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The Role of Personality and Irrational Beliefs in the Development and Recurrence of Depression in Later Life

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Abstract

ObjectiveStudies of personality indicate that during aging certain individuals experience changes in personality whereas others remain relatively stable. However, much is still unknown in this area, especially when it comes to the aging trajectories of those who suffer from psychopathology. The aim of the study is to investigate and compare changes in personality traits, rational and irrational beliefs in relation to age among participants diagnosed with single and recurrent forms of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) – one of the leading causes of disability – and healthy individuals with no history of psychiatric problems.

MethodThe sample consists of 223 inpatients (age from 16 to 69) who were diagnosed as having Major Depressive Disorder (127 patients with single depressive episode and 96 patients with recurrent depressive disorder) and 403 healthy control participants (age from 16 to 60). Measures were taken of (ir)rational beliefs with the General Attitude and Belief Scale (GABS) and personality dimensions were measured with NEO-PI-R five factor model.

ResultsThe results suggest that age has a significant effect on the scores of the NEO-PI-R and GABS in healthy and both MDD groups. One of the most notable differences among studied groups is that scores on Openness increase with age among healthy individuals, while they decrease among those suffering from depression. Moreover, the older the participants in the healthy group are, they show higher scores in rational belliefs, while the preponderance of irrational beliefs decreases. In contrast, participants from the MDD group, the older they are, the lower scores they have on rational beliefs, while certain irrational beliefs scores increase.

ConclusionThe findings point to the potential protective role of Opennes in preventing the development of depression with age. In addition, fostering rational beliefs is also of great importance in preventing depression during the course of aging. However, additional research with longitudinal design is required to verify the results.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Institute of Mental Health in Belgrade for providing us with the opportunity to conduct this research, and for the provided support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Philosophy, Department of Psychology, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia

    Matija Gvozden, Ivana Peruničić Mladenović & Tatjana Vukosavljević Gvozden

  2. Institute of Mental Health, Belgrade, Serbia

    Ivana Peruničić Mladenović

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Correspondence to Matija Gvozden.

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The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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Gvozden, M., Mladenović, I.P. & Gvozden, T.V. The Role of Personality and Irrational Beliefs in the Development and Recurrence of Depression in Later Life. J Rat-Emo Cognitive-Behav Ther 43, 37 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-025-00601-5

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  • DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-025-00601-5

Keywords

  • Depression
  • Irrational beliefs
  • Personality
  • Age

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