Department of Medical Social Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, United States of America.
Department of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Texas A & M University, College Station, TX, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2021 Apr 1;16(4):e0248822. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0248822. eCollection 2021.
Cumulative evidence has been found for the associations between personality traits and stress experiences in adulthood. However, less is known about the moderating mechanisms underlying these associations. The present study tested whether the stress sensitization and stress inoculation hypotheses could be applied to the relationship between early adversity and personality in adulthood. Specifically, we tested the linear and curvilinear relations between early adversity (measured retrospectively) and adulthood personality traits, as well as the linear and curvilinear moderating effects of early adversity on the associations between adulthood stress and personality traits. Samples of older adults from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS; N = 6098) and middle-aged adults from the Midlife in the United States Survey (MIDUS; N = 6186) were used. Across the two samples, positive linear associations were found between retrospective early adversity and neuroticism. The results also suggested significant linear effects of early adversity on the association between ongoing chronic stressors and neuroticism such that individuals with moderate exposure to early adversity showed stronger associations between ongoing chronic stressors and neuroticism. Results from the current research were more in line with the stress sensitization model. No support was found for the stress inoculation effects on personality.
已有大量证据表明，人格特质与成年期的应激体验之间存在关联。然而，对于这些关联背后的调节机制知之甚少。本研究旨在检验应激敏感化和应激接种假说是否适用于成年早期逆境与人格之间的关系。具体来说，我们检验了早期逆境（回溯性测量）与成年期人格特质之间的线性和曲线关系，以及早期逆境对成年期应激与人格特质之间关联的线性和曲线调节作用。本研究使用了来自健康与退休研究（HRS；N=6098）的老年样本和来自美国中年生活研究（MIDUS；N=6186）的中年样本。在这两个样本中，回溯性早期逆境与神经质之间呈正线性关系。研究结果还表明，早期逆境对持续慢性应激源与神经质之间的关联存在显著的线性影响，即中度暴露于早期逆境的个体表现出更强的持续慢性应激源与神经质之间的关联。研究结果更符合应激敏感化模型，而对人格的应激接种效应则没有得到支持。
