Are Certain Personalities More Prone to Stress?

Psychological literature shows that certain personality types make a person more or less prone to experiencing frequent stress. It is thought that specific characteristics of personalities determine what will make individuals feel stressed. To test the correlation between personality type and stress, I conducted three interviews with people of varying personality types. Through interviewing codependent, type-A, and hardy individuals; I found there to be a correlation between personality, stressors, and coping techniques.

The first interviewee was classified as moderately codependent. A codependent person is stress-prone due to many of traits and behaviors they posses. This personality is referred to as the “addictive personality” with their “fix” being behaviors to acquire self-validation, and the “high” being short-lived; forcing repeated bouts of external validations. A person of this type is usually a well-liked perfectionist who is extremely loyal, but tends to manipulate others through acts of generosity. This behavior is their attempt to control others and their environment to compensate for lack of self-control. They thrive on resolving emergency situations, and tend to put everyone else’s needs before their own. Although they live for crisis, they feel victim of their lifestyle and insinuate that others do not give them the credit and gratitude they deserve for their sacrifices. Codependent people have a chronic sense of inadequacy despite the fact they are over achievers at the multiple tasks they take on, and often look to others in search of approval. The most stress prone characteristic of this personality type is an overreaction in many situations by expressing concern and worry as love, making even smal...

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...tion as daily coping techniques to gain perspective on life.

Thus, personality can make a person stress prone or stress resistant. Personality plays a major role in how much stress a person experiences, and what situations will make them stressed. Understanding how specific characteristics of each personality determine what kinds of situations will be perceived as stressful, could aid in effective use of tailored coping techniques. Through interviews conducted on three individuals possessing different personalities, I conclude that psychological literature is correct in their assumptions that certain personalities are more or less prone to stress. In all three cases, there were direct connections between what the literature characterized their personalities as, and what situations they perceived as stressful.