What's the use of neuroticism?

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(00)00144-6Get rights and content

Abstract

In this paper we examine two aspects of neuroticism (N): its status as a personality descriptor and its role in the personality dynamics of abnormal states. We first suggest that high N is such a universal accompaniment of abnormal functioning (both psychological and biological) that by itself it has little descriptive or explanatory value. Then, acknowledging that N has more utility when used alongside other personality variables, we argue that here the most informative are disorder-specific characteristics that have unique variance, while also correlating with N. We propose that N's role in aetiology is that of a moderator variable, influencing the expression of these disorder-specific characteristics to produce (or not) the clinical conditions to which they relate. By way of illustration, examples are taken from our joint studies of the eating disorders and of schizotypy and schizophrenia.

Section snippets

Preamble

The origins of this paper lie in discussions between the authors about neuroticism, prompted by our collaboration on various clinically based studies that reflect our interests in two research areas: eating disorders and schizotypy/schizophrenia. In all of these investigations we used a variety of personality scales, relevant to the particular problem of interest; but common to all of them was the inclusion in the test battery of a measure of neuroticism (N). In the course of analysing these

The ubiquity of N

Despite the continuing debate about what constitutes the optimal dimensional structure of personality, one point of agreement remains. It is the consensus that a significant part of personality variation can be ascribed to traits concerning an individual's emotional reactivity, tendency to worry, susceptibility to negative mood, proneness to psychopathology, or — as it is most often called — neuroticism. This cluster of traits reliably appears in factor analyses of personality data. It does so

Going beyond N

Because of the ubiquitous quality of N, it is generally necessary — in exploring individual differences further — to seek to specify some additional personality feature or features peculiar to the population of interest. This is true whether the aim is to explore personality structure or to explain the causes (‘aetiology’) of the differences observed. There are several ways to do this.

One is by ‘profiling’, which is the way most dimensional personality theories proceed. Here, N is simply

N as a moderator variable

The view of N promulgated so far in this paper has been relatively pessimistic: N relates to too many things of a deviant kind to be informative and usually fades into generality as a (frequently) significant, though rather uninteresting, correlate of abnormal behaviour. However, this does not mean that N can thereby be totally excluded from further consideration. N represents a major source of individual variation in emotionality and it is inconceivable that it does not enter into the

Conclusions

We indicated at the beginning of this paper that a single answer to the question posed in the title was not to be anticipated. Both of what we referred to as, respectively, the ‘pessimistic’ and the ‘optimistic’ views of N turn out to be partly true. Certainly, taken by itself N tells us very little about personality; and, crucially, given its label and content, it fails dismally to discriminate between different forms of abnormality, over a wide range of dysfunctions.

N fares better when used

References (83)

  • G. Matthews et al.

    The personality theories of H.J. Eysenck and J.A. Gray: comparative review

    Personality and Individual Differences

    (1999)
  • G.E. Miller et al.

    Personality and tonic cardiovascular, neuroendocrine, and immune parameters

    Brain, Behavior and Immunity

    (1999)
  • P. Pauli et al.

    Pain sensitivity, cerebral laterality, and negative affect

    Pain

    (1999)
  • W.S. Pritchard

    P300 and EPQ/STPI personality traits

    Personality and Individual Differences

    (1989)
  • E. Rodnight et al.

    A new method for the determination of individual differences in susceptibility to a depressant drug

  • P. Sainsbury

    Psychosomatic disorders and neurosis in outpatients attending a general hospital

    Journal of Psychosomatic Research

    (1960)
  • D.F. Saklofske et al.

    Neuroticism, depression and depression-proneness

    Personality and Individual Differences

    (1995)
  • C. Shagass

    The sedation threshold. A method for estimating tension in psychiatric patients

    Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology

    (1954)
  • O.B.A. van den Akker et al.

    Genetic and environmental factors in premenstrual symptom reporting and its relationship to depression and a general neuroticism trait

    Journal of Psychosomatic Research

    (1995)
  • D. Ball et al.

    The serotonin transporter gene and peer-rated neuroticism

    Neuroreport

    (1997)
  • K. Belicki

    The relationship of nightmare frequency to nightmare suffering with implications for treatment and research

    Dreaming

    (1992)
  • S.L. Bem

    The Bem Sex Role Inventory: professional manual

    (1973)
  • N. Breslau et al.

    Vulnerability to psychopathology in nicotine-dependent smokersan epidemiologic study of young adults

    American Journal of Psychiatry

    (1993)
  • Bru, E., Myletun, R. J., & Svebak, S. (1993). Neuroticism, extraversion, anxiety and Type A behaviour as mediators of...
  • A.B. Carr

    Vitamin C and the common colda second MZ cotwin study

    Acta Genetica Medicae et Gemellologia: Twin Research

    (1981)
  • G. Claridge

    Personality and Arousal

    (1967)
  • G. Claridge et al.

    Sedation threshold, personality and the theory of neurosis

    Journal of Mental Science

    (1960)
  • Claridge, G., Clark, K., & Davis, C. (1997) Nightmares, dreams, and schizotypy. British Journal of Clinical Psychology,...
  • C.R. Cloninger

    The genetics and psychobiology of the seven-factor model of personality

  • C. Cooper

    Individual differences

    (1998)
  • P.J. Costa

    Influence of the normal personality dimension of neuroticism on chest pain symptoms and coronary artery disease

    American Journal of Cardiology

    (1987)
  • P.T. Costa et al.

    Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) Professional Manual

    (1992)
  • C. Davis

    Normal and neurotic perfectionism in eating disordersan interactive model

    International Journal of Eating Disorders

    (1997)
  • C. Davis et al.

    The two faces of narcissismPersonality dynamics of body esteem

    Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology

    (1996)
  • C. Davis et al.

    Gender-role orientation and body image in women and menthe moderating influence of neuroticism

    Sex Roles

    (1996)
  • I.J. Deary et al.

    Neuroticism and polymorphisms in the serotonin transporter gene

    Psychological Medicine

    (1999)
  • C.F. Duggan et al.

    Does personality predict long-term outcome in depression?

    British Journal of Psychiatry

    (1990)
  • H.J. Eysenck

    The biological basis of personality

    (1967)
  • H.J. Eysenck et al.

    Personality and individual differences. A natural science approach

    (1985)
  • H.J. Eysenck et al.

    Eysenck Personality Questionnaire

    (1975)
  • Cited by (88)

    • Neuroticism, rumination, depression and suicidal ideation: A moderated serial mediation model across four countries

      2022, International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology
      Citation Excerpt :

      In addition, research has also documented interactive effects of neuroticism with other psychological variables, such as cognitive strategies (Ng & Diener, 2009), mindfulness (e.g., Drake et al., 2017; Feltman et al., 2009), or ideal-self discrepancy (Hong et al., 2013; Wasylkiw et al., 2010) when predicting depression, psychological distress, and low well-being. Taken together, these findings would support that neuroticism may act as a moderator variable that would exacerbate the negative effect of other risk factors on depressed mood and related psychopathological conditions, in line with previous theoretical proposals (Barlow et al., 2014; Bolger & Zuckerman, 1995; Claridge & Davis, 2001). It is important to mention the limitations of the present study.

    View all citing articles on Scopus

    This paper is based on a joint presentation of the same title at the 9th Biennial Meeting of the International Society for the Study of Individual Differences held in Vancouver, Canada, July 1999.

    View full text