Although numerous models explaining the interface between personality and psychopathology have been put forth in the literature, one prominent model posits shared etiological mechanisms between personality and psychopathology (see Krueger & Tackett, 2003, for a review). It is now relatively well-demonstrated that neuroticism (or negative emotionality) in particular shows robust phenotypic and genotypic relations with internalizing and externalizing psychopathology, as well as a general psychopathology factor (e.g., Tackett et al., 2013). At the same time, the extent to which other personality traits, such as extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness, map onto the structure of psychopathology phenotypically and genotypically has received less attention. Similarly, our knowledge regarding the extent to which early forms of personality and psychopathology share common etiological mechanisms is limited. We analyzed data from a representative twin sample (N = 507) of youth aged 6 to 16 (51% female) to make inroads into these questions. Extending previous research using this sample, which supported a five-factor model of personality in youth (Watts, Poore, Lilienfeld, & Waldman, 2017), we will first present analyses examining the extent to which five-factor model personality traits are associated with higher-order dimensions of psychopathology. We will then present multivariate behavior genetic analyses that examine the shared etiological influences between these same five-factor model personality traits and higher-order psychopathology dimensions, which we will test using both independent and common pathway models. Taken together, our findings may bear important implications for reconceptualizing the linkages between personality and psychopathology.
References
Krueger, R. F., & Tackett, J. L. (2003). Personality and psychopathology: Working toward the bigger picture. Journal of Personality Disorders, 17, 109-128.
Tackett, J. L., Lahey, B. B., Van Hulle, C., Waldman, I., Krueger, R. F., & Rathouz, P. J. (2013). Common genetic influences on negative emotionality and a general psychopathology factor in childhood and adolescence. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 122, 1142-1153.
Watts, A.L, Poore, H.E., Lilienfeld, S.O., & Waldman, I.D. (2017, July). Exploring the phenotypic structure and etiology of the big five personality dimensions in youth. Paper presented at the 2017 annual meeting for the Behavior Genetics Association in Oslo, Norway.
Personality, Temperament, Attitudes, Politics and Religion , Psychopathology (e.g., Internalizing, Externalizing, Psychosis)
