The influence of personality traits on neuropsychological test performance and self-reported health and social context in women

Abstract

The relationship between on the one hand personality traits and, on the other hand, neuropsychological test performance, self-rated distress symptoms, psychosocial work exposure, and social interaction patterns, was studied in a group of healthy women ( N=101). All subjects completed the Karolinska Scales of Personality inventory (KSP) and the majority of the subjects ( n=88) completed the State Trait Anxiety Inventory-Trait Scale (STAI-T). Few relationships between personality traits and neuropsychological test results were observed. According to expectations age and education influenced neuropsychological test performance. As for the rating inventories, the high-anxiety half of the subjects typically reported more symptoms and lower social interaction scores than the low-anxiety half. The results suggest that reporting in Euro-Quest (EQ), General Health Questionnaire-30 (GHQ-30), Symptom Check List-90 (SCL-90), Interview Schedule for Social Interaction (ISSI) and the Job Content Questionnaire are sensitive to differences in trait anxiety levels as defined by STAI-T or the psychic anxiety scale in the KSP inventory. The broad impact of trait anxiety on symptom reporting indicates the importance of checking for and possibly controlling for this dimension. Furthermore, the ISSI and JCQ inventories should not be thought of as assessing social circumstances independently from personality traits such as social desirability.