Cross-Sectional, Longitudinal, and Dynamic Associations Among Big Five Personality Traits and Resilience in Primarily Female, Upper-Middle Class, Ethnically Diverse U.S. Adolescents

In this study, we examined how Big Five personality traits relate to outcome-based resilience in primarily female, upper-middle class, ethnically diverse U.S. adolescents (baseline N = 535; age range = 15–17) oversampled on elevated neuroticism. Cross-sectional, prospective-longitudinal, and dynamic analyses were performed with 8-year longitudinal data. Using a residualization approach, we approximated resilience as low stressor reactivity, calculated by regressing depression and anxiety diagnosis severity onto chronic stressor exposure over 1-year periods. Cross-sectional associations with stressor reactivity were observed for neuroticism (positive), extraversion (negative), openness (positive), and conscientiousness (negative). A positive prospective-longitudinal association with stressor reactivity was observed for neuroticism. In contemporaneous and lagged dynamic analyses, within-persons dynamics and mean levels of neuroticism (positive), extraversion (negative), and conscientiousness (negative) related to stressor reactivity. There were also unique associations with stressor reactivity for neuroticism (positive), extraversion (negative), and agreeableness (positive). Results indicate relevance of mean levels and intraindividual dynamics of personality, particularly neuroticism, for resilience in adolescents.