NEUROTICISM, EXTROVERSION, ANXIETY AND TYPE-A BEHAVIOR AS MEDIATORS OF NECK, SHOULDER AND LOWER BACK PAIN IN FEMALE HOSPITAL STAFF

Five hundred and eighty-six female hospital staff participated in a st udy on the associations between personality traits and musculoskeletal pain from the neck, shoulders and lower back. Personality traits were assessed by the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), sub-scales N euroticism (EPQ-N) and Extraversion (EPQ-E), the Spielberger Trait Anx iety Inventory (STAI) and the Revised Jenkins Activity Scale (RJAS), s ub-scales Achievement Striving (RJAS-A) and Irritability/Impatience (R JAS-1). Back pain was assessed by self-report. Statistical analyses we re done for the whole sample of subjects and for eight sub-samples ref lecting variations in occupational demand characteristics. Results sho wed moderate, though highly significant correlations between (1) EPQ-N , STAI, RJAS-A, RJAS-1 and (2) back pain for the whole sample of subje cts. There was a general trend for neck and shoulder pain to be more c losely related to these personality traits than was lower back pain. F or the whole sample of subjects the highest coefficient was computed f or the correlation between EPQ-N and neck pain. However, the magnitude of correlations between the specific personality traits and back pain varied markedly between subsamples of subjects. Our main conclusion f rom the present study is that neuroticism, trait anxiety and Type A be haviour mediate back pain, especially neck and shoulder pain, but that the mediating effects of the personality traits are influenced by occ upational demand characteristics (emotional vs physical load).