Early Personality Traits as Predictors of Mortality Risk Following Conjugal Bereavement

ABSTRACT This study explored pre-bereavement personality traits and gender as predictors of post-widowhood mortality risk, using newly derived life span data for participants originally recruited for Lewis Terman's classic study of the gifted. Personality traits measured in 1940 were used to predict mortality risk from 1940 through 2004 for married participants who were either widowed between 1940 and 1986 or who remained married. Results indicated that widowhood predicted a decrease in mortality risk for these (intelligent) individuals (relative hazard [ rh ]=0.68, N =843, p <.001) and neuroticism significantly moderated this effect. Specifically, neuroticism in young adulthood was significantly associated with decreased mortality risk among men who were later widowed ( rh =0.50, N =66, p <.02) but not among women or consistently married men. Conclusions reveal the importance of personality–situation interactions and the adoption of a long-term perspective.     

How do people respond to health news? The role of personality traits

When a patient receives a health diagnosis, their response (e.g. changes in behaviour, seeking support) can have significant consequences for long-term health and well-being. Characteristics of health news are known to influence these responses, but personality traits have been omitted from this line of research. The current study examines the role of personality traits in predicting response to health news. Participants (N = 298) read scenarios in which they received health news that was manipulated to vary in severity, controllability and likelihood of outcomes. Participants then rated how likely they were to engage in a number of response behaviours. We examined the main effects and interaction of situational manipulations and personality traits on ratings of these behaviours. Both situations and personality traits influenced behavioural responses to health events. In particular, conscientiousness predicted taking action and seeking social support. Neuroticism predicted both maladaptive and adaptive behavioural responses, providing support for the ‘healthy neurotic’ hypothesis. Moreover, personality traits predicted best in weak (unlikely, controllable) situations. Both personality traits and situational characteristics contribute to behavioural responses to health news.     

Long-term relations of personality and health: dynamisms, mechanisms, tropisms

There is now little doubt that individuals who are well-adjusted, socially stable, and well-integrated into their communities are at significantly lower risk for disease and premature mortality than those who are more unstable, impulsive, isolated, and alienated. The reasons for these associations, however, are complex and the pathways insufficiently studied. This article employs a life-span data set to explore how childhood personality relates to health-related growth and development (dynamisms), patterns of reactions and health behaviors (mechanisms), and movements toward and away from suitable environments (tropisms). Illustrations from the 7-decade Terman longitudinal data reveal important areas in which previous, cross-sectional research has misinterpreted associations between personality and health. In particular, Sociability has been overrated as a life-span health risk factor, Conscientiousness has been underrated, and Neuroticism has been confused. Without sufficient attention to the processes underlying the associations between personality and health, significant suboptimal allocations of intervention resources result.     

Hostility, anger, aggressiveness, and coronary heart disease: an interpersonal perspective on personality, emotion, and health

The related traits of hostility, anger, and aggressiveness have long been suggested as risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD). Our prior review of this literature (Smith, 1992) found both considerable evidence in support of this hypothesis and important limitations that precluded firm conclusions. In the present review, we discuss recent research on the assessment of these traits, their association with CHD and longevity, and mechanisms possibly underlying the association. In doing so, we illustrate the value of the interpersonal tradition in personality psychology (Sullivan, 1953; Leary, 1957; Carson, 1969; Kiesler, 1996) for not only research on the health consequences of hostility, anger, and aggressiveness, but also for the general study of the effects of emotion, personality and other psychosocial characteristics on physical health.     

Personality change influences mortality in older men

Previous studies have indicated that high neuroticism is associated with early mortality. However, recent work suggests that people's level of neuroticism changes over long periods of time. We hypothesized that such changes in trait neuroticism affect mortality risk. Growth-curve parameters (levels and slopes) that quantified the trajectories of neuroticism change over 12 years were used to predict 18-year risk of mortality among 1,663 aging men. Proportional hazards models were used to estimate mortality risk from level and slope parameters, controlling for objective and subjective health, depression, and age. Although a parallel analysis of extraversion showed no significant effects, level and slope of neuroticism interacted in their effect on mortality. Men who had both a high average level of neuroticism and an increasing level of neuroticism over time had much lower survival than men without that combination. These findings suggest that it is not just the level of personality traits, but their direction of change, that is related to mortality.     

Childhood Psychosocial Predictors of Adulthood Smoking,Alcohol Consumption,and Physical Activity1

This study prospectively addresses whether aspects of the childhood home environment (SES and parental divorce) and personality are predictive of smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical activity in middle adulthood. Subjects were 972 males and females who participated in the Terman Life-Cycle Study. Results of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that childhood unconscientiousness, cheerfulness, and parental divorce predicted adult smoking. Childhood unconscientiousness and sociability predicted adult alcohol consumption. Physical activity was predicted by a higher energy/activity level in childhood. Results suggest that the previously found associations between childhood characteristics and health-related behaviors over shorter periods are not simply reflective of early experimentation with such behaviors, but may be indicative of long-term lifestyle patterns.     

Catostrophizing and Untimely Death

Participants in the Terman Life-Cycle Study completed open-ended questionnaires in 1936 and 1940, and these responses were blindly scored for explanatory style by content analysis. Catastrophizing (attributing bad events to global causes) predicted mortality as of 1991, especially among males, and predicted accidental or violent deaths especially well. These results are the first to show that a dimension of explanatory style is a risk factor for mortality in a large sample of initially healthy individuals, and they imply that one of the mechanisms linking explanatory style and death involves lifestyle.     

Age-related changes in the associations of social network ties with mortality risk

Age-related changes in the associations of social network ties with mortality risk were investigated using data from the Terman Life-Cycle Study (L. M. Terman, 1925; L. M. Terman & M. H. Oden, 1947, 1959). Marital status, number of living children, number of living siblings, and number of group memberships in 1940, 1950, 1960, and 1977 were reported across middle adulthood by 697 men and 544 women, with mortality follow-up as of 1991. Initial analyses confirmed previous work indicating that marital history (men only), number of children (both genders), and organizational memberships (both genders) are predictive of mortality risk. Further analyses compared the associations between these social ties and mortality prior to age 70 and at age 70 and older. Results indicated that for men, experiencing marital dissolution and subsequently remarrying is a stronger predictor of mortality risk prior to age 70 (p = .05), whereas for women, number of children (p < .05) is a stronger predictor of mortality risk after age 70. Implications of these age-related changes in social ties and mortality risk are discussed.     

Compensatory Conscientiousness and Health in Older Couples

ABSTRACT— The present study tested the effect of conscientiousness and neuroticism on health and physical limitations in a representative sample of older couples ( N = 2,203) drawn from the Health and Retirement Study. As in past research, conscientiousness predicted better health and physical functioning, whereas neuroticism predicted worse health and physical functioning. Unique to this study was the finding that conscientiousness demonstrated a compensatory effect, such that husbands' conscientiousness predicted wives' health outcomes above and beyond wives' own personality. The same pattern held true for wives' conscientiousness as a predictor of husbands' health outcomes. Furthermore, conscientiousness and neuroticism acted synergistically, such that people who scored high for both traits were healthier than others. Finally, we found that the combination of high conscientiousness and high neuroticism was also compensatory, such that the wives of men with this combination of personality traits reported better health than other women.     

Conscientiousness, perceived risk, and risk-reduction behaviors: a preliminary study.

Participants (N = 343) from an Oregon community completed surveys at baseline, 3 months, and 12 months to assess personality, the perceived health risk of radon in combination with smoking, and changes in smoking behavior. Conscientiousness predicted instituting a more restrictive household smoking rule (p < .01), and perceived risk predicted reduction in cigarettes smoked per day for men (p < .001). Perceived risk predicted a reduction in the proportion of cigarettes smoked in the home for those who had high (p < .05) but not low or moderate levels of Conscientiousness, a dimension in one personality model. The results demonstrate the importance of Conscientiousness in the prediction of health behavior, particularly behavior that affects others as well as oneself.     

Adaptive and maladaptive personality traits as predictors of violent and nonviolent offending behavior in men and women

The aim of this study was to assess both violent and nonviolent offending behavior in a single, mixed‐sex population. The rationale for this is that the two types of offending are usually researched separately, despite evidence that they overlap. A comprehensive measure of general violence, intimate partner violence (IPV), and nonviolent offending behavior was administered to 116 men and 181 women, together with measures of personality and personality disorder (PD) traits, to investigate whether predictors of violent and nonviolent offending were similar or different for men and women. Men were found to perpetrate higher levels of general violence and nonviolent offenses than women, but women perpetrated significantly more IPV than men. Cluster B PD traits predicted all three offense types for women and also men's general violence and nonviolent offending. Women's general violence and men's non‐violence also had one unique risk factor each, low agreeableness, and low conscientiousness, respectively. The main difference was for IPV, where men's IPV was predicted by cluster A PD traits, indicating that men's and women's risk factors for IPV may be different, although their risk factors for the other offense types were fairly consistent. Aggr. Behav. 36:177–186, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Self-regulation and mortality from cancer, coronary heart disease, and other causes: A prospective study

This article introduces a new personality inventory dealing with self-regulation. This is in some ways the opposite of neuroticism, and measures personal autonomy or independence, particularly as far as emotional dependence is concerned. Our concern was the relation between self-regulation and health, and large samples of healthy men and women were tested and followed up to demonstrate high predictability of mortality from cancer, coronary heart disease and other causes of death from scores on the questionnaire. It was also demonstrated that psychological risk factors were largely independent from physical risk factors, and could be changed by behavioural-cognitive treatment, reducing mortality.     

Narcissism Predicts Heightened Cortisol Reactivity to a Psychosocial Stressor in Men

Narcissists' sensitivity to social evaluation should increase their physiological reactivity to evaluative stressors. However, very few studies have assessed the physiological correlates of narcissism. In this study, participants completed an evaluative laboratory stressor or a non-evaluative control task. Cortisol reactivity-a marker of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis stress response-and negative affect (NA) were higher in the stress versus control condition. However, men showed larger cortisol responses and, among men, higher narcissism scores predicted greater cortisol reactivity and larger increases in NA. Narcissism was unrelated to cortisol reactivity and NA among women and in the control condition. These findings highlight the influence of defensive personality traits on HPA reactivity and suggest a pathway through which narcissistic traits might influence long-term health outcomes.     

Personality and mate poaching experiences

Although previous research suggests Big Five (BF) and Dark Triad (DT) traits (Narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy) are related to mate poaching, no studies have simultaneously examined the effects of both groups of traits on poaching. This study examined BF and DT personality traits, as well as their higher order factors as predictors of mate poaching behaviors in short-term relationships among a sample of 819 university students. Results showed DT better predicted mate poaching experiences than BF traits, though they better predicted poaching success in men. Regarding specific traits, psychopathy from DT, and extraversion from BF, were the most consistent predictors of mate poaching experiences. Considering sex differences, DT better predicted being the target of poaching in women, and being successfully poached in men. There were no consistent sex differences in the effects of BF traits on mate poaching. Generally, personality traits better predicted poaching attempts, poaching success, and being the target of poaching than other poaching experiences. Possible different roles of BF and DT traits for mate poaching experiences in men and women were discussed.     

Do conscientious individuals live longer? A quantitative review

OBJECTIVE: Following up on growing evidence that higher levels of conscientiousness are associated with greater health protection, the authors conducted a meta-analysis of the association between conscientiousness-related traits and longevity. DESIGN: Using a random-effects analysis model, the authors statistically combined 20 independent samples. In addition, the authors used fixed-effects analyses to examine specific facets of conscientiousness and study characteristics as potential moderators of this relationship. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Effect sizes were computed for each individual sample as the correlation coefficient r, based on the relationship between conscientiousness and mortality risk (all-cause mortality risk, longevity, or length of survival). RESULTS: Higher levels of conscientiousness were significantly and positively related to longevity (r = .11, 95% confidence interval = .05-.17). Associations were strongest for the achievement (persistent, industrious) and order (organized, disciplined) facets of conscientiousness. CONCLUSION: Results strongly support the importance of conscientiousness-related traits to health across the life span. Future research and interventions should consider how individual differences in conscientiousness may cause and be shaped by health-relevant biopsychosocial events across many years.     

Forty years on: teachers' assessments of children's personality traits predict self-reported health behaviors and outcomes at midlife.

A life span health-behavior model was investigated in this longitudinal study of personality influences on health. Teachers assessed 963 elementary schoolchildren on traits that formed scales assessing the dimensions of the five-factor (Big Five) model of personality. Smoking, alcohol use, body mass index (BMI), and self-rated health were assessed 40 years later in midlife. Childhood personality traits were significantly associated with all 4 outcomes, and the effects were consistently larger for women than men. For men and women, childhood Conscientiousness was associated with less adult smoking and better adult self-rated health and, for women only, with lower adult BMI. Mediation analyses suggested that the effects of Conscientiousness on self-rated health were partially mediated by smoking and BMI. These findings add to the growing evidence that childhood personality traits predict adult health outcomes and are discussed in terms of future testing of the life span health-behavior model.     

Personality at midlife: stability, intrinsic maturation, and response to life events

Although developmental theories and popular accounts suggest that midlife is a time of turmoil and change, longitudinal studies of personality traits have generally found stability of rank order and little or no change in mean levels. Using data from 2,274 men and women in their 40s retested after 6 to 9 years, the present study examined two hypotheses: (a) that retest correlations should be no higher than about .60 and (b) that there should be small decreases in Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Openness, and small increases in Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. The study also explored the effects of recalled life events on subsequent personality scores. Results did not support the first hypothesis; uncorrected retest correlations uniformly exceeded .60. This was true for all personality traits, including facets of Agreeableness and Conscientiousness not previously included in longitudinal studies. The hypothesized decreases in Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Openness were found, but Conscientiousness showed a small decrease instead of the predicted increase. Life events in general showed very little influence on the levels of personality traits, although some effects were seen for changes in job and marital status that warrant further research.     

Stability and predictive ability of personality traits across 9 years

In the present study, personality traits, as assessed by the Karolinska Scales of Personality (KSP) were found to be stable after 9 years, both with regard to mean level stability (absolute stability) and rank-order stability (relative or differential stability). Moreover, outcome scales were applied measuring either perceptions of satisfaction or scales measuring functioning. Personality scales (from the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire and the KSP) completed in 1986/1987 were associated with measures (completed in 1995/1996) of satisfaction and functioning of family life, emotional and physical health, and work. Specifically, neuroticism-related personality traits predicted a lack of satisfaction with health, but not functional problems due to health. In contrast, neuroticism-related personality traits predicted poor functioning but not satisfaction with family life and work.     

Relationships Among Spirituality, Religious Practices, Personality Factors, and Health for Five Different Faith Traditions

To determine: (1) differences in spirituality, religiosity, personality, and health for different faith traditions; and (2) the relative degree to which demographic, spiritual, religious, and personality variables simultaneously predict health outcomes for different faith traditions. Cross-sectional analysis of 160 individuals from five different faith traditions including Buddhists (40), Catholics (41), Jews (22), Muslims (26), and Protestants (31). Brief multidimensional measure of religiousness/spirituality (BMMRS; Fetzer in Multidimensional measurement of religiousness/spirituality for use in health research, Fetzer Institute, Kalamazoo, 1999); NEO-five factor inventory (NEO-FFI; in Revised NEO personality inventory (NEO PI-R) and the NEO-five factor inventory (NEO-FFI) professional manual, Psychological Assessment Resources, Odessa, Costa and McCrae 1992); Medical outcomes scale-short form (SF-36; in SF-36 physical and mental health summary scores: A user??s manual, The Health Institute, New England Medical Center, Boston, Ware et al. 1994). (1) ANOVAs indicated that there were no significant group differences in health status, but that there were group differences in spirituality and religiosity. (2) Pearson??s correlations for the entire sample indicated that better mental health is significantly related to increased spirituality, increased positive personality traits (i.e., extraversion) and decreased personality traits (i.e., neuroticism and conscientiousness). In addition, spirituality is positively correlated with positive personality traits (i.e., extraversion) and negatively with negative personality traits (i.e., neuroticism). (3) Hierarchical regressions indicated that personality predicted a greater proportion of unique variance in health outcomes than spiritual variables. Different faith traditions have similar health status, but differ in terms of spiritual, religious, and personality factors. For all faith traditions, the presence of positive and absence of negative personality traits are primary predictors of positive health (and primarily mental health). Spiritual variables, other than forgiveness, add little to the prediction of unique variance in physical or mental health after considering personality. Spirituality can be conceptualized as a characterological aspect of personality or a distinct construct, but spiritual interventions should continue to be used in clinical practice and investigated in health research.