Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Immediate Communication
  • Published:

A comparison between screened NIMH and clinically interviewed control samples on neuroticism and extraversion

Abstract

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has supported the collection of DNA samples on over 4000 subjects for use primarily as controls in psychiatric genetic studies. These subjects, though screened online, were not directly interviewed or assessed on family history. We compared this sample to one that was directly interviewed using structured diagnostic assessments on comparable measures of neuroticism and extraversion. The screened sample completed an online self-report based on the Composite International Diagnostic Instrument Short-Form (CIDI-SF). The interviewed sample was assessed by clinically trained personnel using the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (SADS-LA-IV) and Family History Screen; final diagnoses were made blind to trait scores by a clinician using the best-estimate procedure. Neuroticism and extraversion were assessed on the NEO five-factor inventory (NEO-FFI) and the revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire short form (EPQ-R). We found that subjects in the NIMH-screened sample who did not report any psychiatric symptoms on the self-report were indistinguishable from interviewed diagnosis free and family history negative controls on neuroticism and extraversion. Subjects in the screened sample who screened positive for anxiety disorders, however, deviated significantly on these measures both from the screened subjects with no self-reported symptoms, as well as from subjects in the interviewed sample diagnosed with comparable disorders. These findings suggest that control groups generated from the NIMH sample should ideally be restricted to subjects free of any self-reported symptoms, regardless of the disorder being addressed, in order to maximize their reflection of diagnosis-free populations.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Kendler KS . ‘A gene for…’: the nature of gene action in psychiatric disorders. Am J Psychiatry 2005; 162: 1243–1252.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Risch N, Merikangas K . The future of genetic studies of complex human diseases. Science 1996; 273: 1516–1517.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Genetics and mental disorders. National institute of mental health's genetics workgroup. Biol Psychiatry 1999; 45: 559–573.

    Google Scholar 

  4. National Institute of Mental Health Center for collaborative genetic studies on mental disorders. RFA: MH-03-003. 2002 March 28, 2002.

  5. Moldin SO . NIMH human genetics initiative: 2003 update. Am J Psychiatry 2003; 160: 621–622.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Baum AE, Akula N, Cabanero M, Cardona I, Corona W, Klemens B et al. A genome-wide association study implicates diacylglycerol kinase eta (DGKH) and several other genes in the etiology of bipolar disorder. Mol Psychiatry 2007 [May 8, 2007, E-Pub ahead of print].

  7. Kessler R, Andrews G, Mrozcek D, Ustun B, Wittchen H . The world health organization composite international diagnostic interview short-form (CIDI-SF). Int J Methods Psychiatr Res 2006; 7: 171–185.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Fyer A, Endicott J, Mannuzza S, Klein DF . Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia-Lifetime Version, Modified for the Study of Anxiety Disorders (SADS-LA). Anxiety Disorders Clinic, New York State Psychiatric Institute: New York, 1985.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Leckman JF, Sholomskas D, Thompson WD, Belanger A, Weissman MM . Best estimate of lifetime psychiatric diagnosis: a methodological study. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1982; 39: 879–883.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Digman J . Peronality structure: emergence of the five factor model. Annu Rev Psychol 1990; 41: 417–440.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Saudino KJ, Pedersen NL, Lichtenstein P, McClearn GE, Plomin R . Can personality explain genetic influences on life events? J Pers Soc Psychol 1997; 72: 196–206.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. van Straten A, Cuijpers P, van Zuuren FJ, Smits N, Donker M . Personality traits and health-related quality of life in patients with mood and anxiety disorders. Qual Life Res 2007; 16: 1–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Bienvenu OJ, Brown C, Samuels JF, Liang KY, Costa PT, Eaton WW et al. Normal personality traits and comorbidity among phobic, panic and major depressive disorders. Psychiatry Res 2001; 102: 73–85.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Bienvenu OJ, Samuels JF, Costa PT, Reti IM, Eaton WW, Nestadt G . Anxiety and depressive disorders and the five-factor model of personality: a higher- and lower-order personality trait investigation in a community sample. Depress Anxiety 2004; 20: 92–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Carrera M, Herran A, Ramirez ML, Ayestaran A, Sierra-Biddle D, Hoyuela F et al. Personality traits in early phases of panic disorder: implications on the presence of agoraphobia, clinical severity and short-term outcome. Acta Psychiatr Scand 2006; 114: 417–425.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Battaglia M, Bertella S, Politi E, Bernardeschi L, Perna G, Gabriele A et al. Age at onset of panic disorder: influence of familial liability to the disease and of childhood separation anxiety disorder. Am J Psychiatry 1995; 152: 1362–1364.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Goldstein RB, Wickramaratne PJ, Horwath E, Weissman MM . Familial aggregation and phenomenology of ‘early’-onset (at or before age 20 years) panic disorder. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1997; 54: 271–278.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Weissman MM, Wickramaratne P, Adams P, Wolk S, Verdeli H, Olfson M . Brief screening for family psychiatric history: the family history screen. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2000; 57: 675–682.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Wittchen HU . Reliability and validity studies of the WHO—composite international diagnostic interview (CIDI): a critical review. J Psychiatr Res 1994; 28: 57–84.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Janca A, Robins LN, Bucholz KK, Early TS, Shayka JJ . Comparison of composite international diagnostic interview and clinical DSM-III-R criteria checklist diagnoses. Acta Psychiatr Scand 1992; 85: 440–443.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Walters E, Kessler RC, Nelson CB, Mroczek DC . Scoring the World Health Organization's Composite International Diagnostic Interview Short Form (CIDI-SF) (revised December 2002), World Health Organization, Geneva, 2002 (http://www.who.int/whosis/en/).

  22. Stein MB, Chartier MJ, Hazen AL, Kozak MV, Tancer ME, Lander S et al. A direct-interview family study of generalized social phobia. Am J Psychiatry 1998; 155: 90–97.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Costa P, McCrae RR . Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) Professional Manual. Psychological Assessment Resources Inc.: Odessa, FL, 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  24. McCrae RR, Costa Jr PT . Personality trait structure as a human universal. Am Psychol 1997; 52: 509–516.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. McCrae RR, Costa Jr PT, Pedroso de Lima M, Simoes A, Ostendorf F, Angleitner A et al. Age differences in personality across the adult life span: parallels in five cultures. Dev Psychol 1999; 35: 466–477.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Eysenck S, Eysenck HJ, Barrett P . A revised version of the psychoticism scale. Personal Individual Differences 1985; 6: 21–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Larstone R, Jang KL, Livesley WJ, Vernon PA, Wolf H . The relationship between Eysenck's P-E-N model of personality, the five-factor model of personality, and traits delineating personality dysfunction. Personal Individual Differences 2002; 33: 25–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Chanock SJ, Manolio T, Boehnke M, Boerwinkle E, Hunter DJ, Thomas G et al. Replicating genotype-phenotype associations. Nature 2007; 447: 655–660.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Weissman MM, Bland RC, Canino GJ, Faravelli C, Greenwald S, Hwu HG et al. The cross-national epidemiology of panic disorder. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1997; 54: 305–309.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Weissman MM, Bland RC, Canino GJ, Faravelli C, Greenwald S, Hwu HG et al. Cross-national epidemiology of major depression and bipolar disorder. JAMA 1996; 276: 293–299.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Weissman MM, Bland RC, Canino GJ, Greenwald S, Lee CK, Newman SC et al. The cross-national epidemiology of social phobia: a preliminary report. Int Clin Psychopharmacol 1996; 11 (Suppl 3): S9–S14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Weissman MM, Fyer AJ, Haghighi F, Heiman G, Deng Z, Hen R et al. Potential panic disorder syndrome: clinical and genetic linkage evidence. Am J Med Genet 2000; 96: 24–35.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Lesch KP, Bengel D, Heils A, Sabol SZ, Greenberg BD, Petri S et al. Association of anxiety-related traits with a polymorphism in the serotonin transporter gene regulatory region. Science 1996; 274: 1527–1531.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Luo X, Kranzler HR, Zuo L, Wang S, Gelernter J . Personality traits of agreeableness and extraversion are associated with ADH4 variation. Biol Psychiatry 2007; 61: 599–608.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Sen S, Burmeister M, Ghosh D . Meta-analysis of the association between a serotonin transporter promoter polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) and anxiety-related personality traits. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet 2004; 127: 85–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by a clinical studies project (Myrna M Weissman, PI) of NIMH Program Project NIMH PO1 MH60970-04. Douglas Levinson, MD, and Thomas Lehner, PhD, MPH, provided important clarifications regarding the NIMH controls.

The NIMH sample was collected by ‘Molecular Genetics of Schizophrenia II’ collaboration, and included the following investigators: ENH/Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, MH059571—Pablo V Gejman, MD (Collaboration Coordinator; PI), Alan R Sanders, MD; Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, MH59587—Farooq Amin, MD (PI); Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center; New Orleans, LA, MH067257—Nancy Buccola APRN, BC, MSN (PI); University of California-Irvine, Irvine, CA, MH60870—William Byerley, MD (PI); Washington University, St Louis, MO, U01, MH060879—C Robert Cloninger, MD (PI); University of Iowa, Iowa, IA, MH59566—Raymond Crowe, MD (PI), Donald Black, MD; University of Colorado, Denver, CO, MH059565—Robert Freedman, MD (PI); University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, MH061675—Douglas Levinson, MD (PI); University of Queensland, QLD, Australia, MH059588—Bryan Mowry, MD (PI); Mt Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, MH59586—Jeremy Silverman, PhD (PI).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to M M Weissman.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Talati, A., Fyer, A. & Weissman, M. A comparison between screened NIMH and clinically interviewed control samples on neuroticism and extraversion. Mol Psychiatry 13, 122–130 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.mp.4002114

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.mp.4002114

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links