JScrollPane Weight Shift In GridBagLayout

The problem with this layout has to do with the JScrollPane which is on the third (cell 5) last cell in the grid. When text is appended to the JTextArea within the JScrollPane, the weight of the JScrollPane expands, thus pushing downward the two items in the last two cells. The lowermost cell is a JLabel for status messages. When text is removed from the JTextArea, the JScrollPane once again changes size, and the the components below move upward to fill the space. I am trying to find a way to the keep the lower half of the layout from shifting regardless of how much text is appended to the JTextArea. I have tried setting the JScrollPane with the constant JScrollPane.VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_ALWAYS, but it makes no difference.

this.panel = new GradientPanel(new GridBagLayout());
        GridBagConstraints c = new GridBagConstraints();
        Insets standard = new Insets(0, 0, 20, 0);
        Insets label = new Insets(4, 90, 20, 0);
        Insets box = new Insets(0, 0, 20, 75);

final JPanel actorNamePanel = new JPanel();
        actorNamePanel.setBorder(BorderFactory.createEtchedBorder());
        actorNamePanel.setOpaque(false);
        actorNamePanel.add(this.actorNameLabel);
        
        c.gridheight = 1;
        c.gridwidth = 3;
        c.gridx = 0;
        c.gridy = 0;
        c.insets = new Insets(40, 0, 30, 0);
        c.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
        c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.NORTHWEST;
        this.panel.add(actorNamePanel, c);

c.gridheight = 1;
        c.gridwidth = 2;
        c.gridx = 0;
        c.gridy = 1;
        c.insets = standard;
        c.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
        c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.NORTHWEST;
        this.panel.add(this.birthPlaceBox, c);

c.gridheight = 1;
        c.gridwidth = 1;
        c.gridx = 2;
        c.gridy = 1;
        c.insets = new Insets(0, 10, 20, 0);
        c.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
        c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.NORTHEAST;
        this.panel.add(this.birthplaceLabel, c);

c.gridheight = 1;
        c.gridwidth = 1;
        c.gridx = 0;
        c.gridy = 2;
        c.insets = box;
        c.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
        c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.NORTHWEST;
        this.panel.add(this.birthDayBox, c);

c.gridheight = 1;
        c.gridwidth = 2;
        c.gridx = 0;
        c.gridy = 2;
        c.insets = label;
        c.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
        c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.NORTHWEST;
        this.panel.add(this.birthdayLabel, c);

c.gridheight = 1;
        c.gridwidth = 1;
        c.gridx = 0;
        c.gridy = 3;
        c.insets = standard;
        c.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
        c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.NORTHWEST;
        this.panel.add(this.select_Month, c);

c.gridheight = 1;
        c.gridwidth = 1;
        c.gridx = 1;
        c.gridy = 3;
        c.insets = new Insets(4, 15, 20, 0);
        c.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
        c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.NORTHWEST;
        this.panel.add(this.birthMonthLabel, c);

c.gridheight = 1;
        c.gridwidth = 1;
        c.gridx = 0;
        c.gridy = 4;
        c.insets = box;
        c.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
        c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.NORTHWEST;
        this.panel.add(this.birthYearBox, c);

c.gridheight = 1;
        c.gridwidth = 2;
        c.gridx = 0;
        c.gridy = 4;
        c.insets = label;
        c.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
        c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.NORTHWEST;
        this.panel.add(this.birthyearLabel, c);

c.gridheight = 1;
        c.gridwidth = 3;
        c.gridx = 0;
        c.gridy = 5;
        c.weighty = 1.0;
        c.insets = standard;
        c.fill = GridBagConstraints.BOTH;
        c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.NORTHWEST;
        this.panel.add(this.scrollPane, c);

c.gridheight = 1;
        c.gridwidth = 1;
        c.gridx = 0;
        c.gridy = 6;
        c.fill = GridBagConstraints.NONE;
        c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.NORTHWEST;
        this.panel.add(this.clear, c);

final JPanel bottom = new JPanel();
        bottom.setLayout(new GridLayout(1, 2, 15, 8));
        bottom.setBorder(BorderFactory.createTitledBorder("Finalisation"));
        bottom.setOpaque(false);
        bottom.add(this.accept);
        bottom.add(this.photo);

c.gridheight = 1;
        c.gridwidth = 2;
        c.gridx = 1;
        c.gridy = 6;
        c.fill = GridBagConstraints.NONE;
        c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.NORTHEAST;
        this.panel.add(bottom, c);

c.gridheight = 1;
        c.gridwidth = 3;
        c.gridx = 0;
        c.gridy = 7;
        c.insets = new Insets(0, 0, 20, 0);
        c.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
        c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.NORTHWEST;
        this.panel.add(this.status, c);

this.getContentPane().add(this.panel, BorderLayout.CENTER);

To increase your chances of getting help you should create a SSCCE, that demonstrates the incorrect behaviour.

Look at your gridweighty when adding this.clear, bottom and this.status

Ok Mark, I took your advice and configured the following 2 items as you see below adding the weighty configuration. The JSrollPane no longer resizes when text is appended or removed. Thanks for your advice.