Personality effects on verbally expressed anxiety and hostility

This paper reports on associations between Neuroticism (N), Psychoticism (P), Extraversion (E) and Lie (L) scores of the EPQ-R and anxiety and hostility measured through verbal content analysis of 10-min written samples collected under standardized procedures in a group of 338 men and 151 women between 15 and 64 years in age. P correlated negatively with number of words and positively with anxiety and hostility in men but not in women. E correlated positively with number of words and negatively with shame and guilt anxiety. N showed positive correlation with these two types of anxiety only in the whole sample. L scores did not correlate with anxiety or hostility. In the sample studied, a negative correlation between P and L was evinced. Results are discussed in terms of mood prediction through personality measures, gender influences and the differential hypothesis of state-trait relationships.