To investigate whether the depressive tendency of adolescents are associated with certain personality traits in a stratified sample in eastern Taiwan.

Students who were sampled from 6 junior high and 25 primary schools in a multi-stratified manner were invited to join the study and asked to complete the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and the Junior Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (JEPQ) administrated together with other measurements of behavioral problems and life events. Effects of gender and grades on the score of the CES-D and the JEPQ and all its four subscales (N, E, P, and L) were analyzed. Correlation between the CES-D and the JEPQ's subscales were explored.

Data from 3222 participants was analysed. Scores of CES-D and all four subscales (N, E, P, and L) of JEPQ were not influenced by gender. Scores of CES-D of participants from junior high school (grade 7-9) were significantly higher than those from primary schools (grade 4-6) but not similar finding in JEPQ scores. Gender difference was not noted in the low depressive tendency group, but there's more girls (59.2%) than boys (41.8%) in the high depressive group. Participants in the high depressive tendency group had significantly higher scores of N and P subscale, but not E subscale of JEPQ than those in the low depressive tendency group.

Different aspects of personality might be correlated differently to the tendency of depression among adolescents. Whether there's developmental causation warrants further analyses and explorations.