Genetic and Environmental Pathways Underlying Personality Traits and Perceived Stress: Concurrent and Longitudinal Twin Studies

Abstract

The present study examined the genetic and environmental etiology underlying the Big Five personality traits and perceived stress, concurrently and longitudinally. In study 1, we used the twin sample from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health IV) data. The results indicated that about 70% of the association between the Big Five personality traits and perceived stress was due to genetic influences. In study 2, we used the twin sample from the Midlife in the United States Survey (MIDUS I and II) to examine the genetic and environmental influences underlying the longitudinal relations between the Big Five personality traits and perceived stress. The results suggested that continuity in perceived stress was primarily accounted for by genetic influences, and changes in perceived stress were mainly due to nonshared environmental influences. The continuity in the association between the five personality traits and perceived stress was largely accounted for by genetic factors, and nonshared environmental factors made greater contributions to changes in the association between personality traits and perceived stress. Among the Big Five personality traits, the genetic components in conscientiousness and neuroticism made substantial contributions to the genetic link between personality traits and perceived stress across both studies.

Keywords: Big Five; behaviour genetics; longitudinal; perceived stress; twin study.

Figure 1.

Basic format of the model used to estimate the additive genetic, shared environmental and nonshared environmental contributions to the covariance between personality traits and perceived stress. A, additive genetic factors; C, shared environmental factors; E, nonshared environmental factors.

Figure 2.

Genetic and environmental variance of perceived stress shared with personality traits and genetic and environmental variance unique to perceived stress in add health.

Figure 3.

Multivariate analyses of the additive genetic and nonshared environmental contributions to the covariance between personality traits and perceived stress in add health twin sample. The paths between personality traits are omitted. Co, conscientiousness; N, neuroticism; Ex, extraversion; Ag, agreeableness; O, openness; S, perceived stress; A, additive genetic factors; E, nonshared environmental factors

Figure 4.

Multivariate analyses of the additive genetic and nonshared environmental contributions to the covariance between personality traits at time 1 and perceived stress at time 2 in MIDUS twin sample. The paths between personality traits are omitted. Co, conscientiousness; N, neuroticism; Ex, extraversion; Ag, agreeableness; O, openness; S, perceived stress; A, additive genetic factors; E, nonshared environmental factors.

Figure 5.

Multivariate analyses of the additive genetic and nonshared environmental contributions to the covariance between changes in personality traits and changes in perceived stress in MIDUS twin sample. The paths between personality traits are omitted. Co, conscientiousness; N, neuroticism; Ex, extraversion; Ag, agreeableness; O, openness; S, perceived stress; A, additive genetic factors; E, nonshared environmental factors.

Figure 6.

Genetic and environmental shared with personality traits and genetic and environmental variance unique to perceived stress in add health, MIDUS I, and MIDUS II twin samples, the covariance between personality traits at time 1 and perceived stress at time 2 in MIDUS twin sample, and the covariance between changes in personality traits and changes in perceived stress in MIDUS twin sample.