Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate characteristics of the hypomanic personality group as a potential high risk factor for affective disorders, particularly the bipolar disorder. Hypomanic group(n=40) and nonhypomanic control group(n=40) were selected on the basis of the hypomnic personality scale. And their mental heath and daily adjustment status were investigated using the SADS-L and the SAS. Aspects of the subjects' cognitive style were assessed through the Picture Recognition Test. The results indicated that college students with hypomanic tendency tend to be vulnerable to symptoms of affective disorders and also showed an elevated level of general mental problems such as psychotic-like symptoms, alcholoism, and antisocial traits. Compared to control group, they were socially outgoing, perceived themselvse as creative and unique person with high energy level. No differences in academic-related behaviors of the two group were found. On the cognitive measure, adaptive aspects of the hypomanic group were found. The hypomanic group showed shorter response time to ambiguous stimuli, not due to impulsiveness but to superior recognition ability. They also manifested superior concept formation ability. These results are principally due to the extreme scores obtained by only a few individuals and there seems to exist various subgroups within the hypomanic personality group. Therefore, admitting the importance of hypomaic personlity as a high risk factor, the results of the present study indicate that future research should focus on effectively calssifyng different subgroups within the hypomanic group and identifying mediating variables that account for the differences in the adjustment levels.