Abstracts

RATIONALE: Neuroticism, widely accepted as a prominent component of the [dsquote]5-factor model of personality[dsquote] (McCrae & Costa, 1990), refers to a pattern of negative affect and associated behaviors including anxiety, hostility, depression, impulsiveness and vulnerability. Neuroticism has been shown to correlate with increased stress, poor health, and increased symptom reporting. Epilepsy patients[ssquote] self-reports of poor memory are sometimes not consistent with their neuropsychological test scores. To account for this, it was hypothesized that Neuroticism, rather than objective neuropsychological test performance, would be significantly associated with patient-reported memory problems.
OBJECTIVE: The reader will gain a greater understanding of the relationship between Neuroticism and subject memory complaints in epilepsy.
METHODS: Seventy-three consecutive patients, admitted for monitoring on a surgical epilepsy centre, were assessed. All patients were administered the negative affects portion of the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) as a measure of neuroticism. Subjective report of memory was assessed using the memory questions from the Quality of Life in Epilepsy - 89 (QOLIE-89). Objective memory performance was obtained using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test. Three memory performance variables were studied: immediate memory, rate of learning, and delayed recall. Age, level of education, and Full Scale IQ scores were also entered as predictor variables. Data were analysed through linear regression analysis.
RESULTS: Regression analyses revealed that only the Neuroticism score (PANAS) predicted the QOLIE-89 memory items. Objective memory test performances (immediate recall, rate of learning and delayed recall), age, education, and Full Scale IQ scores were not significant predictors of patients[ssquote] subjective memory ratings. To substantiate this finding, two groups were created (High, Low Neuroticism) based on a median split of scores. Between-groups comparisons (1-way ANOVA) revealed those in the High Neuroticism group endorsed having significantly greater memory complaints on all self-report items. In contrast, no between-groups differences were seen on any neuropsychological measure of memory.
CONCLUSIONS: Subjective and objective memory functioning are independent in patients with epilepsy. Neuroticism is an important influence upon patients[ssquote] reports of subjective memory functioning. High Neuroticism can lead to a discrepancy between self-report and objective findings. Screening for Neuroticism is an important consideration when evaluating the contribution of epilepsy to patients[ssquote] self-report of poor memory.