Personality dimensions of schizophrenia patients compared to control subjects by gender and the relationship with illness severity

Abstract

BackgroundPersonality traits and schizophrenia present gender differences; however, gender has not been considered in most studies on personality and schizophrenia. This study aims to identify the different personality dimensions of schizophrenia patients and healthy control subjects by gender and to explore the relationship between personality dimensions and illness severity variables by analyzing data for males and females separately.MethodsTemperament and Character Inventory-Revised dimensions were compared by gender between 161 schizophrenia patients and 214 healthy controls from a population-based sample using independent t-tests. We then investigated whether personality dimensions are related to illness severity variables using correlation analyses and bivariate logistic regression, also by gender.ResultsThe patients had significantly higher scores for harm avoidance (HA) and self-transcendence (ST) and lower scores for reward dependence (RD), cooperativeness (C), and self-directedness (SD) than the controls. Similar results were obtained when the sample was stratified by gender, however the differences were higher and more significant for HA among males and for RD among females. The number of admissions to a psychiatric hospital positively correlated with novelty seeking (NS) in males and negatively with SD in females. In males, SD and ST negatively correlated with the number of suicide attempts.ConclusionsMale and female patients present difficulties for regulating and adapting behavior to achieve goals (SD) and for identifying and accepting others (C), as well as a great sense of spirituality and universe identification (ST). However, male patients are more characterized by being fearful, doubtful and easily fatigued (HA), while female patients are characterized by presenting difficulties maintaining and pursuing associated reward behaviors (RD). Furthermore, male and female patients who are frequently admitted to psychiatric hospitals and male patients who attempt suicide should be evaluated regarding their personality dimensions. Future studies assessing the relationship between personality dimensions and the clinical features of schizophrenia should consider gender differences.

Sensation/novelty seeking in psychotic disorders: A review of the literature

“…Research on the association of SNS with measures of subjective quality of life yielded mixed results, but most studies do not support any correlation. Interestingly, in the study of Miralles et al [59] NS was found to be positively correlated with the number of admissions to a psychiatric hospital in male patients. It is generally believed that schizophrenia patients have a unique personality profile as estimated with the use of different personality models [66] .…”

“…This could have bias the results in that the excluded abusing patients would be expected to have higher SNS levels. More recently, suicide attempts were examined as one of the objectives of the study of Miralles et al [59] , described in Table 7. Similarly to the aforementioned reports, no correlation of SNS with the number of suicide attempts was found, but importantly in this study, patients with a history of alcohol/substance abuse were not excluded.…”

“…Miralles et al [59] 161 schizophrenia inpatients, 214 healthy controls NS, TCI-R No differences in NS between groups; in males the number of psychiatric admissions positively correlated with NS Hori et al [60] 106 schizophrenia outpatients 247 healthy controls Substance use was an exclusion criterion for controls NS, TCI NS was found to be significantly lower in symptomatic (n = 72) but not in remitted patients NS: Novelty seeking; TPQ: Tridimensional personality questionnaire; TCI: Temperament and character inventory; TCI-R: TCI revised; SSS: Sensation Seeking scale; SS: Sensation seeking.…”

Dysfunctional meta-cognitive beliefs mediate the relation between temperament traits and hallucination-proneness in non-clinical population

“…character) determined personality traits in psychosis continuum, as the profile of personality that was found among healthy individuals with psychotic-like experiences (Gaweda et al, 2015;Nitzburg et al, 2014) or hallucinatory-like experiences (Gaweda and Kokoszka, 2013) is similar to patients with clinical psychosis (e.g. Guillem, Bicu, Semkovska and Debruille, 2002;Hori et al, 2008;Miralles et al, 2014).…”

The value of novelty in schizophrenia

“…Novelty-seeking has also been associated with non-adherence to medication (Margetic et al, 2011) and increased hospital admissions (albeit only in males; Miralles et al, 2014). In line with models of motivational regulation, these findings suggest that excessive attraction towards novel stimuli may disrupt motivational regulation and thus interfere with optimal decision-making and behaviour in patients affected by schizophrenia.…”