Abstract

Background and objective: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic diseases with unknown cause leading to inflammation and loss of myelin in the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). It will finally lead into nervous system dysfunction. Given the effect of personality on MS, the objective of this research was to compare the personality factors of MS patients and healthy people. Methodology: This research was a case-control study. Data were collected by using field method and through questionnaire. The data were analyzed by SPSS17 software using T-test, ANOVA and Chi-square tests. Results: according to the research results, the highest mean and standard deviation of self-directedness (SD) were seen in the control group (11.8 ± 3), the highest mean and standard deviation of harm avoidance (HA) were seen in the case group (12.6 ± 2.5), the highest mean and standard deviation of self-transcendence (ST) were seen in the case group (7.9 ± 2) and the highest mean and standard deviation of perseverance (P) were seen in the case group (2.8 ± 0.9). Based on ANOVA test, significant differences were seen between case and control groups in terms of self-directedness (SD), harm avoidance (HA), self-transcendence (ST) and perseverance (P) (P <0.05). In addition, the correlations between age and harm avoidance (HA) (P = 0.048) (r = 0.198), between cooperation (CO) and reward dependence (RD) (P = 0.001) (r = 0.337), between reward dependence (RD) and self-transcendence (ST) (P = 0.008) (r = 0.263) and perseverance (P) (P = 0.005) (r = 0.278) were positive and significant based on Pearson correlation test, while a significant and negative correlation was found between self- directedness and harm avoidance (P = 0.000) (r = -0.395). Conclusion: based on the research results, in patients with multiple sclerosis, significant and positive correlation was found between age and harm avoidance (HA), between co-operation (CO) and reward dependence (RD), and between reward dependence (RD) and self-transcendence (ST) and perseverance (P), which can be a great contribution for medical community in self-monitoring issue to reduce the cost of treatment and suffering of disease in affected patients.