Victoria Wang
Where Emotions Flow
It has been long documented that the differentiation of personality traits plays a significant role in an individual’s mental resilience and ability to navigate difficult circumstances (Leger et al., 2016). These evaluations of the link between individual characteristics and ability to handle a multitude of stressors heavily depend on the analysis of the Big Five personality typology system, with emphasis being on the traits of neuroticism. Neuroticism is typically defined as a spectrum within the system of the degree to which an individual experiences feelings of anxiety, depression, vulnerability, anger, impulsivity, and self-consciousness (Psychology Today). When discussing the impacts of this facet on stress levels, the impact of being within the higher percentile of the neuroticism scale is clear: “Neurotic individuals appear to generate stress, as evidenced by prospective associations with higher dependent life events” (Wiebe et al., 2018). They also reported that these individuals “display greater emotional reactivity when psychological stress is encountered”. While the evidence pointing towards a blatant connection between high-scoring neurotic individuals and strong emotional responses, including stress, is abundant, there is little evidence on how this relationship applies to adolescents and teenagers. However, a youth-centered approach is crucial for understanding teenage behavior and emotional states. The Kaiser Family Foundation reports that 1 in 5 adolescents struggle with depression, based on a federal survey of teen health (KFF, 2024). Similarly, adolescence is a period where emotional regulation can be difficult to manage due to a lack of proper brain development and maturity.
Taking the relationship between neuroticism and stress levels into consideration, it is important to acknowledge how neuroticism levels may differ among adolescents. One of the key differences in distinguishing a teenager’s response to stressors is largely due to the fact that adolescents experience an ongoing mental and neural development during this phase. The prefrontal cortex, which is largely responsible for emotional regulation, is not fully developed. Therefore, it could be concluded that adolescents with higher neuroticism may struggle with responding to it, heightening emotional responses, in comparison to adults who may report similar levels of neuroticism (Claney, 2023). Another common experience in adolescence, especially while going through puberty, is mental confusion and a still-developing personal identity. Without a confident or mature sense of self, these individuals may struggle with issues of self-consciousness, a facet in the neuroticism spectrum. While adults may also experience uncertainty in their identities, years of experience and a developed brain may lead to them not experiencing the same level of stress about their identities. A similar emotional issue heavily associated with teenagehood or adolescence is hormonal fluctuations (Nguyen, 2024). These can lead to a range of mental and emotional challenges, including mood swings, intensified emotions, sensitivity to stress, and a lack of emotional regulation. For teenagers already experiencing hormonal fluctuations, a personality that is high in neuroticism can contribute more to an “extreme” emotional world and mental health.
The relationship between neuroticism and stress is well-established in adults, but its manifestation in adolescents presents unique complexities. Due to the developmental, social, and hormonal challenges of adolescence, high levels of neuroticism may exacerbate stress more intensely in teenagers than in adults. Understanding these differences is crucial for developing targeted mental health interventions that address the specific needs of adolescents, helping them navigate this critical developmental period with greater resilience and emotional stability.
References
Wiebe, D. J. (2018). What mechanisms explain the links between personality and health? In Personality and Disease (pp. 223-245). Academic Press. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B9780128053003000128
Claney, C. (2023, July 18). Understanding how hormonal changes impact emotional health for teens. Relational Psych. https://www.relationalpsych.group/articles/understanding-how-hormonal-changes-impact-emotional-health-for-teens
KFF. (2024, February 6). Roughly 1 in 5 adolescents report experiencing symptoms of anxiety or depression. https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/press-release/roughly-1-in-5-adolescents-report-experiencing-symptoms-of-anxiety-or-depression/#:~:text=About%201%20in%205%20adolescents,federal%20survey%20of%20teen%20health
Leger, K. A., Charles, S. Turiano, N. Almeida, D. (2016). Personality and stressor-related affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. U.S. National Library of Medicine. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4956603/#:~:text=Consistent%20with%20prior%20research%2C%20higher,a%20greater%20number%20of%20stressors
Psychology Today (n.d). (n.d.). Neuroticism. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/neuroticism#:~:text=Neuroticism%2C%20one%20of%20the%20Big,much%20more%20neurotic%20than%20others
Nguyen, L. (2024, January 3). The effects of teenage hormones on mental health. Paradigm Treatment Center. https://paradigmtreatment.com/who-we-treat/teens/hormones/#:~:text=Mood%20Fluctuations%3A%20Teenage%20hormones%20can,part%20of%20the%20teenage%20journey
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