Personality and Stress: Understanding the Roles of Extraversion and Neuroticism in Social Stress Scenarios

The purpose of this study was to increase knowledge regarding personality and stress, with a focus on ambiverts, by investigating potential non-linear relationships and overall relationships between extraversion and stress levels, and neuroticism and stress levels. Two hundred thirty­-eight participants completed an online survey through SONA, consisting of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Social Stress Scenarios (SSS), the Big Five Aspects Scale (BF AS), and the Open Extended Jungian Type Scales 1.2 (OEJTS). In general, those lower in extraversion and those higher in neuroticism were found to have higher perceived stress levels. Both aspects of extraversion-enthusiasm and assertiveness-were negatively related to stress. The withdrawal aspect of neuroticism was more strongly related to stress than was the volatility aspect. With respect to stress in specific social scenarios, introverts anticipated experiencing more stress than ambiverts and extraverts when at a party and interacting with strangers. In turn, ambiverts anticipated more stress than extraverts in these scenarios. Interestingly, the waiting in line or at work SSS found no differences related to extraversion. Overall, this study increased the body of knowledge on the role of personality in stressful experiences and provided support for prior research studies (e.g., Ebstrup, Eplov, Pisinger, & J0rgensen, 2011; Subhashini, 2017). The information learned could be applied to peoples\u27 personal lives or to professional lines of work, such as counseling, to help people understand and cope with stress