The tripartite model (Clark and Watson, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 100(3), 316–336 1991) was developed to explain both the strong comorbidity and the distinction between anxiety and depression. The model includes a shared general distress factor that is most strongly associated with Neuroticism/Negative Emotionality (N/NE); a unique depression factor, anhedonia, which is most strongly associated with low Positive Emotionality/Extraversion; and anxious arousal, a unique anxiety factor that subsequent research has shown to be most strongly related to panic/agoraphobia among the anxiety disorders (e.g., Mineka et al. Annual Review of Psychology, 49, 377–412 1998) and to have the weakest link to personality. The present study extends past work by demonstrating that narrower facets of personality domains show nuanced relations that are masked when only the broader domains are examined. Specifically, we investigated facet-level relations of the tripartite model’s symptom dimensions using three hierarchical personality measures (BFI-2, NEO-PI-3, and FI-FFM) and data from three separate samples (Ns = 353–451). In one sample, the tripartite-model dimensions were assessed twice across a 9.5-month interval. At the domain level, N/NE, Extraversion, and Conscientiousness were the strongest predictors of these factors. At the facet level, general distress and anhedonia were most strongly related to N/NE’s Depression facet; anhedonia also was substantially linked to the low Energy/Positive Temperament component of Extraversion. Finally, anxious arousal was best predicted by the Somatic Complaints facet of N/NE. This pattern of results was highly stable across measures, samples, and time points. Theoretical implications of the findings are discussed, including connecting these findings to the dimensional Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology framework.
