Poster #203 - Neuroticism and Negative Health Outcomes in Response to Acute Social Stress in Adolescence

• In Event: 3-206 - Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: PS 13 Section - Social, Emotional, Personality

Integrative Statement

Individuals high in neuroticism are described as anxious, moody, and fearful. Neurotic adults may be unduly sensitive to negative events, which may worsen negative outcomes in daily life and lead to poor health outcomes (Charles, Gatz, Kato, & Pedersen, 2008). Previous research showed that neurotic adolescents were more likely to be bullied (Calvete, Orue, & Gamez-Guadix, 2016), but little is known about how neuroticism influences reactions to acute social stress in adolescence.

In the present study, adolescents (N = 160) and a parent completed measures of personality and interpersonal relationships before participating in the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST; Kirschbaum, Pirke, & Hellhammer, 1993). After a 10-minute rest period, adolescents provided a saliva sample and completed a mood survey before entering another room where two research assistants were waiting with a video camera. They were then told that they would have 10 minutes to prepare a speech about why they would make an ideal class president, that they would be giving the speech to a committee, and that the committee and their peers would judge the speech content and delivery. After a 10-minute preparation period, the second saliva sample was taken. The third sample was taken immediately after the speech, and the final sample was taken 30 minutes later. After the task, adolescents completed a survey about their experiences in the TSST and a mood survey. All speeches were recorded, transcribed, and processed through the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count program (LIWC; Pennebaker, Booth, Boyd, & Francis, 2015) to examine whether the words adolescents used (specifically emotion words) in their speech were influenced by personality.

Controlling for other measures of the Big 5, neurotic adolescents were more likely to be socially, F change(1, 154) = 21.89, R-squared change = 11.9%, p<.001, but not physically, F change(1, 154) = .43, R-squared change = .003%, victimized. Neurotic adolescents felt more rejected during the task, F change(1, 150) = 14.81, R-squared change = 8.8%, p<.001. There were no differences in self-reports of effort during the task, F change(1, 150) = .39, R-squared change = .003%. Cortisol showed linear and quadratic changes over time (see Figure 1a). Neuroticism was not directly related to changes in cortisol. However, feelings of rejection predicted linear changes; adolescents who reported greater levels of rejection also produced higher levels of cortisol during the task (see Figure 1b). Neuroticism was associated with decreases in positive and increases in negative emotions from pre- to post-task, F changes(1, 149) = 10.04, 5.56, R-squared changes = 3.4%, 2.0%, ps<.02, respectively. Neurotic adolescents also used more anxious words during the task, F change(1, 154) = 9.25, R-squared change = 5.7%, p=.003. Neurotic adolescents reported more frequent and severe health problems, F changes(1, 154) = 6.88, 5.21, R-squared changes = 4.0%, 3.0%, ps<.04, respectively, and greater levels of depression, F change(1, 154) = 7.05, R-squared change = 3.07%, p=.009. Results underscore the importance of understanding the effects of neuroticism on health outcomes in adolescents and identifying ways to buffer these negative effects.

Authors

• Abigail Heller, The University of Texas at Arlington
  Presenting Author

• Norma Garza, The University of Texas at Arlington
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kristen Hull, The University of Texas at Arlington
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sarah Lee, The University of Texas at Arlington
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lauri Jensen-Campbell, The University of Texas at Arlington
  Non-Presenting Author