger, Svrakic & Przybeck, 1993) This model suggests that a person’s temperament is heritable and regulated by neurotransmitters and brain circuits, which are involved in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Environmental factors do impact on both temperament and character traits, these factors are more critical for the development of character than temperament By using this model, patients with schizophrenia have shown a temperament and character profile that is distinct from the general population (Bora & Veznedaroglu, 2007; Glatt et al, 2006; Kurs, Farkas & Ritsner, 2005; Ritsner & Susser, 2004). Cloninger’s TCI provides a reliable way to quantify personality traits related to susceptibility to the schizophrenia spectrum
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