Personality Predictors of Injury-Related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Abstract

This longitudinal, cohort study examined the effect of personality traits on the emergence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a recently traumatized, civilian, mixed-gender sample with significant injuries. Burn survivors (N = 70) were administered the NEO-Personality Inventory (NEO-PI) and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM III-R (SCID) at hospital discharge and readministered the SCID 4 and 12 months later. Overall, the sample of burn survivors scored significantly higher on neuroticism and extraversion and lower on openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness relative to a normative national sample. Furthermore, multivariate analysis of variance revealed that PTSD symptom severity groups (i.e., single symptom, multiple symptoms, subthreshold PTSD, PTSD) were differentially related to neuroticism and extraversion. Planned comparisons indicated that neuroticism was higher and extraversion was lower in those who developed PTSD compared with those who did not develop PTSD.