The Impact of Personality Traits on Emotional Responses to Interpersonal Stress

Abstract

ObjectiveThe aim of the present study was to examine the impact of personality traits on emotional responses to interpersonal stress.MethodsThirty-two healthy college students (18 men, 14 women; age 25.2±2.7 years) participated in the study. Mood and anxiety were assessed with the Beck Depression Inventory and the State Trait Anxiety Inventory. Personality traits were assessed with the Interpersonal Sensitivity Measure (IPSM). The subjective emotional responses of participants to different (i.e., negative, neutral, and positive) interpersonal feedback were measured.ResultsSubject responses were positive to positive interpersonal feedback and negative to negative interpersonal feedback. The IPSM fragile inner self subscore was negatively correlated with the subjective emotional ratings in response to interpersonal feedback. No correlation was found between validation measures (i.e., the degree of attention in the task and task difficulty) and subjective emotional responses.ConclusionsTaken together, emotional responses to interpersonal stress may be modulated by personality traits and may impact health and psychological outcomes. Therefore, proper screening and stress management programs that focus on personality traits may improve the mental health of college students.

Interpersonal sensitivity, bullying victimization and paranoid ideation among help‐seeking adolescents and young adults

“…The second aim of the present study was to evaluate the role of a personality trait, interpersonal sensitivity, among the association between bullying victimization and subtle paranoid thoughts and suspiciousness. Interestingly, IPSM total and subscale scores of the sample were similar to those reported by subjects who were at UHR of psychosis (Joo et al, ; Masillo et al, ), even though the sample presented mixed clinical characteristics. This result may be explained by the high rate of psychotic‐like experiences among adolescents (Kelleher et al, ).…”

“…psychosis (Joo et al, 2012;Masillo et al, 2012), even though the sample presented mixed clinical characteristics. This result may be explained by the high rate of psychotic-like experiences among adolescents (Kelleher et al, 2012).…”

“…In line with cognitive models, negative beliefs about the self as fragile and vulnerable to threat may lead to a tendency to attribute experiences as externally caused and, in turn, facilitate the formation and maintenance of paranoid ideation (Freeman & Garety, 2014;Garety et al, 2001); other studies also showed that paranoid thoughts may build on interpersonal anxieties and worries, such as fear of rejection (Freeman et al, 2005). Some recent studies showed that interpersonal sensitivity is correlated to subtle suspiciousness and persecutory ideations among individuals at high risk of developing psychosis and non-clinical samples (Freeman & Garety, 2014;Joo, Yeon, & Lee, 2012;Masillo et al, 2012;Valmaggia et al, 2007).…”

Interpersonal sensitivity and functioning impairment in youth at ultra-high risk for psychosis

“…However, early studies indicated high interpersonal sensitivity and problems with self-confidence as being part of the subjective symptoms and observable behavioural changes occurring during the prodromal phase of schizophrenia (Subotnik & Nuechterlein, 1988;Häfner et al, 1992;Hambrecht et al, 1994). More recent studies have confirmed an association between interpersonal sensitivity, avoidant coping strategies, persecutory ideations and depressive symptoms in the ultra-high-risk and non-clinical samples (Valmaggia et al, 2007;Green et al, 2011;Masillo et al, 2012;Joo et al, 2012). These findings suggest that individuals who have problems in interpersonal sensitivity tend to modify their behaviour to comply with others' expectation in an attempt to minimize the risk of criticism or rejections.…”

Cross-cultural adaptation, reliability, and validity of the revised Korean version of Ruminative Response Scale

“…This is consistent with the result of Watkins, 23 but not consistent with that of Nolen-Hoeksema et al 27 Another study showed that some characteristics including the severity of depression were not different between genders. 28,29 So the coping and ruminative style by gender needs further research.…”