Relations between Eysenck's personality dimensions, dimensions of emotional control and physical symptoms

On the sample of 338 subjects the relations between Eysenck's personality dimensions, emotional functioning and various groups of physical symptoms were examined. Dimensions of emotional control were measured by Emotional Control Questionnaire (ECQ, Roger and Najarion, 1989), adopted for the purpose of this study. It comprises three dimensions: rehearsal, control and emotional inhibition. Physical symptoms were measured by Pennebaker Inventory of Limbic Languidness (PILL, Pennebaker, 1982), which measures two groups of physical symptoms, respiratory and nonrespiratory symptoms. It was hypothesized that physical symptoms ore not only the result of the main effects of personality dimensions or dimensions of emotional control but partly the result of the interactions of the two groups of dimensions, i.e. personality characteristics and emotional control mechanisms. The results of hierarchical regression analyses indicate that from Eysenck's personality dimensions only neuroticism has main positive effects on all groups of physical symptoms, while from the dimensions of emotional control only control has main effects on the less intensive symptoms of respiratory infections. However, interactions of control and rehearsal with neuroticism and psychoticism hove significant effects on respiratory as well as on nonrespiratory symptoms, while the interaction between extroversion and control predicts only nonrespiratory symptoms. The results obtained were explained by physiological mechanisms through which psychological processes influence the occurrence of physical symptoms.