Topic 3b - Personality and Mental Health

Question 1

What is the Diathesis-Stress model?

Answer 1

Identify who is most vulnerable to mental health problems and what causes them to develop
Diathesis = inherent vulnerability to develop an illness
Stress = factors that increase the risk (environmental / experience)
Influence the risk to developing mental health problems together

Question 2

What is exponential relationship?

Answer 2

Rate of risk to MH problems accelerates as level of diathesis increases

Question 3

What is a linear relationship?

Answer 3

As level of diathesis increases, the probability of developing disorders increases

Question 4

Why is it difficult to identify personality diatheses?

Answer 4

• There could be several diatheses involved per disorder (may interact)
• May be protective factors (personality traits, social support, high self esteem)
• Diatheses may be differentially sensitive to certain types of stressors - unemployment may have a big effect on those who have diathesis X and this may trigger mental health problems but another trait may be less sensitive to this stressor

Question 5

What is the Specific Vulnerability Hypothesis? - Blast & Zuroff, 1992

Answer 5

Depression incident reactive to stressors such as divorce or unemployment
Personality traits more prone to depression - high autonomy, high dependency, pessimistic
People with different diatheses are affected by different stressors

Question 6

What is the personality diatheses? - Haslam 2007

Answer 6

• High Autonomy : compulsive self reliance, aversion to being controlled, predicted domain congruent stressor - indicator of personal failure. E.G doing bad in an exam
• Self Critical Personality Style : hold unreasonably high standards of self - prone to punishing self evaluations, linked to negative life events one feels responsible for (accidents or mistakes)
• Pessimistic Explanatory Style : explain negative events according to stable and global causes, unable to avoid negative events. E.G believe they bad in an exam because they are not intelligent and are lazy - cannot change this. Stable and global causes.
• High Dependency : anxious attachment - exaggerated need for others guidance and approval, linked to events such as interpersonal conflict, loss, rejection

Question 7

How do the personality diathesis link to mental health?

Answer 7

• High autonomy and Self Critical Personality = focus on achievement, sensitive to stressful events - higher risk of depression
• High dependency = focus on relationships - higher risk of depression if relationships break down

Question 8

What did Abela et al. 2012 find when testing the specific vulnerability hypothesis?

Answer 8

Mixed results - little focus on other risks and protective factors (self esteem) - if someone believe they are worthwhile and loveable this can reduce the effect of the stressful events.
Too much focus on individual stress level

Question 9

What is an ideographic design?

Answer 9

Tracks the changes of individual levels of stress rather than absolute level
However research cannot classify stressful events for each individual (a relationship breakdown could be a relationship stressor OR an achievement stressor)

Question 10

What did Abela et al., 2012 study on depression and children - What did they do?

Answer 10

• 140 children with 1 parent who has depression, 6-14 years old
• Completed childrens depressive experiences questionnaire (dependency and self critical)
• Completed self esteem questionnaire
• Childrens depressive inventory - baseline of depression symptoms
• Childrens hassles scale - common stressors experienced

Question 11

What is Abela et al., 2012 study on depression and children - what did they find?

Answer 11

Role of self esteem as a protective factor
Diathesis stress effects are apparent for dependency but not self criticism
High dependency and low self esteem = highest rates of depressive symptoms
High stress events = higher depressive symptoms (slows diathesis stress effect)
Dependency acts as a diathesis but is buffered by protective effects of self esteem

Question 12

How does schizotypy act as a personality diathesis?

Answer 12

Risk factor for Schizophrenia
Sz gene -> schizotaxia (CNS abnormalities) -> schizotypy -> sz disorder

Question 13

What is positive and negative schizotypy? - Kwapil et al. 2013

Answer 13

• 534 undergrads - scale
• Positive schizotypy - perceptual aberrations and magical ideations, high scores = mood disorders and substance abuse
• Negative schizotypy - lack of pleasure in social and physical activities, high scores = schizoid traits and less relationship closeness
  10 year follow up
  high scores on both = more likely to develop Sz disorders

Question 14

What does Haslam (2009) state the specific vulnerabilities are in schizotypy?

Answer 14

Positive = Chaotic environments and neglect can increase vulnerability
Negative = birth complications
Also linked to creativity - comedians - creative and imaginative