Interrelationship of childhood trauma, neuroticism, and depressive phenotype.

Both childhood trauma (CT) and genetic factors contribute to the pathophysiology of depression. We studied the relationship of CT to age of onset (AO) of depression, personality traits, and expression of symptom dimensions in 324 adults with recurrent unipolar depression. Subjects received structured psychiatric interviews and completed CT, depressive symptom, and personality rating questionnaires.