Current Psychology https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-02864-y Meta‑mood knowledge moderates the relationship between neuroticism and depression but not between neuroticism and anxiety in a sample of nonclinical adolescents Damla Yildirim1 · Jaume Vives2,3 · Sergi Ballespí1 Accepted: 1 February 2022 © The Author(s) 2022 Abstract Research shows a strong link between neuroticism and internalizing psychopathology, such as depression and anxiety. How- ever, it is unclear to what extent meta-mood knowledge (i.e., attention to emotion and emotional clarity) plays a role as a moderator in this relationship. To investigate this, we collected data on meta-mood knowledge, personality traits, depression, and anxiety in a sample of adolescents (N = 244; 53.7% girls) aged 12 to 18 years (M = 14.6, SD = 1.7) from Catalonia, Spain. Regarding the relationship between neuroticism and depression, results showed that emotional clarity buffered this relationship. Although attention to emotion did not, the joint moderating effect of attention to emotion and emotional clarity was significant. The results on the four different combinations of attention to emotion and emotional clarity showed that the relationship between neuroticism and depression was strongest for high attention and low clarity, less strong for low attention and low clarity, and even lower for high attention and high clarity. And importantly, these similar patterns of association disappeared at low attention and high clarity. In contrast to the relationship between neuroticism and depression, we found no statistically significant moderating effects for the relationship between neuroticism and anxiety. Based on these results, we argue the importance of examining individual differences in emotion-based cognition and understanding when the ben- efits of emotional clarity are associated with fewer disadvantages of excessive attention. These results provide preliminary evidence that the combination of low attention and high clarity may be an adaptive version of emotional self-awareness in relation to neuroticism and depression. Keywords Emotional self-awareness · Neuroticism · Depression · Anxiety · Adolescence Neuroticism and internalizing psychopathology are con- relation to advanced skills such as emotion regulation and sidered inseparable from a certain point of view, and the social communication. It is more likely that emotional self- difficulty of separating the “person” from his “disorder” is awareness is less stable than neuroticism and can be an effec- emphasized (Luyten & Fonagy, 2021). Most importantly, tive therapeutic component for improvement through psy- moderating variables such as emotional self-awareness chotherapy (De Gucht, 2003). Simply because it can serve are addressed in this context as a protective factor and in as a tool for developing the necessary psychological resil- ience mechanisms (Ballespí et al., 2018). In other words, based on a social-communicative approach, the perception * Sergi Ballespí Sergi.Ballespi@uab.cat and understanding of emotions as less stable intrapersonal traits may play a role as a moderating factor in the relation- 1 Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Universitat ship between neuroticism and internalizing psychopathology Autònoma de Barcelona, Despatx B5.158.20 ‑ Edifici such as depression and anxiety. B, Campus de Bellaterra 08193, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain Neuroticism or emotional instability is a higher order per- 2 sonality trait within the Big Five factor model (McCrae & Department of Psychobiology and Methodology of Health Sciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Catalonia, John, 1992). Big Five studies have shown that individuals Spain who score high on the Neuroticism subscale are more prone 3 Sport Research Institute UAB, Universitat Autònoma de to guilt, become easily flustered (especially under stress), Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain have low self-esteem, and feel insecure in relationships with 13 Vol.:(0123456789) Current Psychology others (Caspi et al., 2005; Vazsonyi et al., 2015). Therefore, overwhelmed individuals (e.g., Berenbaum et al., 2012). this personality trait has been found to be strongly associ- For example, this emotion type has been found to be asso- ated with internalizing psychopathology (e.g., Conway et al., ciated with increased somatic complaints (Ballespí et al., 2019; Griffith et al., 2010) and high mental health costs 2019) and higher impairment related to social anxiety (Cuijpers et al., 2010). Furthermore, emotional self-aware- (Ballespí et al., 2021). Accordingly, this implies that high ness has been conceptualized as assessing the processing of attention, if not accompanied by high clarity, may con- emotions in the context of meta-mood experiences (Salovey tribute to the duration of stress triggered by microevents et al., 1995), intrapersonal intelligence (Gardner, 2006), and (Vives et al., 2021). It is therefore not surprising that the certain aspects of mentalizing ability (Luyten et al., 2020). combination of low attention and high clarity, in addition There is growing evidence that emotional self-awareness to improved well-being, has been highlighted as a goal of is a protective factor for various psychopathologies (Resur- interventions for adolescents to achieve better health (De rección et al., 2014). Meanwhile, methodological limitations la Barrera et al., 2021). have been raised as an issue that should be considered in Few studies have also examined the role of emotional future studies. In light of this, in the context of understand- clarity in relation to neuroticism and internalizing psycho- ing emotions and psychopathological conditions, it seems pathology. One study found that not only low but also high more useful to use a dimensional approach to emotional emotional clarity was associated with increased internaliz- self-awareness that includes the dimensions of attention to ing symptomatology. Here, this “high” level was then inter- emotion and emotional clarity, in order to highlight impor- preted in terms of (hyper)awareness of negative emotions tant but less obvious emotional difficulties related to, for and those of anxiety or fear (Park & Naragon-Gainey, 2020). example, subclinical anxiety and depression. In another study, elevated neuroticism and depression were There are research studies that focus on cumulative interpreted in terms of low emotional clarity of negative scores (of perceived emotional intelligence) and find sig- emotions and a knowledge deficit in understanding negative nificant associations with better health (Martins et al., 2010), emotions but not positive emotions (Thompson et al., 2015). well-being (Sánchez-Álvarez et al., 2019), and happiness Thus, there are these fuzzy associations that suggest further (Extremera et al., 2011). However, for the subclinical and studies to examine the role of emotional clarity with the clinical symptoms of depression and anxiety, the results application of a multidimensional view to emotional self- proved to be informative and attracted attention when the awareness to better understand its protective role in the face dimensional approach was used. For example, the emotional of adversity. clarity dimension was found to be negatively associated with In the current study, therefore, we considered a multidi- depression and anxiety, in contrast to the attention to emo- mensional approach to attention to emotion and emotional tion dimension (e.g., Balluerka et al., 2013). In general, the clarity, which also provides the opportunity to capture findings underscore that attention to emotion and emotional emotion-based individual differences in the development of clarity play an active role in emotion regulation processes, internalizing psychopathology. It seems crucial to under- but in different ways, which in turn should be better distin- stand potentially effective resilience mechanisms from a guished when considering psychopathological conditions. transdiagnostic perspective (Ballespí et al., 2018). Given that Moreover, excessive attention to emotions in the con- neuroticism is a common risk factor and a central feature of text of rumination has been interpreted in terms of dys- internalizing psychopathology (Spiroiu, 2018; Wilkinson, functional emotion processing (Gross & John, 2003). In 2009). Specifically, our approach seemed appropriate for contrast, the dimension of emotional clarity, especially examining when and how attention to emotion is less harm- in the face of stressors (e.g., arousal/stress levels), has ful, or when and how emotional clarity can be protective for been described as more stable or homogeneous and associ- highly neurotic individuals. ated with adaptive responses to emotion-evoking stimuli More specifically, in the current study, we aimed to exam- (Boden & Thompson, 2017). This also speaks to the need ine attention to emotion and emotional clarity as moderators for a multidimensional approach to attention to emotion of the relationship between (1) neuroticism and depression and emotional clarity. Crucially, dysfunctional emotion and (2) neuroticism and anxiety. Given the conflicting results processing is likely to be present at the onset of depression on emotional clarity, our approach to testing associations and anxiety, which then likely indicates a failure to use was actually more exploratory. It is also possible that the role self-regulatory strategies or potentially adaptive coping of attention to emotion and emotional clarity in the relation- skills (e.g., acceptance or help-seeking) associated with ship between neuroticism and depression is different from different levels of attention to emotion and emotional clar- that in neuroticism and anxiety, given the role of the arousal ity. There are other research findings in the literature in factor in emotion processing (Deckert et al., 2020). Never- which the combination of high attention and low clarity theless, it seems more plausible that a combination with high has been described as the emotion type of emotionally attention would be associated with increased depression and 13 Current Psychology anxiety. In contrast, a combination with high clarity would to 0.90. In the current study, Cronbach’s alpha was 0.90 for tend to be associated with less depression and anxiety. the Attention to Emotion subscale and 0.92 for the Emo- Finally, adolescence is an important period for emotional tional Clarity subscale. development, characterized by high emotional intensity and Beck’s Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) (Beck et al., associated with a high prevalence of anxiety and depres- 1996; Spanish adaptation: Sanz et al., 2003). The BDI-II sive symptoms (Bailen et al., 2019). It is also a period for consists of twenty-one items related to emotions, behavio- the development of more complex and abstract metacog- ral changes, and somatic symptoms, including symptoms nitive skills (Brizio et al., 2015). Therefore, an advanced such as “feelings of sadness,“ “suicidal thoughts,“ “sleep understanding of emotional competence in the context of patterns,“ and “changes in appetite.“ Participants indicated developmental psychopathology could help prevent more the extent to which they agreed with each item on a 4-point severe consequences in adulthood, which could have impli- scale. The reliability of the original version of the adapted cations for the overall impact of neuroticism on mental scale was 0.87. In the current study, Cronbach’s alpha was health. For this reason, the current study relied on a sample 0.90. of adolescents. Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC) (March et al., 1999; García-Villamisar et al., 2002). The total score of MASC consists of thirty-nine items and includes Method four dimensions of anxiety: physical symptoms, social anxi- ety, harm/avoidance, separation anxiety. We asked partici- Participants pants to rate how well each item described them on a 4-point scale ranging from 0 (never true) to 3 (often true). The reli- The current study sample included 244 adolescents (Mage ability of the original version of the adapted scale was 0.90. = 14.6, SD = 1.7; 53.7% girls) from the general popula- In the present study, the Cronbach’s alpha was 0.88. tion who agreed to participate in the study. We recruited participants who were active students at the time of data Procedure collection. The inclusion criterion was an age between 12 and 18 years, and the exclusion criterion was a severe men- The present study was conducted within the framework tal illness such as psychosis, autism spectrum disorder, or of the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Ethics intellectual disability. All this information was collected in Committee of the University (CEEAH 2603, Spain). For the a short questionnaire, and then we proceeded only with eli- project entitled “Personality, Psychopathology, and Coping gible participants. Strategies in Adolescence,“ we obtained written informed consent from the participants. Prior to data collection, we Instruments distributed an invitation letter to the selected schools. We invited ten schools with similar characteristics to participate Big Five Inventory (BFI) (John & Srivastava, 1999; Span- in the current project based on their proximity to the research ish adaptation: Benet-Martínez & John, 1998). This instru- center to facilitate coordination. Five schools agreed to par- ment included forty-four items. In the present study, only ticipate in the current study. Later, the adolescents, parents, the eight items related to neuroticism were used (e.g., “I see and their teachers received sealed envelopes containing the myself as someone who gets nervous easily”; “I see myself questionnaires and an alphanumeric code that encoded their as someone who can be moody”). Participants responded identities. As soon as the deadline for returning the question- on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 naires expired or necessary information was missing, we (strongly agree). The reliability of the original version of the contacted them with the given code. Data collection took adapted scale was 0.80. In the present study, the Cronbach’s place over the course of five weeks. In the present study, we alpha for the neuroticism subscale was 0.77. used only the data that included attention to emotion, emo- Trait Meta-Mood Scale (TMMS) (Salovey et al., 1995; tional clarity, neuroticism, depression, and anxiety. Spanish adaptation: Fernandez-Berrocal et al., 2004). This instrument included twenty-four items. In the current Data Analysis study, we used only the following two subscales: Attention to Emotion (e.g., “I pay a lot of attention to how I feel”) We examined the two dimensions of meta-mood knowledge, and Emotional Clarity (e.g., “I am usually very aware of focusing on the relationship between neuroticism and inter- my feelings”), with each subscale comprising eight items. nalizing psychopathology (depression, anxiety). As a first Participants responded on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 step, we assessed the data using tests of the assumptions of (“strongly disagree”) to 5 (“strongly agree”). The reliability linear regression-based moderation analysis. We proceeded of the original version of the adapted scale ranged from 0.86 with regression-based moderation analysis after confirming 13 Current Psychology that the data met the assumptions of normality, linearity, and and depression (b = -0.22, p = .008, CI [-0.38, -0.06]), but multicollinearity. attention to emotion did not (b = 0.11, p = .167, CI [-0.05, Moderation analysis was conducted separately for the 0.28]). There was a statistically significant moderating effect relationship between (1) neuroticism and depression; (2) of emotional clarity, so in a further step we assessed the neuroticism and anxiety using PROCESS Version 3.5 joint effects of two moderators (i.e., attention to emotion and (Model 2) (Hayes, 2013). In the model that tested neu- emotional clarity). The joint moderating effect was statisti- roticism and depression, we used attention to emotion and cally significant (F (2, 234) = 4.41, p = .013, ΔR2 = 0.021). emotional clarity as moderators, while socioeconomic sta- Here, the relationship between neuroticism and depression tus (SES), gender, age, and anxiety variables were included was not statistically significant only for the combination of as covariates. Later, in the model that tested anxiety, we low attention and high clarity (b = 0.67, p = .545). However, adjusted the same analysis by replacing depression with it was significant for the combination of high attention and anxiety. low clarity (b = 5.90, p <.001); low attention and low clar- As recommended by Hayes (2013), we further evaluated ity (b = 4.18, p = .001); high attention and high clarity (b = the statistically significant interaction effects by plotting the 2.39, p = .031) (see Table 2; Fig. 1). simple regression lines for low (16th) and high (84th) val- ues of the moderating variables (attention to emotion and Neuroticism and Anxiety emotional clarity). All statistical analyzes were performed using IBM Statistics Package for Social Science (SPSS), The overall model explained significant variance in anxiety version 27. Statistical significance of results was set at the (F (9, 234) = 12.40, p < .001. R2 = 0.323). However, neither alpha level of 0.05. emotional attention, b = -0.06, p = .721, CI [-0.38, 0.26] nor We performed a sensitivity analysis using G*Power 3.1 emotional clarity, b = 0.04, p = .792, CI [-0.28, 0.37] was (Faul et al., 2009) for a regression analysis with 244 par- ticipants and seven predictors (one exposure, two modera- tors, four covariates). The smallest sample size needed was 236 for 80% power (alpha = 0.05) to achieve effect sizes of Table 2  Moderating effects of attention to emotion and emotional 0.04 (Cohen’s f 2), which is between small (f 2 ≥ 0.02) and clarity in neuroticism and depression medium (f2 ≥ 0.15) effect sizes (Cohen, 1988). b p 95% CIs High EA - low EC 5.90 p < .001 [3.51, 8.30] Results Low EA - low EC 4.18 p < .001 [1.84, 6.52] High EA - high EC 2.39 p = .031 [0.22, 4.57] The results of descriptive statistics (means, standard devia- Low EA - high EC 0.67 p = .545 [-1.51, 2.85] tions) and Pearson correlation coefficients between the vari- N = 244. EA = Attention to emotion EC = Emotional Clarity ables can be found in Table 1. Regression coefficients (b), p values (p), and 95% confidence inter- vals (95% CIs) Neuroticism and depression The overall model explained significant variance in depres- 18 sion (F (9, 234) = 19.74, p <.001, R2 = 0.432). Emotional 16 clarity moderated the relationship between neuroticism 14 12 10 Table 1  Pearson correlation coefficients and descriptive statistics 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 4 1. Neuroticism - 2 2. Attention 0.282** - 0 Low Neuroticism Average Neuroticism High Neuroticism 3. Clarity -0.307** 0.198** - Low EA Low EC High EA Low EC 4. Depression 0.481** 0.298** -0.355** - Low EA High EC High EA High EC 5. Anxiety 0.387** 0.332** -0.198** 0.432** - Mean 2.83 22.79 24.88 8.97 42.13 SD 0.68 6.98 7.25 8.39 15.08 Fig. 1  Interaction plot showing the moderating effects of attention to emotion and emotional clarity in the relationship between neuroti- N = 244. ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (two-tailed) cism (x-axis) and depression (y-axis) 13 Current Psychology a significant moderator of the relationship between neuroti- From this perspective, other combinations do not appear cism and anxiety. to be beneficial, particularly the combination of high atten- tion and low clarity, which has been associated with the highest scores for depression. This is consistent with pre- vious research in which this negative imbalance (i.e., high Discussion attention and low clarity) has been described as that of indi- viduals overwhelmed by excessive attention to (negative) The results of the current study answer the question about emotions (e.g., Berenbaum et al., 2012). Therefore, we found the moderating role of attention to emotion and emotional the results of the current study helpful as they suggest ways clarity in the relationship between (1) neuroticism and to understand psychological resilience mechanisms consid- depression; (2) neuroticism and anxiety. For depression, the ering emotion-based individual differences and in relation results showed that emotional clarity moderated the relation- to the risk of exhibiting exacerbated symptoms. ship between neuroticism and depression, but attention to As mentioned earlier, personality and psychopathol- emotion did not. And interestingly, for anxiety, there was ogy are difficult to separate in some respects. Therefore, no statistically significant moderating effect of these two the results of the current study also suggest that different dimensions. These different results for depression and anxi- approaches should be applicable depending on the context ety are somewhat consistent with previous research studies. (i.e., a person-centered approach and a disorder-centered For example, when examining different components of rumi- approach) (Luyten & Fonagy, 2021). Similarly, in the rela- nation, it was found that only rumination related to sadness tionship between neuroticism and depression, it seems was associated with neuroticism and, at a subclinical level, crucial to consider common features (e.g., guilt, low self- with symptoms of depression but not anxiety (Roelofs et al., esteem) and distinguish them from unique features (e.g., 2008). high arousal). Based on the statistically significant moderating effect Regarding the relationship between neuroticism and anxi- of emotional clarity on the relationship between neuroti- ety, although there were no statistically significant moderat- cism and depression, we had found four patterns of associa- ing effects, the results were informative and argued for the tion suggestive of composite outcomes. The combination of need for a dimensional view of the anxiety spectrum. For high attention and low clarity was positively associated with example, in a study of social anxiety, the moderating role of the strongest relationship between neuroticism and depres- emotional clarity was found to be statistically significant and sion. The combination of high attention and high clarity thus protective against elevated symptom scores (Ballespí was also positively associated, but the detrimental effect et al., 2021). Indeed, our findings may also point to the need was less strong compared to two other combinations (i.e., to identify other temperamental factors (e.g., adaptability, high attention and low clarity; low attention and low clar- activity level, or sensitivity) and examine how they play a ity). These results are consistent with other research showing role in this context, one might think. the detrimental effect of the attention dimension on psycho- It is noteworthy that in the present study neuroticism and pathological conditions (Ballespí et al., 2019, 2021; Boden the dimensions of meta-mood knowledge were measured as & Thompson, 2017). dispositional traits, whereas anxiety was measured as a state. The significant moderating effect of emotional clarity It is advisable to use different methodological approaches may indeed suggest that the protective role of this dimen- when considering the stability of personality traits and psy- sion should be maintained in adolescents with high neuroti- chopathological states and in relation to changes in a per- cism, as the detrimental effect of the attention dimension son’s life situation (e.g., Rhee et al., 2020). This is because was less pronounced when low attention and high clarity personality traits are context-dependent and can be recipro- were combined. Remarkably, high emotional clarity is also cally influenced by psychopathological states. interpreted as “not beneficial” in high neuroticism (e.g., Also, because neuroticism is a tendency to be emotion- Park & Naragon-Gainey, 2020). However, after evaluating ally unstable and to experience negative emotions due to a four types of emotional states, it seems more plausible to low tolerance for unexpected or unpleasant situations. In the consider emotional clarity as less protective but still ben- context of anxiety, this may indicate the likelihood of dys- eficial to some extent. Moreover, our results may suggest functional emotion processing in the initial ‘identification that an emotional state with low attention and high clarity is phase’ of emotion regulation (Hughes et al., 2020). It may beneficial, as it seems to be associated with a lower risk of also indicate the intensity of negative emotions or higher depressive symptoms. Therefore, this emotional state may be levels of arousal blocking emotion processing (Deckert considered a positive imbalance that is more related to better et al., 2020). In the context of depression, this may be more functioning of the self (i.e., self-regulation, self-reflection, indicative of the adoption of maladaptive coping strategies or self-mentalization). (e.g., ruminating about sad emotions) that are characteristic 13 Current Psychology of depressive symptomatology and associated with high neu- here (Fig. 1) that the relationship between neuroticism roticism (Roelofs et al., 2008). and depression changes as a function of different levels Nevertheless, the results of the current study suggest of attention to emotion and emotional clarity. Our results the possibility of investigating the protective role of emo- therefore allow us to contribute to the existing body of tional self-awareness as an important therapeutic tool in the knowledge by showing when and how emotional self- treatment of anxiety. Although this was not the case in the awareness can buffer the relationship between neuroticism current study, the literature related to adolescent anxiety and depression. Indeed, the way emotional clarity works supports the positive value of emotional clarity (i.e., notic- proves that attention to emotions is beneficial through ing, understanding, and naming emotions) as a therapeutic emotional clarity. Thus, the combination of low attention component for alleviating related psychological problems and high clarity may be an adaptive form of emotional (Davis et al., 2019). In light of this, our findings on anxiety self-awareness. may underscore the importance of emotional skills training Moreover, our approach to emotional self-awareness after accounting for high emotional arousal. Alternatively, might be a good antidote to understanding the role of emo- if necessary, focusing on neuroticism rather than anxiety tional self-awareness when the focus is on neuroticism and could be a way to better understand the role of emotional internalizing psychopathology. In general, there are difficul- self-awareness. ties regarding methodological limitations in assessing emo- Given the findings of the previous (e.g., Roelofs et al., tional competencies (Resurrección et al., 2014). Therefore, 2008) and current study, mental health providers, clinicians, the current findings may contribute to existing knowledge and teachers might consider providing the necessary train- and open new avenues to consider the interplay between the ing on metacognitive beliefs to promote positive emotions two key dimensions, with the possibility of incorporating and meet the needs of severely neurotic individuals. Thus, them into research on neuroticism and internalizing psycho- it seems essential to tailor interventions to emotion-based pathology, as was attempted in the current study. Although individual differences in the relationship between neuroti- high neuroticism scores may indicate difficulties in emotion cism and depression or neuroticism and anxiety. Moreover, regulation, the role of emotional self-awareness may help the use of comprehensive assessment tools could certainly clarify pathways leading to internalizing psychopathology contribute to a better understanding of dysfunctional emo- by accounting for emotion-based individual differences. tion processing. In other words, the tendency to pay exces- In summary, it is important to understand how personality sive attention to negative emotions might indicate other manifests itself in psychopathology, and we have attempted underlying problems associated with low emotional clarity to do this by examining the general question of under what (e.g., lack of self-confidence) and high emotional clarity circumstances and for whom what level of attention to emo- (e.g., avoidance). tion and emotional clarity is beneficial or detrimental. It The current study also has limitations. First, because of should be noted that the processing of emotions in high neu- the cross-sectional design, we could not test whether there roticism is admittedly complex and multidetermined, requir- was a cause-and-effect relationship. That is, our data sug- ing a person-centered approach and adaptations (Luyten & gest that neuroticism, attention to emotion, emotional clarity, Fonagy, 2021). Thus, we recognize that by examining emo- depression, and anxiety are systematically related. Indeed, tion-based individual differences in emotional self-aware- these preliminary findings could be of greater use if future ness, we can only highlight the specific needs of severely research is replicated using a longitudinal study design. This neurotic individuals in terms of poor regulation of negative could also help confirm whether there are mediating effects, emotions. However, there is now this evidence of emotion- for example. Second, we selected a sample of adolescents based individual differences in the relationship between neu- for the reasons stated in the introduction, so our results are roticism and depression that highlights unique patterns of limited to the adolescent population. The results could have associations. The next challenge may be to apply this multi- further implications for research and the clinical setting if dimensional approach in practice, given the need to develop future research replicates this study considering other age adaptive emotion regulation strategies that would contribute groups, study designs (e.g., longitudinal studies, experimen- to better social interactions, better health, and lower risk for tal studies), countries from multiple continents, and consid- clinical depression and anxiety disorders. ering other life-limiting conditions. Despite the above limitations, this study contributes Acknowledgements We thank the reviewers for their help in improving earlier version(s) of the manuscript. to the knowledge of the relationship between neuroti- cism and internalizing psychopathology. Specifically, we Author Contributions Damla Yildirim: conceptualization and study have shown that emotional clarity plays a leading role in design; statistical analysis and visualization, interpretation of data, the relationship between neuroticism and depression, but writing - writing the original draft, critical revision of the manuscript not between neuroticism and anxiety. We have illustrated and editing. 13 Current Psychology Jaume Vives: conceptualization and study design; data validation adolescents from the general population. Frontiers in Psychology, and accuracy of data analysis. Reviewed and approved the final manu- 12(November), 1–15. https://​doi.​org/​10.​3389/​fpsyg.​2021.​721584 script and the decision to submit it for publication. Balluerka, N., Aritzeta, A., Gorostiaga, A., Gartzia, L., & Soroa, G. Sergi Ballespí: conceptualization and study design, this author had (2013). Emotional intelligence and depressed mood in adoles- full access to the data used in the current study. Reviewed and approved cence: A multilevel approach. International Journal of Clinical the final manuscript and the decision to submit it for publication. and Health Psychology, 13(2), 110–117. https://​doi.​org/​10.​1016/​ S1697-​2600(13)​70014-0 Funding Open Access Funding provided by Universitat Autonoma de Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., & Brown, G. K. (1996). Manual for the Beck Barcelona. This work was supported by the National Plan for Research depression inventory-II. Psychological Corporation. and Development of the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Benet-Martínez, V., & John, O. P. (1998). Los Cinco Grandes Across Universities (grant numbers PSI2014-56303-REDT, and PGC2018- Cultures and Ethnic Groups: Multitrait multimethod analyses of 100675-B-I00), and the Support to Research Groups (grant number the big five in Spanish and English. Journal of Personality and 2014SGR1070). Social Psychology, 75(3), 729–750. https://d​ oi.o​ rg/1​ 0.1​ 037/0​ 022-​ 3514.​75.3.​729 Berenbaum, H., Bredemeier, K., Thompson, R. J., & Boden, M. T. Data Availability The datasets generated during and/or analyzed dur- (2012). Worry, anhedonic depression, and emotional styles. ing the current study are available from the corresponding author on Cognitive Therapy and Research, 36(1), 72–80. https://​doi.​org/​ reasonable request. 10.​1007/​s10608-​010-​9329-8 Boden, M. T., & Thompson, R. J. (2017). Meta-analysis of the asso- Declarations ciation between emotional clarity and attention to emotions. Emotion Review, 9(1), 79–85. https://​doi.​org/​10.​1177/​17540​ Ethical approval Institutional Review Conducted By The Ethics Com- 73915​610640 mittee of the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain. The study Brizio, A., Gabbatore, I., Tirassa, M., & Bosco, F. M. (2015). “No complies with the ethical standards according to the Declaration of more a child, not yet an adult”: Studying social cognition in ado- Helsinki and was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Universitat lescence. Frontiers in Psychology, 6(AUG), 1–12. https://​doi.​org/​ Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain. 10.​3389/​fpsyg.​2015.​01011 Caspi, A., Roberts, B. W., & Shiner, R. L. (2005). Personality devel- Protocol Number CEEAH 2603 (Spain). opment: Stability and change. Annual Review of Psychology, 56, 453–484. https://​doi.​org/​10.​1146/​annur​ev.​psych.​55.​090902.​ Competing Interest None. 141913 Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. In Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences (2nd Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attri- ed.). Routledge. https://​doi.​org/​10.​4324/​97802​03771​587 bution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adapta- Conway, C. C., Li, Y. I., & Starr, L. R. (2019). 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