The study, led by teams from the University of Edinburgh and the University of Tartu in Estonia, analysed data from over 16,000 people in the Estonian Biobank. Participants reported on their personality using the “Big Five” traits, extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, openness, and agreeableness, and were also rated by someone who knew them well. The researchers looked at both general mental health risk and specific issues like fatigue, fear, inattention, and hyperactivity.
They found personality to be one of the most reliable indicators of mental health problems, more than previous studies had shown. About 25% of the risk could be linked to personality traits, and another 25% of the risk for specific conditions could also be explained by these traits.
People more at risk of general mental health problems tended to be higher in neuroticism, higher in agreeableness, and lower in conscientiousness. However, some issues, such as sleep problems, didn’t show strong connections to personality.
“By combining data from two sources, we were able to overcome common problems in personality assessments, such as response bias and other types of measurement error,” said Professor René Mõttus of the University of Edinburgh. “This allowed us to estimate the associations much more accurately.”
