Personality, cardiovascular, and cortisol reactions to acute psychological stress in the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study

Abstract

Recent research has suggested that diminished, as well as elevated reactivity to acute psychological stress is maladaptive. These differences in stress reactions have been hypothesised to relate to the Big Five personality traits, which are said to be biologicallybased and stable across adulthood; however, findings have been inconclusive. This study sought to replicate the findings of the largest study conducted to date (Bibbey, Carroll, Roseboom, Phillips, and de Rooij, 2013), with a sample of participants from the Midlife in the United States Study (MIDUS), aged between 35 and 84 years (M = 56.33, SD = 10.87). Participants (N = 817) undertook a standardized, laboratory-based procedure during which their cardiovascular and neuroendocrine reactivity to acute stress was measured. In contrast to Bibbey et al. (2013), associations between neuroticism and blunted reactivity did not withstand adjustment for confounding variables. Further, following adjustment for multiple tests, no significant positive association between agreeableness and HR reactivity was observed. Methodological differences between the studies, which may account in part for the contrasting findings, are discussed. Further conceptual replication research is needed to clarify associations between the Big Five personality traits and stress reactivity, across the lifespan.

The Differences in Response to Acute Stress of Individuals With Higher and Lower Neuroticism

“…The study results showed that lower cortisol, heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure were found in individuals with higher neuroticism when reacting to psychological stressors. Coyle et al (2020) replicated the described study and found that neuroticism was negatively related to cortisol reactivity. Moreover, Poppelaars, Klackl, Pletzer, Wilhelm, and Jonas (2019) found that higher neuroticism predicted lower sympathetic nervous system reactivity at the time of exposure to a psychological stressor.…”

“…Stress-moderation models indicate that personality can impact the biological stress response system (Hutchinson & Ruiz, 2011). Numerous studies highlight that neuroticism has the strongest relation to stress than other Big Five traits (Coyle, Howard, Bibbey, Gallagher, Whittaker & Creaven, 2020). Even the research results of the relationship between acute stress and neuroticism are controversial, yet mostly confirmed is this trait relation to higher emotional stress reactivity (Suls & Martin, 2005), but lower cortisol and cardiovascular stress reactivity (Bibbey et al, 2013;Coyle et al, 2020).…”

Maximising the educational and research value of the undergraduate dissertation in psychology

“…This includes analysis of publicly available datasets (quantitative or qualitative), data already collected by the supervisor, or by the student prior to the dissertation (e.g., as part of a research assistantship). For example, for a master's dissertation (Coyle et al, 2020), AMC and colleagues conducted a conceptual replication of a study of associations between personality and stress reactivity (Bibbey et al, 2013) using publicly available data from the Midlife in the United States study.…”

“…Although publications using the data are not a substitute for technical documentation (and may contain errors), students may find them useful. Replication studies may also be feasible (e.g., Coyle et al, 2020). The advantages of replication for learning and guidance on choosing what to replicate for teaching purposes are discussed in-depth elsewhere (see Janz, 2016).…”

Instability of Personality Traits of Teachers in Risk Conditions due to Work-Related Stress

“…This model reduces personality to five traits: extroversion, open-mindedness, amiability, conscientiousness and neuroticism [15,67,68]. Some studies have tried to understand if and which personality traits can be considered predictors of stress [64,[69][70][71][72][73][74].…”