Sex Differences on the Big Five Personality Traits And Depression

The purpose of the present study was to investigate (1) according to Wada's (1996) Big Five Scales, the mean score differences and similarities of each factor pattern between male and female and (2) the relation between the positive and negative aspects of Big Five Scales and depression. Questionnaires were completed by 319 (181 male and 136 female) university undergraduates and graduates. The main results were as follows. (1) The Extraversion scores of female were higher than those of male and the Neuroticism scores of male were higher than female, but the factor patterns of promax rotation method indicated similarities among sexes. (2) Both male and female, the scores of Neuroticism of the mildly depressed were higher than those of the nondepressed. The scores of Extraversion and Agreeableness of the nondepressed were higher than those of the mildly depressed. Evaluating the responses to negative and positive words of the Big Five Scales the mildly depressed tended to evaluate themselves more negatively than the nondepressed