Anxiety, Depression, Stress and Big Five Personality

Christian V. Cruz

Introduction

Among the theories of personality covered in the duration of the course, I preferred to

make a term paper on the Big Five Personality Theory. Personally, I prefer this approach because

its characteristics as a theory, it can generate research, hypothesis, systematic, simple, and

parsimonious. Compared with other theory, it is more scientific. I least preferred the

psychodynamic perspectives because of its lack of empirical support. Psychodynamic

approaches may be very comprehensive, but to test its existence and being quantifiable is close

to impossibility. Humanistic-existential is philosophical, it gives deep and rational explanations

on why people became as they are but again, like psychodynamic, and it is speculative in nature

rather than scientific. Cognitive-behavioral approach is my second best preferred because it is

empirical. The evidence of its existence is fairly observable and more understandable compared

to psychodynamic perspective. But it is limited to behavior and mental processes only. Thus,

trait approach, specifically, the Big Five draws my attention very much that I would have

proposed to make an action research based on this theory.

Based on my readings, the Big Five is one of the most cited, and used theoretical

framework in researches made about personality. I would to use this as well. Not for the sake of

using but because based on the ability to generate hypotheses and studies. In this paper, I

proposed to study if the Big Five traits manifested, especially in Filipinos, are affected by

anxiety, depression, and stress. Part of this proposal, I tried to pilot this in a smaller sample, to

see if it is workable. I have gathered data, analyzed it and processed. The results were great and

convincing, but of course, there were glitches and limitations which might have affected the
interpretations and conclusions, but these were the errors to be avoided if this proposal will be

implemented as a large scale study.

Literature Review

Personality is a pattern of relatively permanent traits and unique characteristics that give

consistency and individuality to a person’s behavior (Roberts & Mroczek, 2008) as cited in

(Feist, Feist, & Roberts, 2013). In other words, it is the way individuals think, feel, and behave in

a particular situation across culture and time. Traits contribute to the individuality of a person

(Feist, Feist, & Roberts, 2013).

There are various theories which explain how personality exists and operates in an

individual. First, is the Psychodynamic point of view, which sprung from the psychoanalytic

theory of Sigmund Freud and gave birth to the Neo-freudian perspectives. This perspective

explains that personality is developed from the childhood experiences, especially in context with

the relationship with the parents. It is deterministic since it concludes that a person’s present

behavior, feelings and thinking is brought by childhood past. Then, followed by the Humanistic-

Existentialist perspective which provides that personality is developed as individuals struggles to

achieve meaning, freedom, self-fulfillment and self-actualization. On the other hand, cognitive-

behavioral posits that personality is learned at that thinking pattern also contributes to personality

development. Meanwhile, Trait Theorists proposed that traits have biological basis and it is

measurable. Among these various theories the latter is the most utilized in research. One of the

most used theories in personality under the trait approach is the Five-factor Model or commonly

known as the Big Five Personality which was proposed by Costa and Mcrae . This theory
introduced that human personality can be summarized into five bipolar factors namely Openness

to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism (OCEAN).

Most of the first and classical theories support that personality is long-enduring and it is

not subject to change. Most of the theories support that notion that traits are long enduring.

However, in the modern psychology, this notion has been debatable since the strong influence of

the trait approach which focuses on the biological basis of personality and the stand that traits are

measurable. Human conditions are naturally affected and changed by various factors either

negative or positive such as sickness, pain, struggles, well-being, satisfaction and calmness, so as

personality (Hobgood, 2011). Particularly, empirical findings supports that personality is

affected by anxiety, depression and stress (Barnes, 2013) (Bibbey, Carroll, Roseboom, Phillips,

& de Rooij, 2013) (Urichova, 2014) (Mustafaª, Nasirb, & Yusooffb, 2010). Meaning, it depends

on what kind of personality a n individual possess which determines how susceptible and strong

he/she is in enduring, struggling, and recovering from anxiety, depression and stress.

Anxiety is the state wherein an individual is preoccupied by an impending danger.

Empirical findings prove that anxiety affects personality. For instance, it was found that in

patients with panic disorder and agoraphobia, when anxiety symptoms ameliorate, extraversion

increases and neuroticism decreases (Karsten, Pennnix, Riese, Ornamel, & Nolen, 2012).

Similarly, statistics anxiety people with high neuroticism tends to be anxious towards asking help

in statistics problems and statistics teacher; high extraversion has also been correlated to class

anxiety and fear of asking for help (Chew & Dillon, 2014). In other words, big five traits are

affected by anxiety.

Aside from anxiety, depression, which is described as extreme sadness or loneliness, also

affects personality. Extraversion and conscientiousness has been found to be correlated with
depressive disorders (Karsten, Pennnix, Riese, Ornamel, & Nolen, 2012) and (Leandro &

Castillo, 2010).

Likewise, more than anxiety and depression, stress is a much stronger state which affects

personality. In one study, it was found that individuals with high neuroticism and low

agreeableness exhibited smaller cortisol and cardiovascular stress reactions which implies that

negative personality disposition is linked to diminished stress reactivity (Bibbey, Carroll,

Roseboom, Phillips, & de Rooij, 2013). In another study, in terms of stress coping styles, it was

proven that neuroticism has negative relationship with positive emotional-focused coping but it

has positive relationship with negative emotional-focused coping. Extraversion was positively

correlated with problem-focused coping and positive-emotional-focused coping, which implies

that extraverted individuals try to manage stress rather than be overwhelmed by it (Karimzade &

Besharat, 2011).

Based on the empirical supports, truly, personality is affected by anxiety, depression, and

stress in separated instances. However, a question can be inferred that what will be the scenario

if the three states were correlated with big five personality traits, will it be consistent with the

mentioned literatures? Are there findings will still be consistent? If so, what will be its

implication? In this study, these are the questions that were sought to be answered.

To see how these questions will be answered, a pilot study of the same objective was

carried out and discussed in the method section.

Research Methodology

Research Design

This study employed descriptive-correlation as a method and approach. It aims to

describe phenomenon under study and determine the relationship of the between variables.
Research Instruments

In the pilot study, two instruments were administered. The Depression, Anxiety, Stress

Scale by Lovibond and Lovibond. It is a 42-item questionnaire with likert scale ranges from -1,

0, 1, and 2 with the following response of “did not apply to me at all,” “Applied to me to some

degree, or some of the time,” “Applied to me a considerable degree, or a good part of time,” and

“Applied to me very much, or most of the time” respectively. It is a widely used instrument but

the psychometric properties were not reported in the source where I obtained it. This instrument

measures the level of depression, anxiety and stress in an individual.

The second instrument was the Big Five Inventory by John O.P. and Strivastrava S., this

was based on the Five Factor Model of Costa and Mcrae. It consists of 44 items with 5-point

Likert scale with 1 as the lowest and 5 as the highest. It has a response set of disagree strongly,

disagree a little, neither agree nor disagree, agree a little, and agree strongly. This measures what

personality trait is dominant in a person. Similar to the instrument, the psychometric properties

were not reported. But it is a widely used personality instrument since it has been cited and used

in many published journal articles.

Participants

Table 1:Profile

Frequency Percent

Valid student 170 91.9

teacher 15 8.1

Male 39 21.1
female 146 78.9
Hometown Frequency Percentage
missing 1 .5
hagonoy 16 8.6
guiguinto 10 5.4
bulakan 5 2.7
malolos 36 19.5
plaridel 16 8.6
calumpit 10 5.4
marilao 9 4.9
meycauayan 8 4.3
sta. maria 15 8.1
pulilan 9 4.9
baliuag 7 3.8
valenzuela 1 .5
bocaue 8 4.3
san rafael 2 1.1
paombong 4 2.2
san jose del monte 4 2.2
pampanga 7 3.8
pandi 2 1.1
bustos 3 1.6
balagtas 5 2.7
san miguel 1 .5
obando 1 .5
Total 184 99.5
100.0
 The participants in the pilot study were mostly third year BS psychology students, who

were my students, and some faculty members in the college I was serving as a faculty. There

were 185 of them who participated in the data gathering. There were 39 (21.1%) males and 146

(78.9%) females. 170 among them were third year BS Psychology students and 15 of them were

faculty members of the college (see table 1). Although the participants were dominated by

psychology students, the sample is considered diverse in terms of their hometown in Bulacan.

Most of them were residents of the City of Malolos, municipalities of Hagonoy, Plaridel, Sta.

Maria, Guiginto, and Calumpit. There are some who are from the province of Pampanga. (See

Table 2)

Procedure

Upon seeking approval from the school officials, test administration was conducted

during their class with me. For the faculty, it was sent to their designated tables in the faculty

office and offices for some faculty members with designations. Over two hundred copies of

questionnaire were distributed by only 185 were completed and returned.

Statistical Analyses

Using the Statistical Package for the Social Science version 17 (SPSS 17), frequencies of

the demographic profile and mean scores obtained from the instrument were collected and

summarized. In order to get for the relationship, Pearson Moment Product Correlation was used.

To obtain the strength of the relationship, linear regression was employed.

Results and Discussion

Results revealed that anxiety, depression and stress were found to have positive

significant correlation with neuroticism and have negative significant correlation with

agreeableness. Furthermore, regression analysis also provides that neuroticism and agreeableness
is predicted by anxiety stress and depression. These mean that negative personality disposition

increases when a person is experiencing these negative states. In addition, Anxiety and stress

have negative significant correlation with conscientiousness which implies that when a person is

anxious and stressed it is difficult to work diligently. In the same way, the two states are

predictors of conscientiousness. Likewise anxiety and depression has negative significant

correlation with extraversion. Thus anxiety and depression affects a person’s way of relating

with other people. These results are consistent with the empirical reviewed in this paper (Bibbey,

Carroll, Roseboom, Phillips, & de Rooij, 2013), (Desa, Yusooff, Ibrahim, Kadir, & Rahman,

2013), (Karsten, Pennnix, Riese, Ornamel, & Nolen, 2012) (see table 3 and 4). On the contrary, it

appears that openness is not affected by the states, which means that whether a person is stressed,

anxious, or depressed it has nothing to do with being open to new experiences, adventurous, and

innovative. These findings are also consistent with the same empirical review.

The findings of the pilot study appear to be good as it follows the contemporary

literature. It adds to the claim against the permanence of personality. Truly, personality changes

as the states also changes. Thus, these states are affected by the events happening surrounding

every individual.

Table 3. Correlation
Extraversion Agreeableness Conscientiousness Neuroticism Openness
r p r p r p r p r p
Anxiety -.173* .019 -.182* .013 -.175* .017 .378** .000 .022 .769
Depression -.223** .002 -.164* .026 -.125 .091 .420** .000 .007 .923
Stress -.070 .347 -.220** .003 -.246** .001 .503** .000 .013 .863
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
 Table 4. Linear Regression
Model R2 (sig.)
1. stress, anxiety, depression and .296 .000
neuroticism
2.stress, anxiety and .066 .002
conscientiousness
3. stress, anxiety, depression and .058 .013
agreeableness
4. depression, anxiety and .058 .004
extraversion

Recommendations

Although the findings are affirmative and confirmative to current literatures, but there

some glitches in the pilot study which might have affected the results or might give a different

perspective. First, empirical support must be backed up with theoretical support. A much clearer

theoretical framework must be used to give more enlightenment. Lastly, the study did not use

random sampling and the sample itself is not representative of the population. It would be better

to include a larger sample and utilize systematize random sampling. Due to time constraint and

limited resources, I was not able to implement such strategy.

If this will be implemented in a large-scale study, it is suitable to develop an intervention

program especially on managing the occurrence of these states, anxiety, depression and stress.

Developing an intervention program which is suitable to the kind of personality a person has is

very timely.

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