EVANSTON, Ill. --- A new Northwestern University and UCLA study has found for the first time that young people who are high on the personality trait of neuroticism are highly likely to develop both anxiety and depression disorders.
"Neuroticism was an especially strong predictor of the particularly pernicious state of developing both anxiety and depressive disorders," said Richard Zinbarg, lead author of the study and professor of psychology in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern.
Earlier research has shown that neuroticism is associated with substance abuse, mood and anxiety disorders but hadn't tested whether these associations are comparable in strength.