The Enneagram: A systematic review of the literature and directions for future research.

The Enneagram is a typology that many clients use to understand their personality and interpersonal patterns, despite some concerns about its validity. Thus, the purpose of this review is to provide a comprehensive and clinician-friendly review of the extant empirical work on the Enneagram. After reviewing 104 independent samples, we found mixed evidence of reliability and validity. In terms of strengths, some factor analytic work has shown partial alignment with prior theorizing, and subscales show theory-consistent relationships with other constructs such as the Big 5. Also, several studies found the Enneagram was helpful for personal/spiritual growth. However, factor analytic work has typically found fewer than nine factors, and no work has used clustering techniques to derive the nine types. Also, there is little research supporting secondary aspects of Enneagram theory, such as wings and intertype movement. We conclude by highlighting directions for future research and implications for clinical practice.

Depressive symptoms and marital satisfaction: within-subject associations and the moderating effects of gender and neuroticism.

Given the emphasis on within-subject associations between depression and marital quality in recent theory and practice, this study was undertaken with three goals: to examine within-subject associations between depressive symptoms and marital quality over time, to address gender differences in the magnitude and direction of these associations, and to determine whether neuroticism moderates the strength of these associations. A total of 164 newly wed couples provided 8 waves of data over 4 years of marriage. Hierarchical linear modeling confirmed the existence of bidirectional within-subject associations between marital satisfaction and depressive symptoms. Gender differences were rarely significant. Although neuroticism strengthened the effect of marital distress on symptoms as predicted, it weakened the effect of symptoms on marital distress among husbands. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.