Personality and mortality in old age.
We examined the relation of personality to mortality in 883 older Catholic clergy members (69% women). At baseline, they completed the NEO Five-Factor Inventory, which assesses the five principal dimensions of personality. They were followed for a mean of 5.1 years, during which 182 deaths occurred. Risk of death was nearly doubled in those with a high neuroticism score (90th percentile) compared with a low score (10th percentile) and was approximately halved in those with a high conscientiousness score compared with a low score. Findings for extraversion were mixed, and neither agreeableness nor openness was strongly related to mortality. The results suggest that personality is associated with mortality in old age.
Wilson
Robert S
RS
Rush Institute for Healthy Aging and Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center, Chicago, Illinois 60612, USA. rwilson@rush.edu
Mendes de Leon
Carlos F
CF
Bienias
Julia L
JL
Evans
Denis A
DA
Bennett
David A
DA
D000368:Aged / Q000523:psychology*; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002410:Catholicism; D002641:Chicago / Q000453:epidemiology; D002977:Clergy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009026:Mortality; D010551:Personality; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012306:Risk