Openness to Experience and Depression* * The original data upon which this paper is based are available at www.hhpub.com/journals/ejpa

Abstract

Summary: The present study examines, in the context of the Five Factor Model, the contradictory role played by the Openness to Fantasy and Openness to Actions facets (of the Openness to Experience factor) in the prediction of depression. The fact that our data are taken from a sample of the Spanish general population is also a cross-cultural contribution that must be emphasized. 112 participants - 50% females and 50% males - filled out the NEO-PI and the BDI depression questionnaires. A stepwise regression shows that the Fantasy facet of Openness to Experience makes a different - though still contradictory - contribution to the prediction of depression than the Actions facet. Both facets are statistically significant in the prediction of depression, but they apparently go in opposite directions. Whereas Openness to Actions predicts a lack of depression, Openness to Fantasy seems to be a predictor of depression. In order to clarify the possible role of gender in this “crossed prediction,” a univariate ANOVA was performed, taking depression from the BDI as a dependent variable and Gender, Fantasy and Actions as fixed factors. From this analysis we have seen that the contradictory role played by Fantasy in the prediction of depression is linked to gender: Women scored high in Fantasy and are thus statistically more susceptible to depression. These results are discussed from the point of view of the PB theory of depression.