Although many studies report that neuroticism and introversion predispose people to PTSD after exposure to traumatic event, the relationship between personality traits and PTSD is still vague. Also, little attention has been given to posttraumatic responses of civilians and especially women after war circumstances.

To explore the relationships between basic personality traits and PTSD among female civilians who have experienced war- related trauma.

To investigate whether women with current PTSD, PTSD in remission, and those who did not develop PTSD differ in neuroticism, extroversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness.

The research is a part of a larger study „Psychobiology of PTSD”. CAPS and NEO PI-R were administrated to 395 female participants: 61 participants have current PTSD, 124 PTSD in remission and 108 never developed PTSD after experiencing at least one civilian war related traumatic event. The control group consisted of 101 women with no war related trauma.

Four groups significantly differ on four out of five major domains of personality (one way ANOVA). Women with current PTSD and PTSD in remission have significantly higher scores on neuroticism (F=25,170, p=,000). Non PTSD group and controls show significantly higher scores on extroversion (F=29,980, p=,000) and on openness to experience (F=18,421, p=,000). Participants with current PTSD score have significantly lower scores on conscientiousness in comparison to the other three groups (5,672, p=,001).

According to our results, personality traits are in significant relationship with PTSD development in female civilians with war related traumatization.