Is type-D personality trait(s) or state? An examination of type-D temporal stability in older Israeli adults in the community

Abstract

Background: Type-D personality was suggested as a marker of poorer prognosis for patients of cardiovascular disease. It is defined by having a score of 10 or more on both sub-scales of the DS14 questionnaire, Social Inhibition (SI) and Negative Affect (NA). As Type-D was designed to predict risk, its temporal stability is of prime importance. Methods: Participants in the current study were 285 community volunteers, who completed the DS14, and other personality scales, at a mean interval of six years. Results: The prevalence of Type-D did not change. The component traits of Type-D showed rank order stability. Type-D caseness temporal stability was improved by using the total DS14 score. Using the scale's product as a criterion further improved temporal stability. Logistic hierarchical regression predicting Type-D classification from Time1 demonstrated that the best predictors were Time1 scores on NA and SI, with the character trait of Cooperation, and the alexithymia score adding some predictive power. Conclusions: Temporal stability of Type-D caseness may be improved by using a sum or product threshold, rather than the current rule. In any case, as the temporal stability of Type-D is limited, research is required to formulate the optimal timing for Type-D measurement for predictive purposes.

Type D personality is associated with depressive symptoms and clinical activity in inflammatory bowel disease

“…10 The Type D Scale-14 questionnaire contains only 14 items; therefore, allowing fast assessment that can be easily implemented during a patient visit. A further advantage of Type D is its temporal stability [19][20][21][22] contrasting other psychological parameters as for instance HADS-D which refers only to the week previous to assessment. 31 Cumulative number of events Currently, there is no established psychological intervention for Type D. 48 Nevertheless, psychotherapy to treat associated psychiatric comorbidities such as depression was shown to be beneficial for coronary heart disease patients with Type D, 48 an observation that should also be tested in IBD.…”

“…[13][14][15][16] The prevalence of Type D in the general population is 20%-30%. 17 Research has demonstrated temporal stability of personality traits with only rare substantial changes 18 in long-term observational studies [19][20][21][22] and a genetic component has been described. 12,19 Nevertheless, the risk for Type D might be affected by critical life events.…”