Diurnal cortisol measures are distinctively associated with evaluation of neuroticism by self and others

Guido Alessandri; Lorenzo Filosa; Cristina Ottaviani; Luca Carnevali

doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2024.112353

Diurnal cortisol measures are distinctively associated with evaluation of neuroticism by self and others

Int J Psychophysiol. 2024 Apr 17:200:112353. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2024.112353. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Guido Alessandri¹, Lorenzo Filosa², Cristina Ottaviani³, Luca Carnevali⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. Electronic address: guido.alessandri@uniroma1.it.
² Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. Electronic address: lorenzo.filosa@uniroma1.it.
³ Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. Electronic address: cristina.ottaviani@uniroma1.it.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Italy. Electronic address: luca.carnevali@unipr.it.

PMID: 38641018
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2024.112353

Abstract

The link between neuroticism and the various indicators of daily cortisol fluctuations is frequently noted to be inconsistent or lacking in strength. The current study aimed to investigate the predictive capacity of both self-assessment and external evaluations of neuroticism, along with their interaction, on multiple indices of diurnal cortisol variations. This research involved the assessment of neuroticism using self-report and external evaluations among 166 working individuals, coupled with the collection of saliva samples over two consecutive workdays. Employing multilevel response surface analysis, our findings indicated that self-reported neuroticism exhibited a stronger association with cortisol indices compared to external evaluations. Additionally, the level of alignment between self-assessment and external ratings of neuroticism specifically impacted the prediction of estimates of daily cortisol production. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these results.

Keywords: AUCg; CAR; Cortisol; DCS; Neuroticism; Personality traits; Self- and other-report personality assessment congruence.