Chronic psychosocial stressors can also exact a physiological toll on the individual. For example, caregivers of cancer patients show increases in inflammatory markers over time (Rohleder et al. 2009) and chronic interpersonal difficulties are associated with an increased sensitivity to hyperinflammatory responses (Miller et al. 2009). Both high Neuroticism and low Conscientiousness are associated with environmental stressors, such as less successful careers (Judge et al, 1999), the inability to make decisions at work (Sutin & Costa, in press), and lower income (Sutin et al. 2009) and marital adjustment (Bouchard et al. 1999). Over time, such stressors can have deleterious effects on physical health. For these individuals, the social environments in which they function may compound the risk for chronic inflammation.
