Type D personality – the joint tendency toward negative affectivity (NA) and social inhibition (SI) – is associated with greater symptom perception and negative health outcomes among various patient populations. We investigated Type D personality among patients with upper extremity musculoskeletal illness.

In cross-sectional design, we estimated the prevalence of Type D personality in this population and explored the associations of two different Type D conceptualizations (i.e., categorical and dimensional as the NA×SI interaction) and the individual NA and SI traits with pain interference as well as structural-internal validity of DS14.

The categorical Type D personality and greater NA and SI were associated with pain interference above and beyond descriptive variables, but the interaction term between NA and SI was not. NA explained a larger proportion of the variance in pain interference than SI. DS14 showed a two-factor structure and high internal consistency in this sample.

The categorical Type D allows for identifying individuals who struggle with recovery from musculoskeletal injury. Although the dimensional conceptualization didn't prove to be associated with pain interference, NA and SI appear to have individual effects on pain interference, with most variance being accounted for by NA. Implications for clinical care are discussed.