The role of personality variables and social support in distress and perceived health in patients following myocardial infarction

Objectives: (1) To investigate whether patients with low versus high social support and satisfaction with support report less distress and health complaints following a first myocardial infarction (MI). (2) To examine whether personality traits mediate social support and its effect on distress and health complaints. Methods: A questionnaire was distributed to 112 consecutive patients with a first MI 4–6 weeks postinfarction. Objective clinical measures were obtained from the patients' medical records. Results: Patients with low social support were at increased risk of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Patients less satisfied with support were at increased risk of anxiety, depression, PTSD, and reported more health complaints. Generally, larger effect sizes were found for satisfaction with support compared with social support per se in relation to distress and health complaints. Neuroticism was identified as an independent predictor of all types of distress and health complaints when including both traits and social support variables in multivariable analyses, adjusted for demographic and clinical variables. Satisfaction with support only remained an independent predictor of depression. Conclusion: These results suggest that personality traits may mediate social support and its effect on distress and health complaints. Hence, it may be important to include personality variables when investigating social support in relation to distress and health. In clinical practice, screening for particular personality traits could identify patients at risk of distress and recurrent cardiac events.