Personality and stress: an exploratory comparison of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis.

January 17, 2005

Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 1996 Aug;77(8):796-800.

Personality and stress: an exploratory comparison of rheumatoid arthritis

and osteoarthritis.

Latman NS, Walls R.

NSL Associates, Borger, TX, USA.

OBJECTIVE: To characterize and investigate the relationship between

stress and personality in people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) compared to

those with osteoarthritis (OA). DESIGN: Survey of personality

characteristics determined by using Cattell's 16 Personality Factor (16PF)

questionnaire and stressful life events at disease onset determined by using

the Social Readjustment Rating Scale of Holmes and Rahe. SETTING: Inpatients

of an arthritis hospital and outpatients of a clinic, both of which

specialize in rheumatic diseases and musculoskeletal problems. PARTICIPANTS:

Diagnosed as " definite " or " classical " RA (N = 128) according to the ARA

Diagnostic Criteria for Rheumatoid Arthritis (1958 Revision) or as OA (N =

79) according to radiological and clinical evidence; randomly selected,

resulting in a close match for gender, age at disease onset, duration of

disease, functional classification, and pattern of disease progress. All

individuals approached participated. INTERVENTIONS: None. MAIN OUTCOME

MEASURES: Twenty personality characteristics, as well as amount of stressful

life events at disease onset (Life Change Units). RESULTS: The RA subjects

had significantly (p < .001) more stress at disease onset compared to the OA

subjects. A subgroup of high-stress-at-onset RA subjects experienced a

higher degree of disease severity (p < .01) than did the RA subjects with no

stress at onset. Although the mean personality scores for those with RA were

not significantly different from those with OA, the RA personality frequency

distributions were different. Some of these differences could be explained

by the stress-at-onset subgroup personality characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: As

a group, subjects with RA exhibited more stress at disease onset than those

with OA. Although mean personality scores were not different between RA and

OA subjects, they did exhibit different frequency distributions. There

appeared to be a high-stress-at-onset subgroup of RA patients who had a

worse disease prognosis and who corresponded to a personality frequency

subgroup. The interaction between these variables is more complex than

implied by the " RA personality " concept.

PMID: 8702374 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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