title: Personality facets and all-cause mortality among Medicare patients aged 66 to 102 years: a follow-on study of Weiss and Costa (2005).
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate associations between personality facets and survival during an 8-year follow-up.
  
  
  METHODS
  In 597 Medicare recipients (age, 66-102 years) followed up for approximately 8 years, personality domains and facets were assessed using the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R). This study builds on a previous study which used proportional hazards regression to test whether the NEO-PI-R factor and selected facet scores were associated with mortality risk. That study revealed that the neuroticism facet impulsiveness, agreeableness facet straightforwardness, and conscientiousness facet self-discipline were related to lower risk during 4 years of follow-up. We extended the follow-up period by 4 years, examined all 30 facets, and used accelerated failure time modeling as an additional analytic approach. Unlike proportional hazards regression, accelerated failure time modeling permits inferences about the median survival length conferred by predictors. Each facet was tested in a model that included health-related covariates and NEO-PI-R factor scores for dimensions that did not include that facet.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Over the 8-year follow-up period, impulsiveness was not significant, each standard deviation of straightforwardness was associated with an 11% increase in median survival time and, when dichotomized, higher self-discipline was associated with a 34% increase in median survival time. Each standard deviation of altruism, compliance, tender-mindedness, and openness to fantasy was associated with a 9% to 11% increase in median survival time.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  After extending the follow-up period from 4 to 8 years, self-discipline remained a powerful predictor of survival and facets associated with imagination, generosity, and higher-quality interpersonal interactions become increasingly important.
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (P.T.C., I.C.S.), Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina; Department of Psychology (A.W.), School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom; and Departments of Psychiatry and Family Medicine (P.R.D.) and Public Health Sciences and Psychiatry (B.F.), University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York.
authors.forename: Paul T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Weiss
authors.forename: Paul R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Duberstein
authors.forename: Bruce
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Friedman
authors.forename: Ilene C
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: Siegler
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D002423:Cause of Death; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D006278:Medicare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009026:Mortality; D010551:Personality; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014481:United States