Endocrine Correlates of Personality Traits: A Comparison between Emotionally Stable and Emotionally Labile Healthy Young Men

Abstract

An initial sample of 120 healthy young men was screened by a personality questionnaire and 15 subjects each with highest and lowest scores respectively on emotionality (emotionally labile, EL subjects and emotionally stable, ES subjects) were recruited for a study on the relationship between the degree of emotionality and the basal secretion of stress-sensitive hormones during nighttime. The nocturnal urinary excretion of cortisol, testosterone, adrenaline, noradrenaline and melatonin was measured over a period of 5 consecutive nights. The average amounts of each hormone excreted per night were not different between the two extreme groups. The variability of the excretion during the 5 nights of cortisol and testosterone, but not of adrenaline, noradrenaline and melatonin, was significantly higher in EL compared to ES subjects. The larger fluctuations in the nocturnal secretion of these two (and no other) hormones in EL subjects indicate that emotional lability is associated with a more labile regulation of cortisol and testosterone secretion. The observed intraindividual variability of basal stress hormone secretion may contribute to the vast interindividual variability noticed in psychoneuroendocrine stress research, especially in emotionally labile subjects.

Personality, Cortisol, and Cognition in Non-demented Elderly Subjects: Results from a Population-Based Study

“…However, other studies did not replicate this finding (Adler et al, 1997; Schommer et al, 1999; Ferguson, 2008) and some even reported a negative association between cortisol and neuroticism (Ballenger et al, 1983; LeBlanc and Ducharme, 2005). …”

Personality traits in rats predict vulnerability and resilience to developing stress-induced depression-like behaviors, HPA axis hyper-reactivity and brain changes in pERK1/2 activity

“…One of the most studied factors is the neuroticism-anxiety trait, which is recognized as an important risk factor for the development of depression (Ball and Schottenfeld, 1997;Wang et al, 2002;Sandi and RichterLevin, 2009). The biological significance of neuroticism-anxiety as a predictor of stress-related disorders is supported by a link between this personality trait and basal cortisol levels (Adler et al, 1997;Lindfors and Lundberg, 2002). Using the chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) model of depression (Willner, 1997(Willner, , 2005 in rats, we have identified an association between anxiety trait and both increased vulnerability to stress-induced depression-like symptoms and the response of the amygdala to emotional cues (Sandi et al, 2008).…”

Relationship between Nocturnal Urinary Cortisol Excretion and Symptom Severity in Subgroups of Patients with Depressive Episodes

“…This is associated with a higher degree of activation in the amygdala [22,23] and may cause a stronger basal activation of the HPA system in these patients [24] . Both emotional instability [25] and high neuroticism paired with depressive temperament [26] have been shown to be associated with increased stress sensitivity and HPA dysregulation. It is not unlikely that these psychological and neurobiological features are predispositions which make certain individuals vulnerable to develop psychotic symptoms in the course of a depressive episode.…”