Better Safe Than Sorry? Risks and Benefits of Neuroticism in Adolescence

Neuroticism is known for detrimental outcomes, but it may also serve beneficial functions in adolescence, where avoiding and protecting oneself from threats becomes crucial. We examined the potential benefits of neuroticism (fear/frustration) across a wide range of outcomes between ages 11 to 19 (e.g., substance abuse, friend nominations) using two “mirrored” samples of Dutch adolescents followed between ages 11 to 19, one population (n=2229, 51%♀) and one clinic-referred (n=543, 34%♀) cohort. High neuroticism conveyed heightened risk but four key observations refine this picture: (1) higher fear also related to more social skills and prosocial behavior among adolescents in the clinic-referred sample; (2) fear generally related to fewer risks than frustration; (3) controlling for childhood adversity (e.g., low socioeconomic status, parental divorce) removed links between fear and most detrimental outcomes; (4) both fear and frustration were consistently associated with parent-rated social behavior problems, while other associations varied across these two scales and measurement points. Altogether, we provide initial evidence that, under certain conditions, neuroticism can also be beneficial in adolescence. Neuroticism benefits are most likely found among vulnerable individuals and in the social domain.