Deviant personality in the long run : - a follow-up of young adult psychiatric patients

Sammanfattning: Personality is constituted by a number of traits, which are more or less pronounced in each individual. When personality traits are extreme, they can cause suffering or loss of function, and are then denoted as personality disorders (PDs). Personality and PDs are of relevance for physical and mental health. The aim of this thesis was to longitudinally study personality traits, PDs, and mental disorders in previously young adult psychiatric patients. For this purpose, a cohort of 200 psychiatric outpatients from a study conducted in 2002-2004 was followed up in 2016. In total, 103 participants filled in self-report instruments, 77 participants underwent psychiatric assessments, and 57 participants donated blood samples. Self-report instruments were analyzed for trajectories of personality traits during the study period. Blood samples were analyzed for correlations between personality traits and PDs with immunometabolic markers. Data from national registries were collected for 186 participants who had undergone PD assessment at baseline. These data were analyzed for psychosocial outcomes in individuals with or without PDs.Results showed that participants personality traits had changed during the study period, with many traits moving towards the norm. In the analysis of blood samples, personality trait neuroticism was found to correlate with elevated levels of metabolic hormone leptin, and trait extraversion was inversely correlated with levels of interleukin-10 in blood. No immunometabolic marker was found to be correlated with PD. In the investigation of registry data, PD was associated with worse outcomes in labour market and relationship domains. The studies in this thesis have expanded the scientific field of personality research in regards to changeability of personality traits, correlations of personality traits to immunometabolic markers, and psychosocial outcomes in PD.