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Temperament and character associated with depressive symptoms in women: analysis of two genetically informative samples
Author(s) -
Yuh Jongil,
Neiderhiser Jenae M.,
Lichtenstein Paul,
Hansson Kjell,
Cederblad, Marianne,
Elthammer Olle,
Reiss David
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/jclp.20587
Subject(s) - psychology , temperament , association (psychology) , personality , twin study , depressive symptoms , sibling , developmental psychology , character (mathematics) , clinical psychology , psychiatry , cognition , social psychology , heritability , genetics , geometry , mathematics , biology , psychotherapist
Although previous research has explored associations between personality and depressive symptoms, a limited number of studies have assessed the extent to which genetic and environmental influences explain the association. This study investigated how temperament and character were associated with depressive symptoms in 131 pairs of twin and sibling women in early adulthood, as well as 326 pairs of twin women in middle adulthood. Results indicated that genetic influences accounted for a moderate to substantial percentage of the association between these personality features and depressive symptoms, emphasizing the role of genetic influences. Nonshared environmental influences made important contributions to the association between character and depressive symptoms, particularly in the sample of middle‐aged twin women. These findings suggest that unique social experiences and relationships with a partner in adulthood may play an important role in these associations between character and depressive symptoms. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol 65: 1–19, 2009.