Neuroticism, stress, and coping in the context of an anagram-solving task

Neuroticism and Stress in Older Adults: The Buffering Role of Self-Esteem

BACKGROUND

Chronic stress is associated with accelerated aging and poor health outcomes in older adults. According to the Transactional Model of Stress (TMS), distress is experienced when one perceives the stressor, or threat, to outweigh the ability to cope. The experience of distress is correlated with trait neuroticism, which is associated with greater perceptions of stress and stress reactivity, as well as a tendency to engage in maladaptive coping strategies. However, as individual personality traits do not act in isolation, this study aimed to investigate the moderating role of self-esteem in the relationship between neuroticism and distress using a TMS framework.

METHODS

A total of 201 healthy older adults (Mage = 68.65 years) completed questionnaires measuring self-esteem, neuroticism, perceived stress, and positive coping.

RESULTS

Greater neuroticism was significantly associated with less positive coping at low (b = -0.02, p < 0.001) and mean self-esteem levels (b = -0.01, p < 0.001), but not at high self-esteem levels (b = -0.01, p = 0.06). No moderating effect was found for perceived stress or overall distress.

CONCLUSION

The results support the association between trait neuroticism and indices of stress and suggest a potential buffering effect of self-esteem in moderating the negative association between neuroticism and positive coping.

Expectations do not need to be accurate to be maintained: Valence and need for cognitive closure predict expectation update vs. persistence

Expectations about us and our environment serve to successfully anticipate the future, make accurate predictions, and guide behavior and decisions. However, when expectations are not accurate, individuals need to resolve or minimize incongruence. Coping is especially important when expectations affect important domains such as students' academic self-concept. Whether expectations are adjusted after expectation violation (accommodation), maintained by denying the discrepancy (immunization), or whether individuals modify behavior to minimize the likelihood of future expectation violations (assimilation) depends on situational and dispositional predictors. In our experiment, we examined valence of expectation violation (positive vs. negative) as a situational predictor together with need for cognitive closure (NCC) as a dispositional predictor with N = 297 participants in a word riddle study. MANCOVA revealed that students tended to assimilate and accommodate more strongly after worse-than-expected achievement, and also NCC promoted both stronger accommodation and assimilation. NCC interacted with the valence of expectation violation: individuals with high NCC reported more assimilation and accommodation only after worse-than-expected achievement. The results replicate and extend previous findings: individuals do not always strive to have the most accurate expectations possible. Instead, both affective (valence) and cognitive (NCC) predictors appear to affect which coping strategy is preferred by the individual.

Put your feet up: The impact of personality traits, job pressure, and social support on the need for recovery after work

The need for recovery after work (NFR) is an important warning of work-related fatigue. NFR is linked to prolonged work-related efforts and depletion of resources, creating a need for temporary respite from work demands. The aim of the current study was to investigate the relationships between NFR and the five-factor model (FFM), comprising the personality traits of emotional stability (ES), extraversion (E), agreeableness (A), conscientiousness (C), and openness to experience (O). Perceived job pressure and perceived social support were included as mediators. The study was conducted using structural equation modelling (SEM) on cross-sectional data from a sample of 681 participants from several work sectors (N females = 376, N males = 305; M age = 46.9 years; SD = 11.1). The results showed that NFR was affected both directly and indirectly by FFM traits. High ES and high O contributed directly to reduced and increased NFR, respectively. High perceived social support contributed to reduced NFR, while high perceived job pressure contributed to increased NFR. High ES contributed indirectly to reduced NFR through perceived job pressure and social support, high O contributed indirectly to increased NFR through perceived social support, and high E contributed indirectly to increased NFR through perceived job pressure. A and C were not related to NFR. The findings demonstrate that personality traits, especially ES, are firmly related to NFR and highlight the importance of incorporating personality factors into studies of work environmental factors on NFR.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-022-02950-1.

Personality captures dissociations of subjective versus objective hearing in noise

Acoustic noise is pervasive in human environments. Some individuals are more tolerant to noise than others. We demonstrate the explanatory potential of Big-5 personality traits neuroticism (being emotionally unstable) and extraversion (being enthusiastic, outgoing) on subjective self-report and objective psycho-acoustic metrics of hearing in noise in two samples (total N = 1103). Under statistical control for demographics and in agreement with pre-registered hypotheses, lower neuroticism and higher extraversion independently explained superior self-reported noise resistance, speech-hearing ability and acceptable background noise levels. Surprisingly, objective speech-in-noise recognition instead increased with higher levels of neuroticism. In turn, the bias in subjectively overrating one's own hearing in noise decreases with higher neuroticism but increases with higher extraversion. Of benefit to currently underspecified frameworks of hearing in noise and tailored audiological treatments, these results show that personality explains inter-individual differences in coping with acoustic noise, which is a ubiquitous source of distraction and a health hazard.

Tracking the Process of Resilience: How Emotional Stability and Experience Influence Exhaustion and Commitment Trajectories

This study responds to calls to conceptualize resilience as a dynamic process by examining individual trajectories of emotional exhaustion and affective commitment over time in the face of ongoing role demands. In contrast to research conceptualizing resilience as a dispositional trait, we conceptualize resilience in terms of patterns of between-individual variation in response trajectories (dynamic resilience). In a longitudinal study spanning three months and 12 observational periods, we show that individuals high in emotional stability had more static affective commitment trajectories and that organizational newcomers had less pronounced emotional exhaustion trajectories in response to ongoing demands. Both the patterns shown for those with high emotional stability and newcomers are indicative of greater dynamic resilience. Furthermore, we found that affective commitment trajectories were significant predictors of actual retention through the mediating mechanism of intent to remain. We discuss how our approach offers opportunities to study resilience in dynamic settings.

Coping with Stress During the Coronavirus Outbreak: the Contribution of Big Five Personality Traits and Social Support

This study investigated the relationships between active, problem-focused, and maladaptive coping with stress during the Coronavirus outbreak, the Big Five personality traits, and social support among Israeli-Palestinian college students (n = 625). Emotion-focused coping negatively correlated with social support, openness, extraversion, conscientiousness, and agreeableness, while it positively correlated with neuroticism. On the other hand, problem-focused coping was found to positively correlate with social support, openness, extraversion, conscientiousness, and agreeableness, but negatively correlate with neuroticism. Thus, positive social support may increase one's ability to cope actively, adaptively, and efficiently. In addition, Israeli-Palestinian college students high in openness, extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness tend to use active problem-focused coping while those high in neuroticism tend to use maladaptive emotion-focused coping.

Pregnancy-Related Anxiety, Perceived Parental Self-Efficacy and the Influence of Parity and Age

Pregnancy-related anxiety is contextualised by pregnancy and is a health concern for the mother and child. Perceived parental self-efficacy is associated with this anxiety and age and parity are identified as influential factors. This research, therefore, predicted that negative perceptions of parental self-efficacy would predict greater pregnancy-related anxiety, moderated by parity and age. Participants (N = 771) were recruited online and assessed for perceived parental self-efficacy, pregnancy-related anxiety, and demographics. Moderation models showed that the psychosocial and sociodemographic factors combined predicted up to 49% of the variance. Parental self-efficacy predicted anxiety in the areas of body image, worry about themselves, baby concerns, pregnancy acceptance, attitudes towards medical staff and childbirth, and avoidance. Parity predicted pregnancy-related anxiety both overall and in childbirth concerns, worry about self, baby concerns and attitudes towards childbirth. Age predicted baby concerns. There was a significant moderation effect for pregnancy acceptance indicating that primiparous women with low perceptions of parental self-efficacy are less accepting of their pregnancy. Results suggest that parity and parental self-efficacy may be risk factors for first-time mothers for pregnancy-related anxiety.

A brighter future: The effect of social class on responses to future debt

The present study serves as an exploratory investigation of the role of social class in responses to the threat of future debt. Previous work has shown that individuals of high and low subjective social class differ in the ways that they respond to a broad range of threats and uncertainties about the future. Across three studies, we found that lower social class individuals expect more future debt and suffer greater attendant stress than higher class individuals (Study 1). We found that experimental manipulations of debt salience increased stress for lower class and not for higher class individuals (Studies 2-3). Likewise, we found that higher class individuals experienced higher affect balance and perceptions of personal control when the possibility of future debt was made salient, specifically as a function of decreased fatalism about future debt (Study 3). These three studies reveal yet another situation in which individuals of lower and higher social class respond differently to threat, and serve as an important step toward understanding the psychological ramifications of rising debt in the United States.

Emotional responding in NSSI: examinations of appraisals of positive and negative emotional stimuli, with and without acute stress

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is commonly used by young adults to regulate emotional responses. Yet, experimental examination of how people who self-injure appraise and respond to emotional stimuli is limited. We examined appraisals of, and responses to, emotive images in young adults who did and did not self-injure, and assessed whether these were impacted by exposure to a stressor. Study 1 (N = 51) examined whether participants differed in their appraisals of emotional images. Study 2 (N = 78) assessed whether appraisals of images changed after exposure to the Trier Social Stress Test. Ratings of emotional valence and arousal were collected in both studies; skin conductance was measured as an indicator of physiological arousal in Study 2. In Study 1 participants reporting NSSI rated positively valenced images as less pleasant than participants not reporting NSSI. In Study 2, after acute stress, participants reporting NSSI displayed dampened physiological reactions to positive images whereas participants who did not self-injure displayed heightened physiological reactions to these and rated them as more pleasant. Individuals who self-injure seem less able to engage in strategic mood repair after exposure to stress compared to people who do not self-injure.

The role of vigilance in the relationship between neuroticism and health: A registered report

The theory of healthy neuroticism, that neuroticism can impact health through both negative and positive pathways, often relies on descriptions of vigilance to illustrate beneficial effects. The current study is among the first to describe the relationship of neuroticism to body vigilance and test the degree to which this relationship impacts health. In an online participant panel (N = 1055), neuroticism was associated with one factor of vigilance: sensation awareness belief. This factor had a suppression effect on the relationship between neuroticism and healthy behavior, such that the effect of neuroticism through vigilance was healthy, whereas the direct effect was unhealthy. We discuss the implications of these findings and caution against using vigilance to explain the heterogeneity in neuroticism-health relationships.

Impact of Personality on Cognitive Aging: A Prospective Cohort Study

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to assess the association between personality factors and age-related longitudinal cognitive performance, and explore interactions of stress-proneness with apolipoprotein E (APOE) ɛ4, a prevalent risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD).

METHODS

A total of 510 neuropsychiatrically healthy residents of Maricopa County recruited through media ads (mean age 57.6±10.6 years; 70% women; mean education 15.8±2.4 years; 213 APOE ɛ4 carriers) had neuropsychological testing every 2 years (mean duration follow-up 9.1±4.4 years), and the complete Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Personality Inventory-Revised. Several tests were administered within each of the following cognitive domains: memory, executive skills, language, visuospatial skills, and general cognition. Primary effects on cognitive trajectories and APOE ɛ4 interactions were ascertained with quadratic models.

RESULTS

With personality factors treated as continuous variables, Neuroticism was associated with greater decline, and Conscientiousness associated with reduced decline consistently across tests in memory and executive domains. With personality factors trichotomized, the associations of Neuroticism and Conscientiousness were again highly consistent across tests within memory and to a lesser degree executive domains. While age-related memory decline was greater in APOE ɛ4 carriers as a group than ɛ4 noncarriers, verbal memory decline was mitigated in ɛ4 carriers with higher Conscientiousness, and visuospatial perception and memory decline was mitigated in ɛ4 carriers with higher Openness.

CONCLUSIONS

Neuroticism and Conscientiousness were associated with changes in longitudinal performances on tests sensitive to memory and executive skills. APOE interactions were less consistent. Our findings are consistent with previous studies that have suggested that personality factors, particularly Neuroticism and Conscientiousness are associated with cognitive aging patterns. (JINS, 2016, 22, 765-776).

Administration of exogenous melatonin increases spreading activation in lexical memory networks

OBJECTIVE

Several studies have examined the effect of exogenous melatonin on memory and cognitive functioning. Many of these investigations have reported improvement in recall and recognition as well as performance on various other indices of neuropsychological functioning. However, there have been no investigations reported that have examined the effects of exogenous melatonin administration on spreading activation in lexical and semantic memory networks. Hence, the purpose of this investigation was to determine the effects of melatonin on spreading activation.

METHODS

Participants were randomly assigned to either a 3-mg or 5-mg dose group, and spreading activation was measured both before and after administration. Spreading activation was measured by calculating the average word frequencies for words generated on the controlled oral word association test and the semantic fluency test.

RESULTS

A significant main effect for time was found, with the controlled oral word association test average word frequency being significantly higher at baseline than after taking melatonin. Also, a significant group × time interaction was found when using log transformed data. Multiple comparisons indicated that the 3-mg group exhibited significantly greater spreading activation following melatonin than the 5-mg group. The results indicate that melatonin may produce an increase in spreading activation in lexical memory networks. These results potentially provide an explanation for the benefits of melatonin on memory functioning.

Students perceived stress in academic programs: consequences for its management

BACKGROUND

Academic stress contributes to the deterioration of the students' quality of life. Psychological determinants involved in the stress process, trait anxiety and coping, have been neglected when assessing the role of academic programs in stress. This study aimed at determining whether academic programs are associated with a high level of perceived stress above and beyond potential personal and environmental risk factors, as well as coping strategies.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2009 among third-year medical (total n=170, participants 88%), dental (n=63, 94%), psychology (n=331, 61%) and sports sciences (n=312, 55%) students in Montpellier (France). The stress level experienced during the last 2months, trait anxiety and coping strategies were appraised. Substance use, psychological care, and stress triggers were also collected using a self-administered questionnaire.

RESULTS

Compared with medicine and after adjusting for gender and age, only the sports program was associated with a lower perceived stress risk: adjusted odds ratio: 0.54 [95% Confidence interval: 0.30; 0.99]. Substantial reductions in perceived stress risks were observed in science students after additional adjustments for non-academic stress triggers, substance use, psychological care (adjusted odds ratio: 0.20 [95% Confidence interval: 0.09; 0.41]), and also for trait anxiety and coping strategies (adjusted odds ratio: 0.23 [95% Confidence interval: 0.10; 0.54]). Compared with medicine and after these additional adjustments, psychology had a significantly lower perceived stress risk (0.34 [0.18; 0.64]; 0.40 [0.19; 0.86], respectively), dentistry had a similar risk (0.82 [0.35; 1.91]; 0.53 [0.20; 1.43], respectively).

CONCLUSION

Sports and psychology programs had a lower perceived stress risk compared with medicine. Personal and environmental risk factors and coping strategies modified the association between academic program and perceived stress. Developing efficient coping strategies in students and improving academic environment could contribute to prevent the potential deleterious consequences of stress.

Use of the RoboFlag synthetic task environment to investigate workload and stress responses in UAV operation

Use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is an increasingly important element of military missions. However, controlling UAVs may impose high stress and workload on the operator. This study evaluated the use of the RoboFlag simulated environment as a means for profiling multiple dimensions of stress and workload response to a task requiring control of multiple vehicles (robots). It tested the effects of two workload manipulations, environmental uncertainty (i.e., UAV's visual view area) and maneuverability, in 64 participants. The findings confirmed that the task produced substantial workload and elevated distress. Dissociations between the stress and performance effects of the manipulations confirmed the utility of a multivariate approach to assessment. Contrary to expectations, distress and some aspects of workload were highest in the low-uncertainty condition, suggesting that overload of information may be an issue for UAV interface designers. The strengths and limitations of RoboFlag as a methodology for investigating stress and workload responses are discussed.