Role of the trait neuroticism in stress processes and a possible link to cardiovascular disease

The dispositional approach to an individual's personality is well accepted throughout psychology, and neuroticism is one of the primary traits in this approach. Studies show that "persons high in neuroticism are self- critical and sensitive to the criticism of others" (Lahey, 2009, p.241).Neuroticism is a robust predictor of poor health and reduced wellbeing. These adverse effects of neuroticism could reflect any of several stress processes including increased exposure to stressors, greater physiological and affective reactivity to stressors, delayed recovery, and poor restoration after stress. We hypothesized that high levels of neuroticism would be associated with each of these stress processes. A laboratory study was conducted with 120 participants (60 male and 60 female) to study the relationship between their level of neuroticism and stress reactivity and recovery, and data from several previous survey studies with undergraduates were examined to see if neuroticism was associated with greater exposure to stressful interpersonal events and with poor restoration (i.e, poor sleep quality). The relationship between neuroticism and stress is interesting because trait neuroticism can be one of the causal factors in the onset of cardiovascular disease (CVD).