Relationship between Chinese adjective descriptors of personality and emotional symptoms in young Chinese patients with bipolar disorders

Abstract

Objective: To investigate whether personality traits are related to emotional symptoms (mania, hypomania, and depression) in Chinese patients with bipolar disorders. Methods: Patients with bipolar I and II disorders, and healthy volunteers, were assessed using the Chinese Adjective Descriptors of Personality (CADP) questionnaire, Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ), Hypomanic Checklist (HCL-32), and Plutchik–van Praag Depression Inventory (PVP). Results: Seventy-three patients with bipolar I disorder, 35 with bipolar II disorder and 216 healthy controls were included. Bipolar I and II groups scored significantly higher on MDQ, HCL-32 and PVP scales than controls; the bipolar II group scored lower on the MDQ, but higher on the HCL-32 and PVP than bipolar I. In the bipolar I group, the CADP Intelligent trait (β, 0.25) predicted MDQ; Intelligent (β, −0.24), Agreeable (β, 0.22) and Emotional (β, 0.34) traits predicted PVP. In the bipolar II group, Intelligent (β, 0.22), Agreeable (β, −0.24) and Unsocial (β, 0.31) traits predicted MDQ; Intelligent (β, −0.20), Agreeable (β, −0.31) and Emotional (β, −0.26) traits predicted HCL-32. Conclusions: Four out of five Chinese personality traits were associated with emotional symptoms in patients with bipolar I or II disorder, but displayed different associations depending on disorder type.