Extensive evidence has been found for the associations between personality traits and health. However, it remains unknown whether the relationships between personality and health show differential ...patterns across different life stages. The current research examined how the associations between the levels of and changes in the Big Five personality traits and different types of health outcomes (self-rated, physical, and physiological health outcomes) differ across ages over the life span (Sample 1, age range: 15-100) and during the aging process (Sample 2, age range: 50-109) in particular. Using data from the two large longitudinal studies-the Household, Income, and Labor Dynamics in Australia Survey and the Health and Retirement Study, we observed three important patterns. First, levels of and changes in personality traits were significantly associated with health across different life phases, and these effects were observed even in very old ages. Second, overall, the prospective relations between personality traits/changes in personality traits and health outcomes increased in strength in middle adulthood and/or early stages of late adulthood; however, the strength of their connections diminished in very old ages. Finally, there were some trait-specific and health outcome-specific patterns in the age-differential associations between personality and health. Findings from the present study contribute to enhancing our understanding of the personality-health link from a developmental perspective and provide critical information for the design and implementation of screening and interventions targeting health promotion.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended behavioral measures to slow the spread of COVID-19, such as social distancing and wearing masks. Although many individuals comply with ...these recommendations, compliance has been far from universal. Identifying predictors of compliance is crucial for improving health behavior messaging and thereby reducing disease spread and fatalities.
We report preregistered analyses from a longitudinal study that investigated personality predictors of compliance with behavioral recommendations in diverse US adults across five waves from March to August 2020 (n = 596) and cross-sectionally in August 2020 (n = 405).
Agreeableness-characterized by compassion-was the most consistent predictor of compliance, above and beyond other traits, and sociodemographic predictors (sample A, β = 0.25; sample B, β = 0.12). The effect of agreeableness was robust across two diverse samples and sensitivity analyses. In addition, openness, conscientiousness, and extraversion were also associated with greater compliance, but effects were less consistent across sensitivity analyses and were smaller in sample A.
Individuals who are less agreeable are at higher risk for noncompliance with behavioral mandates, suggesting that health messaging can be meaningfully improved with approaches that address these individuals in particular. These findings highlight the strong theoretical and practical utility of testing long-standing psychological theories during real-world crises.
The credibility revolution in social science has led to the recommendation and adoption of practices to increase the replicability of scientific findings. Many of the recommended practices, such as ...replication and preregistration, present unique challenges for aging research given its reliance on long-term longitudinal data. In this tutorial, we propose preregistered coordinated data analysis as a promising approach that involves both replication and preregistration, but that overcomes the aforementioned challenges by using existing data. We discuss the benefits of preregistering coordinated data analysis and provide an add-on template to be used in conjunction with existing preregistration templates for preregistering coordinated data analysis.
Further understanding of the associations between personality traits and allostatic load (AL) may be important for predicting, addressing, and optimizing health outcomes. This review synthesized the ...existing literature reporting the association between the Big Five personality traits and AL in adults to identify the generalizability and robustness of relationships, potential mechanisms underlying the associations, and study characteristics that may be contributing to inconsistencies in the field. Published and unpublished empirical reports were included if at least one of the Big Five traits was examined and an AL index was constructed using at least two biomarkers in a sample of adults. The methodological plan and standardized coding guide were pre-registered and reported (https://osf.io/rxw5a). Based on 11 studies that met eligibility, meta-analysis of correlation coefficients indicated a small but significant positive association between neuroticism and AL, and small but significant inverse associations between both conscientiousness and openness with AL. This review identifies strengths and limitations within the field, as well as several avenues for future research.
•Meta-analytic results suggest that individuals higher in conscientiousness are lower in allostatic load (AL).•Meta-analytic results suggest that individuals higher in neuroticism are higher in AL.•Meta-analytic results suggest that individuals higher in openness are lower in AL.•There are extensive between-study differences in AL algorithm computation approaches.•Future research should examine perceived stress as a pathway linking traits and AL.
The goal of this paper was to examine associations between personality traits and resilience to neuropathologic burden.
Using data from the Religious Orders Study and the Rush Memory and Aging ...Project, we identified a total of 1,375 participants with personality, cognitive, and post-mortem neuropathology data. We regressed cognition onto pathology and extracted the residuals as an indicator of cognitive resilience. We then modeled the effect of Big Five personality traits on cognitive resilience, adjusting for demographics, APOE status, medical comorbidities, and cognitive activity. The analytic plan was preregistered prior to data access or analysis, and all scripts and outputs are available online.
Higher neuroticism was associated with greater vulnerability to pathology. Results from exploratory analyses suggest that higher conscientiousness was associated with less cognitive decline relative to the amount of pathology, or greater resilience. Education and cognitive activity did not moderate these associations.
Personality may have a pathoplastic effect on neuropathology, as low neuroticism and high conscientiousness are associated with better function despite neuropathologic burden.
Aging and lifespan development researchers have been fortunate to have public access to many longitudinal datasets. These data are valuable and see high utilization, yet this has a considerable ...downside. Many of these are heavily overused. Overuse of publicly available datasets creates dependency among published research papers giving the false impression of independent contributions to knowledge by reporting the same associations over multiple papers. This is a potentially serious problem in the aging literature given the high use of a relatively small number of well-known studies. Any irregularities or sampling biases in this relatively small number of samples have outsize influence on perceived answers to key aging questions. We detail this problem, focusing on issues of dependency among studies, sampling bias and overfitting, and contradictory estimates of the same effect from the same data in independent publications. We provide solutions, including greater use of data sharing, pre-registrations, holdout samples, split-sample cross-validation, and coordinated analysis. We argue these valuable datasets are public resources that are being diminished by overuse, with parallels in environmental science. Taking a conservation perspective, we hold that these practices (pre-registration, holdout samples) can preserve data resources for future generations of researchers.
Not all older adults with dementia-related neuropathology in their brains experience cognitive decline or impairment. Instead, some people maintain relatively normal cognitive functioning despite ...neuropathologic burden, a phenomenon called cognitive resilience. Using a longitudinal, epidemiological, clinical-pathologic cohort study of older adults in the United States (N = 348), the present research investigated associations between well-being and cognitive resilience. Consistent with preregistered hypotheses, results showed that higher eudaimonic well-being (measured via the Ryff Psychological Well-Being Scale) and higher hedonic well-being (measured via the Satisfaction with Life Scale) were associated with better-than-expected cognitive functioning relative to one’s neuropathological burden (i.e., beta-amyloid, neurofibrillary tangles, Lewy bodies, vascular pathologies, hippocampal sclerosis, and TDP-43). The association of eudaimonic well-being in particular was present above and beyond known cognitive resilience factors (i.e., socioeconomic status, education, cognitive activity, low neuroticism, low depression) and dementia risk factors (i.e., apolipoprotein E ApoE genotype, medical comorbidities). This research highlights the importance of considering eudaimonic well-being in efforts to prevent dementia.
Although personality is relatively stable over time, there are individual differences in the patterns and magnitude of change. There is some evidence that personality change in adulthood is related ...to physical health and longevity. The present study expanded this work to consider whether personality stability or change would be associated with better cognitive functioning, especially in later adulthood.
A total of 4,974 individuals participated in two waves of The Midlife in the United States Study (MIDUS) in 1994-1995 and 2004-2005. Participants completed the MIDUS personality inventory at both times and the Brief Test of Adult Cognition by Telephone cognitive battery at Time 2.
Multiple regression and analysis of covariance analyses showed that, consistent with predictions, individuals remaining stable in openness to experience and neuroticism had faster reaction times and better inductive reasoning than those who changed. Among older adults, those who remained stable or decreased in neuroticism had significantly faster reaction times than those who increased.
As predicted, personality stability on some traits was associated with more adaptive cognitive performance on reasoning and reaction time. Personality is discussed as a possible resource for protecting against or minimizing age-related declines in cognition.
One critical component of individual and public health is healthcare utilization, or the extent to which individuals have routine check-ups, schedule treatments, or use emergency services. However, ...we know little about who uses healthcare services and what types, the conditions that exacerbate utilization, or the factors that explain why people seek out services. The present study fills these gaps in the literature by investigating the role of personality factors in predicting various forms of healthcare utilization, how these associations vary by age, socioeconomic resources, and chronic conditions, as well as one potential psychological mediating mechanism (i.e., sense of control).
We use data from a large longitudinal sample of Americans (N = 7108), with three assessments spanning 20 years. Participants reported on their Big Five personality traits using the Midlife Development Inventory, healthcare utilization across three domains (routine visits, scheduled treatment, urgent care), age, income, insurance, chronic conditions, and sense of control.
Multilevel models showed that people who were more agreeable and neurotic tended to use more healthcare services. Moreover, on occasions when people were more extraverted and open, they tended to use more healthcare services. There were several nuances in personality-healthcare utilization associations depending on the type of healthcare service, age, and socioeconomic resources. Longitudinal mediation analyses demonstrated sense of control as one mechanism linking personality traits to healthcare utilization in the U.S.
We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of interactions between individuals and structural systems for promoting the health of aging U.S. Americans.
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