Relations of the Big-Five personality dimensions to autodestructive behavior in clinical and non-clinical adolescent populations

AIM: To examine the relationship between the Big-Five personality model and autodestructive behavior symptoms, namely Autodestructiveness and Suicidal Depression in two groups of participants: clinical and non-clinical adolescents. METHODS: Two groups of participants, clinical (adolescents with diagnosis of psychiatric disorder based on clinical impression and according to valid diagnostic criteria, N = 92) and non-clinical (high-school students, N = 87), completed two sets of questionnaires: the Autodestructiveness Scale which provided data on Autodestructiveness and Suicidal Depression, and the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP), which provided data on the Big -Five personality dimensions. RESULTS: Clinical group showed significantly higher values on the Autodestructiveness scale in general, as well as on Suicidal Depression, Aggressiveness, and Borderline subscales than the non-clinical group. Some of the dimensions of the Big-Five personality model, ie, Emotional Stability, Conscientiousness, and Agreeableness showed significant relationship (hierarchical regression analyses, P values for β coefficients from <0.001 to 0.021) with Autodestructivness and Suicidal Depression, even after controlling for the sex and group effects or, when analyzing Suicidal Depression, after controlling the effect of other subscales. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that dimensions of the Big-Five model are important when evaluating adolescent psychiatric patients and adolescents from general population at risk of self-destructive behavior.