Temperament and character predictors of depressed mood over a 4-year interval.

Background: A large community sample [n=591, 57% women, M age=51.01] was administered the Revised Temperament and Character Inventory [TCI-R; Cloninger, 1999]: The Temperament and Character Inventory—Revised. St. Louis, MO: Center for Psychobiology of Personality, Washington University] and a modified version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies–Depression Scale [CES-D; Radloff, 1977]: Appl Psychol Measure 1:385–401] at Time 1 [T₁] and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies–Depression Scale again 4 years later at Time 2 [T₂].Methods: Whereas three of the seven personality dimensions were significantly and uniquely associated with depressed mood at T₁, only harm avoidance emerged as a significant unique positive predictor of depressed mood at T₂. Results: When participants were grouped according to the level of stability versus change in depressed mood during the 4-year period, reward dependence, self-directedness, and cooperativeness were found to be significantly lower among those low in depressed mood at T₁ who subsequently evidenced moderate to high levels of depressed mood at T₂ when compared to those with low depressed mood on both assessment occasions. Additional analyses indicated that those who evidenced moderate to high levels of depression at T₁ and T₂ were distinctly higher on harm avoidance and lower on self-directedness when compared to those who had consistently low or variable levels of depressed mood across the two assessment occasions. Conclusions: Findings from this research are discussed in terms of personality-related vulnerability and risk factors for future episodes of depressed mood. Depression and Anxiety, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]