Generalised Anxiety Disorder: relationships with Eysenckʹs, Grayʹs and Newmanʹs theories

This study examined how the presence and severity of Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) were associated with trait anxiety, neuroticism, and extraversion. A total of 40 individuals with a diagnosis of GAD and 40 non-GAD control participants completed self-rating questionnaires covering GAD symptoms, trait anxiety, neuroticism, and extraversion. Results indicated that the GAD group had significantly higher scores for neuroticism and trait anxiety, and significantly lower scores for extraversion than the control group. Among individuals with GAD, the severity of GAD was positively associated with trait anxiety and neuroticism, and negatively with extraversion. Also, the additional variance contributed by neuroticism and extraversion over trait anxiety was significant, while trait anxiety made no additional contribution over that made by neuroticism and extraversion. The interaction of neuroticism and extraversion failed to contribute to both the presence and the severity of GAD. These findings are discussed in terms of how the personality models of Eysenck, Gray, and Newman are related to the presence and severity of GAD.