Anderson, C., John, O. P., Keltner, D., & Kring, A. M. (2001). Who attains social status? Effects of personality and physical attractiveness in social groups. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(1), 116-132.
Neuroticism refers to the tendency to experience negative feelings and emotion.
These facets represent sub-dimensions of the overall Neuroticism trait.
Anger is the tendency to feel anger, frustration, and bitterness.
Anxiety represents the tendency to experience free-floating anxiety or fears and more frequent triggering of the 'fight-or-flight' system of the brain.
Depression is the tendency to feel sad, dejected, and discouraged.
Immoderation refers to an inability to control cravings and urges.
Self-Consciousness refers to the tendency to experience shame and embarrassment.
Vulnerability is the tendency to feel overwhelmed or panicked by stress.
Positive Correlation
Anxiety is positively correlated with Neuroticism
Type I Anxiety includes the following categories: generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and social phobia.
Trull & Sher (1994) found a significant relationship between higher scores in Neuroticism and Axis I Anxiety disorders, especially posttraumatic stress disorder (p < .001)
Negative Correlation
Coping is negatively correlated with Neuroticism
Coping refers to the ability to overcome a stressful situation. Strategies that are commonly used to cope include: distraction, redefinition, direct action, catharsis, acceptance, social support, relaxation, and religion.
David & Suls (1999) found a moderating effect of Neuroticism on the ability to effectively cope using relaxation and distracting coping techniques (p < .05).
Positive Correlation
Depression is positively correlated with Neuroticism
Major depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest.
Trull & Sher (1994) found a significant relationship between higher scores in Neuroticism and Axis I major depression (p < .001)
Negative Correlation
Existential well-being is negatively correlated with Neuroticism
Existential Well-Being is a construct that reflects an individuals sense of meaning, purpose, and resilience.
In a study of 993 undergraduates, Macdonald (2000) demonstrate a correlation of -.66 (p < .001) between Existential Well-Being and Neuroticism.
Negative Correlation
Humor is negatively correlated with Neuroticism
The general tendency to appreciate amusement, comedy, jokes, self-referential humor, jests, wit, or sarcasm.
In a study of 169 college students, Cann & Calhoun (2001) found a significant negative relationship between humor and Neuroticism: higher scores in Neuroticism were associated with lower scores on the humor scale (p < .05).
Negative Correlation
Identity integration or consolidation is negatively correlated with Neuroticism
A persons identity refers to a self-structure: an internal, self-constructed, dynamic organization of drives, abilities, beliefs, and individual history (Marcia, 1980). Identity integration and consolidation are processes of reconciling various roles, responsibilities, and contexts to construct a coherent identity.
In a longitudinal study of 96 married women, Pals (1999) found a negative corelation of -.42 (p < .01) between Negative Emotionality/Neuroticism and a measure of married identity consolidation.
Negative Correlation
Subjective well-being is negatively correlated with Neuroticism
Subjective Well-Being is a construct that reflects an individuals overall evaluation on the quality or their life from their own perspective.
See Diener & Lucas (2015) for an overview; the Steel, P., Schmidt, J., & Shultz, J. (2008) meta-analysis demonstrate correlations between -.30 and -.50 depending on the facet of subjective well-being (SWB) measured. In a metanalysis of more than 140 studies, DeNeve & Cooper (1998) found a positive correlation between SWB and Extraversion of -.22.
Negative Correlation
Verbal Fluency is negatively correlated with Neuroticism
Verbal fluency is the ability to produce correct examples from a specific category. It is a cognitive task that relies on verbal knowledge, inhibition of similar words from a different semantic category, and tracking / memory of words that have already been produced.
In a meta-analysis of 10 studies with combined participation of over 80,000 participants, Sutin et al. (2019) found that neuroticism is negatively related to verbal fluency (p < .001)
Positive Correlation
Appreciate intense music styles is positively correlated with Neuroticism
Intense musical styles are characterized by distorted, loud, and aggressive attributes, common in classic rock, punk, heavy metal, and power pop genres.
Research consistently indicates a positive association between Neuroticism and preferences for Intense musical styles. A study involving 71,714 participants across 36 countries found a correlation of r=.02 (p<.01) between Neuroticism and Intense music (Greenberg et al., 2022). This large-scale cross-cultural study is notable for its use of unfamiliar musical stimuli to minimize confounding effects from prior associations, thereby enhancing the ecological validity of the findings. Further supporting this, research using Spotify streaming data from 5,808 users found that Emotional Stability (the inverse of Neuroticism) correlated negatively with Brooding (r=−.088, p<.001) and Defiant (r=−.082, p<.001) moods, and Emo music (r=−.155, p<.001), all of which align with characteristics of Intense styles (Anderson et al., 2021).
Positive Correlation
Abuse of romantic partner is positively correlated with Neuroticism
Romantic abuse refers to physical acts of abuse between romantic partners (e.g., slapping, hitting, forcing sex, etc.).
In a longitudinal study of New Zealand cohort (n = ~1,000), measured at birth to age 26, Robins et al. (2002) found significant mean correlations (between .23 and .29, depending on age; p < .01) between negative emotionality and relationship abuse.
Negative Correlation
Family satisfaction is negatively correlated with Neuroticism
Family satisfaction in this context refers to quality of dyadic relationships between intergenerational family members (e.g., parent-child).
Belsky et al. (2003) found a significant negative relationship in the quality of parent-child relationship: relationship quality is less positive when children score higher on negative emotionality. Relationship quality measures included intergenerational contact, closeness, conflict, and assistance.
Negative Correlation
Peer status is negatively correlated with Neuroticism
Peer status refers to relationships within a peer group network using measures such as peer acceptance (one peer nominates another as a friend) and friendship (two peers nominate each other as friends). Status often refers to differences in prominence, respect, and influence among members of a group.
Anderson et al. (2001) found a significant relationship (zero-order corrrelation of -.31) between Neuroticism / Negative Emotionality and social status among a male fraternity members.
Positive Correlation
Romantic conflict is positively correlated with Neuroticism
Romantic conflict refers to sources of disagreement between romantic partners.
In a longitudinal study of New Zealand cohort (n = ~1,000), measured at birth to age 26, Robins et al. (2002) found significant mean correlations (between .30 and .35, depending on age; p < .01) between negative emotionality and relationship conflict.
Positive Correlation
Romantic dissolution is positively correlated with Neuroticism
The breakup of a romantic relationship (e.g., separation or divorce).
Kelly & Conley (1987) analyzed longitudinal data from married couples over 40 years and found a strong relationship between higher scores on Neuroticism and divorce outcomes.
Negative Correlation
Romantic satisfaction is negatively correlated with Neuroticism
Romantic satisfaction refers to married partners evaluations of the romantic relationship.
In their meta-analysis, Karney & Bradbury (1995) found aggregate effect-size r of -.13 (husbands) and -.19 (wives) for neuroticism and marital satisfaction.
Negative Correlation
Relationship quality is negatively correlated with Neuroticism
Relationship quality is the overall health of a relationship, shaped by how well partners communicate, handle conflict, support each other, stay stable over time, and feel satisfied.
Evidence from a meta-analysis of 148 studies and 154 independent samples (Esplin et al., 2024) showed a consistent negative link between neuroticism and relationship quality, with an overall correlation of r = −.238 (p < .001). People with mid-level neuroticism typically experience average-quality relationships — not as strained as those with high neuroticism, but not as stable or satisfying as those with low neuroticism. Their overall well-being also tends to be close to average.
Positive Correlation
Antisocial behavior is positively correlated with Neuroticism
Antisocial behavior refers to actions that are deemed delinquent, deviant, against social norms, and violate the rights of others.
In a mail survey study of hundreds of twin participants, Krueger et al. (2001) found a significant correlation of (.28, p < .01) between Negative Emotionality / Neuroticism and Antisocial Behavior.
Negative Correlation
Extrinsic success is negatively correlated with Neuroticism
Extrinsic career success (e.g., salary and promotions) refer to observable rewards from the job.
In an intergenerational study, Judge et al. (1999) found signficant correlations between Neuroticism and Income (-.32; p < .05) and Neuroticism and Occupational Status (-.27; p < .01), and extrinsic success (-.34, p < .01).
Negative Correlation
Financial security is negatively correlated with Neuroticism
Financial security refers to the degree that people perceive that their earnings are adequate for their needs.
In their longitudinal analysis, Roberts et al. (2003) found that negative emotionality scores from age 18 had a significant negative correlation with extrinsic success at age 26, including: -.27 occupational attainment (p < .01) and -.22 financial security (p < .01).
Negative Correlation
Job satisfaction is negatively correlated with Neuroticism
Job satisfaction refers to a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of ones job / work experiences.
Judge et al. (2002) meta-analytic results documented an estimated true score correlation of -.29 between trait Neuroticism and job satisfaction; Thoresen et al. (2003) also conducted a meta-analysis and found a mean correlation of -.28 between Neuroticism and job satisfaction
Negative Correlation
Occupational commitment is negatively correlated with Neuroticism
The psychological and emotional attachment an individual feels to an occupation.
Thoresen et al. (2003) found a mean correlation of -.23 between Neuroticism and organizational commitment in their meta-analytic analysis.
Positive Correlation
Adhere to Shelter in Place Policy is positively correlated with Neuroticism
In the context of a pandemic health crisis, sheltering in place refers to the act of adhering to publich health guidelines to stay at a primary residence, avoiding travel and other public settings as much as possible.
In a study of over 100,000 participants, controlling for socioeconomic factors, G?tz et al. (2020), found neuroticism to be positively associated with sheltering in place during the COVID-19 pandemic (p < .001).
Positive Correlation
Vaccine hesitant is positively correlated with Neuroticism
Vaccine hesitancy and resistance refers to a situation where someone is unsure of or against vaccination.
As part of a five-decade long birth cohort study, Moffitt et al. (2022) reported survey results gathered between April-July 2021 from 622 participants who responded to questions about their intentions to vaccinate against COVID-19. Among the many factors explored, one of the most significant differences found was that vaccine-hesitant participants were significantly more likely to score higher in neuroticism as adolescents than vaccine-willing participants were (p<.002).