Neuroticism and Depression in the Elderly

Do personality traits, such as mastery, self-efficacy, and neuroticism, influence recovery from depression among the elderly? The authors of a study in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry hypothesized that these traits do predict recovery, but that declining cognitive abilities and physical health overshadow their effect. Researchers followed up on 206 depressed elderly participants (aged 55–85 years at baseline) for 9 years and used Cox proportional regression analyses to predict recovery. Neuroticism, in particular, predicted recovery from depression, although no evidence indicated whether neuroticism could assuage the negative impact of other age-related stress-antagonists. http://ajgponline.org/cgi/content/abstract/15/3/234

-LS