SIR Social Sciences Investigation Abstract
CORRELATIONS BETWEEN PERSONALITY AND RESPONSES TO ACUTE SOCIAL STRESS
Presenter:
Meng Kang, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Advisor:
Dr. Harriet de Wit, University of Chicago
Abstract:
Studies have shown direct correlations between certain personality traits and vulnerability of substance abuse, as well exposure to stress and substance abuse. The purpose of this study is to determine possible correlations between three dimensions of personality, Positive Emotionality (PEM), Negative Emotionality (NEM), and Constraint (CON), and subjective and physiological responses to an acute social stressor. Subjects' anxiety levels and physiological states were gathered before, during and after the Trier Social Stress Test. 108 subjects, 61 male and 47 female, participated in three experiments conducted at the University of Chicago Hospitals. Overall, we found a negative correlation between CON and peak increase in self-ratings of anxiety after the acute stress procedure (r= -.262 p<.05). That is, people who scored higher on the CON experienced less anxiety peak change after stress. Additionally, we found some sex differences factoring responses to the stress, and in the relationship between stress response and personality. Females exhibited smaller peak changes in cortisol after stress than males. For males but not females, NEM was negatively correlated with peak change in cortisol (r= -.349 p<.05) and with peak change in anxiety (r= -.290 p<.05). These correlations may help explain behaviors of people with varying personality under stressful situations.