Can the big five factors of personality predict lymphocyte counts?

BACKGROUND Psychological stress is known to affect the immune system. The Limbic Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal (LHPA) axis has been identified as the principal path of the bidirectional communication between the immune system and the central nervous system with significant psychological activators. Personality traits acted as moderators of the relationship between life conflicts and psychological distress. This study focuses on the relationship between the Big Five factors of personality and immune regulation as indicated by Lymphocyte counts. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Our study included 32 professional soldiers from the Slovenian Army that completed the Big Five questionnaire (Goldberg IPIP-300). We also assessed their white blood cell counts with a detailed lymphocyte analysis using flow cytometry. The correlations between personality variables and immune system parameters were calculated. Furthermore, regression analyses were performed using personality variables as predictors and immune parameters as criteria. RESULTS The results demonstrated that the model using the Big Five factors as predictors of Lymphocyte counts is significant in predicting the variance in NK and B cell counts. Agreeableness showed the strongest predictive function. CONCLUSIONS The results offer support for the theoretical models that stressed the essential links between personality and immune regulation. Further studies with larger samples examining the Big five factors and immune system parameters are needed.