Investigating the effects of conscientiousness on daily stress, affect and physical symptom processes: A daily diary study

Abstract

Objectives: Higher conscientiousness (C) predicts better health outcomes. Recent research suggests stress may play an important role in explaining this relationship. The current study aimed to establish whether C moderates the relationship between daily hassle appraisals, daily affect and physical symptoms.Design and Methods: A daily diary design was used, where participants (N=103) completed a baseline measure of C followed by a 14-day daily diary, providing daily details of hassles (primary & secondary appraisals) experienced as well as positive and negative affect and physical symptoms.Results: Hierarchical linear modelling revealed that Total C (as well as two facets of C: Order and Industriousness) moderated the relationship between stress appraisals and positive affect. Specifically, the negative association between the daily appraisal of hassles as stressful (i.e., where perceived demands outweighed perceived resources) and positive affect was stronger for lower and average levels of C, Order and Industriousness. No significant moderated effects were found for negative affect or physical symptoms. The Order facet was found to be an important factor predicting attrition.Conclusions: The current study provided evidence that C and two of its facets can moderate the relationship between hassle appraisal and positive affect. C may exert part of its influence on health by modifying the effects of daily stressors.

Exploring day-to-day dynamics of daily stressor appraisals, physical symptoms and the cortisol awakening response

“…Primary appraisal evaluates the risks or demands of the situation (i.e., high versus low), while secondary appraisal evaluates the availability of resources and whether anything can be done to alter the outcome. In previous research, a ratio of primary to secondary appraisal has been calculated, which reflects the extent to which these appraisals match one another (Gartland et al, 2014;Schneider, 2008;Tomaka, Blascovich, Kibler, & Ernst, 1997), and is consistent with the theory of primary and secondary appraisal interplay (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). Crucially, this ratio provides a way of looking at appraisals which accounts for the specific interaction between one's demands and resources at the point of a single stressor, based on the premise that it is only when demands outweigh resources that a hassle will be experienced as stressful.…”

“…However, recent research has highlighted the importance of daily hassle appraisals and demonstrated the increased predictive utility of appraisals as compared to measures of frequency and intensity (Gartland, O'Connor, & Lawton, 2012;Gartland, O'Connor, Lawton, & Ferguson, 2014). Appraisals are the interpretations of events in terms of their benefit or harm for the individual; the transactional model of stress posits two dimensions: primary and secondary appraisals (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984).…”

Role of Virtues and Perceived Life Stress in Affecting Psychological Symptoms Among Chinese College Students

“…Studies demonstrated that participants with a high level of conscientiousness usually display order and industriousness, moderating the relationship between stress appraisal and positive affect. 6 Another explanation is provided by the aforementioned Personality-Event Congruence Hypothesis, 29 which suggests that different personalities are sensitive to different stressful life events. In the current sample, vitality is sensitive to minor life events, whereas conscientiousness and relationship are insensitive to minor life events.…”

“…4 Previous researchers indicated the moderating effect of openness to experience, extraversion, conscientiousness, and neuroticism within the framework of the Big Five Model, which is a classic theory to describe personalities on 5 dimensions (ie, openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism). [5][6][7] For instance, in a 2.5-year longitudinal study, Murphy et al 7 reported that participants with a higher level of conscientiousness constantly experience less academic and interpersonal stress. Another study illustrated neuroticism and introversion as the determinants of high chronic stress.…”

Perceived time adequacy improves daily well-being: day-to-day linkages and the effects of a workplace intervention

“…Most studies on this topic have focused on between-person comparisons (Almeida et al, 2015). Some studies using daily diary data have shown that daily work–family conflict or daily perceived demands outweighing perceived resources are linked to less positive and more negative affect within persons (Almeida et al, 2015; Gartland, O’Connor, Lawton, & Ferguson, 2014; Mroczek & Almeida, 2004). Moreover, high levels of anticipated daily obligations that exceeded perceived resources predict more physical symptoms on the same day (Gartland, O’Connor, Lawton, & Bristow, 2014).…”