Personality Traits and Psychiatric Rehospitalization: A Two-Year Follow-up

This study followed 188 people with psychiatric impairments for 2 years after their discharge from a public psychiatric facility to assess the impact of personality traits on rehospitalization. A Cox regression analysis revealed a significant relation between the pattern of personality traits and psychiatric rehospitalization. The significant relation was retained after age, sex, race, education. Axis I diagnosis, subscale scorns on the Brief Symptom Inventory, Methods of Coping Scale, Level of Expressed Emotion Scale, and scores on the alcohol and drag dependence scales of the MCMI-II were included in a stepwise inclusion analysis. The implications of these results for the assessment and treatment of people with psychiatric impairments are discussed.