Clarifying the Associations between Big Five Personality Domains and Higher-Order Psychopathology Dimensions in Youth

Publication date: Available online 15 July 2019Source: Journal of Research in PersonalityAuthor(s): Ashley L. Watts, Holly E. Poore, Scott O. Lilienfeld, Irwin D. WaldmanAbstractIn a large sample of youth (N = 942, 51% female), we found support for a 3 correlated factors model of psychopathology that comprised Distress, Fears, and Externalizing factors. Distress was positively associated with Neuroticism, Fears was not associated with Big Five dimensions, and Externalizing was negatively associated with Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. Relations between lower-order psychopathology dimensions and the Big Five were generally accounted for by the higher-order psychopathology factors. There was little evidence of hypothesized two- or three-way interactions among the Big Five dimensions in statistically predicting higher-order psychopathology factors. Together, our findings support the developmental structural continuity of personality and psychopathology, and suggest that at least in youth, personality relates to psychopathology in a largely non-specific manner.
Source: Journal of Research in Personality - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research