Summary: People with a neurotic character sort have a stronger relationship with each stressor publicity and perceived stress than any of the opposite 4 character varieties.
Source: University of Illinois
A brand new paper co-written by a group of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign specialists who examine the science of personalities factors to the essential position of character traits to account for particular person variations in experiencing stress.
In a meta-analysis synthesizing greater than 1,500 impact sizes from about 300 major research, the group confirmed that whereas all the “Big Five” character traits—agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism and openness—are associated to experiencing stress, neuroticism confirmed the strongest hyperlink, stated Bo Zhang, a professor of labor and employment relations and of psychology at Illinois and a co-author of the paper.
“Stress is a significant mental and physical health issue that affects many people and many important domains of life, and some individuals are more likely to experience or perceive stress disproportionately or more intensely than others, which can then play a role in mental and physical health problems such as anxiety or depression,” he stated.
“We found that individuals high in neuroticism”—a heightened tendency towards unfavourable have an effect on in addition to an exaggerated response to risk, frustration or loss –”demonstrated a relationship with each stressor publicity and perceived stress that was stronger than the opposite 4 character traits.”
Zhang’s co-authors are Jing Luo, of the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University; former U. of I. graduate pupil Mengyang Cao; and Brent W. Roberts, a professor of psychology on the U. of I.
“The study is the first meta-analytic review that summarizes and integrates the assorted findings on the connections between the Big Five personality traits and stress,” stated Luo, the principal investigator of the analysis.
“Our paper suggests that certain personality traits are an important source to understand individual differences in stress.”
The researchers discovered that when stress assessed below completely different conceptualizations was examined, all the Big Five traits had been associated to perceived stress—however solely neuroticism, agreeableness and conscientiousness had been associated to stressor publicity.
“The other main personality factors have a link to stress, but it’s not as pronounced as in someone who’s neurotic,” Zhang stated.
“With agreeableness and conscientiousness, for example, it is possible that agreeable people are less likely to encounter stressful situations such as interpersonal conflict because of the tendency to be caring, understanding and forgiving.
“Similarly, conscientious people are less likely to experience stress because their good self-regulation abilities can protect them from the encounters of stressful experiences, as well as the negative psychological impacts of stressors.”
But that’s not the identical manner wherein neuroticism impacts stress, Zhang stated.
“Neuroticism and stress share common components, so individuals high in neuroticism are likely to play an instrumental role in generating stressors and reacting to a wide variety of events in negative ways, leading to an increased likelihood or chronicity of negative experiences,” he stated.
The examine underscores the significance of character in higher understanding particular person variations in stress, the researchers stated.
“Stress is omnipresent, and the findings in the current study may have implications for the investigation of individual differences in experiencing stress and the identification of individuals who are at high risk of suffering from stress and related health issues,” Zhang stated.
“If we want to add some sort of intervention program to help people manage stress, we might need to take their specific personality profile into consideration, because there are individual differences in how people handle stress.”
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About this stress and character trait analysis information
Author: Phil Ciciora
Source: University of Illinois
Contact: Phil Ciciora – University of Illinois
Image: The picture is within the public area
Original Research: Closed entry.
“The Stressful Personality: A Meta-Analytical Review of the Relation Between Personality and Stress” by Jing Luo et al. Personality & Social Psychology Review
Abstract
The Stressful Personality: A Meta-Analytical Review of the Relation Between Personality and Stress
The present examine offered the primary meta-analytic evaluate on the associations between the Big Five character traits and stress measured below completely different conceptualizations (stressor publicity, psychological and physiological stress responses) utilizing a complete of 1,575 impact sizes drawn from 298 samples.
Overall, neuroticism was discovered to be positively associated to emphasize, whereas extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness had been negatively linked to emphasize. When stress assessed below completely different conceptualizations was examined, solely neuroticism, agreeableness, and conscientiousness had been associated to stressor publicity.
All of the Big Five character traits had been considerably related to psychological stress notion, whereas the 5 character traits confirmed weak to null associations with physiological stress response.
Further moderation analyses instructed that the associations between character traits and stress below completely different conceptualizations had been additionally contingent upon completely different traits of stress, pattern, examine design, and measures.
The outcomes supported the essential position of character traits in particular person variations in stress.
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