Social support, personality and depressive symptoms over 7 years: the Health and Lifestyle cohort

  Background: We tested the hypothesis that a negative relationship between social support and depression is stronger in extroverts. Methods: Data on social support and personality were obtained from an existing cohort of 9003 adults (the Health and Lifestyle Survey, UK), of whom 3594 respondents who were followed-up 7 years later contributed to the present analysis. Six depression items from the 30-item General Health Questionnaire, summed, were divided into five levels and a proportional odds analysis was performed. Information on social support was also obtained at follow-up. Results: For females, there was a highly significant interaction between Time of Residence in Area and extroversion (P < 0.001). For males, interactions involving Adults in Household and Living as Married reached borderline significance (0.05 < P < 0.10). Eleven other interactions with extroversion were non-significant (P > 0.10). Conclusion: It is unlikely that a lack of social support is more or less harmful for introverts, although the hypothesis should be re-tested in a study with a much shorter period of follow-up and higher response rate.