Psychological Stress as a Mediator in the Relationships Between Personality Characteristics and Eye-Blinking Behavior

TL;DR

This study shows that personality traits like neuroticism and conscientiousness affect blinking behavior through perceived psychological stress.

Contribution

The study is among the first to combine objective blink measurements with subjective stress assessments to explore personality-stress-blink relationships.

Findings

Higher neuroticism correlates with increased perceived stress and blink rate.

Conscientiousness is negatively linked to perceived stress and reduced blinking.

Perceived stress mediates the relationship between personality traits and blinking behavior.

Abstract

This study explores the relationship between personality traits, perceived psychological stress, and blinking behavior. The research is grounded in the Big-Five personality model, particularly focusing on neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness, and their associations with stress responses, and physiological markers such as spontaneous blink rate (SBR). Previous studies suggest that personality influences stress and physiological responses; however, the link to blinking behavior remains underexplored. The study hypothesized that neuroticism is positively associated with blinking variability, mediated by perceived stress, whereas extraversion and conscientiousness demonstrate negative associations. The study included 86 participants (74 females, mean age 21.94 ± 2.51 years, age range 18–31). Blink dynamics, expressed as blinks per minute, were measured during a sustained reading task on a laptop at a distance of 45 cm. Participants completed validated online questionnaires, including the Big-Five Inventory (BFI-2) and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-14). The relationships between blink rate and questionnaire outcomes were examined. Path analysis was used to test the hypothesized direct and indirect effects. Findings indicate that higher neuroticism correlates with increased perceived stress and an increased blink rate, supporting the mediation hypothesis. Additionally, conscientiousness was negatively associated with perceived stress, which in turn was related to reduced blinking. These findings suggest that personality traits influence physiological responses to stress, with potential implications for understanding stress-related behaviors and developing biomarkers for psychological states. This study is among the first to combine both objective and subjective assessments of spontaneous blink rate, providing a novel, multi-level perspective on stress reactivity that integrates behavioral and self-reported indicators. Overall, the study emphasizes the mediating role of perceived stress in linking personality and blinking behavior, thereby offering insights into their physiological and psychological interplay.

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