title: Personality's association with IADLs in community dwelling older adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Extant research has established several predictors of functional ability (FA) in older adults (OAs); however, one factor that has been relatively ignored is personality. Preliminary evidence suggests that openness and agreeableness are associated with instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). However, how personality is related to IADLs remains unclear. We aimed to determine how personality factors predict performance of IADLs, which we hypothesized, was because of executive functioning (EF).
  
  
  METHODS
  To best understand the relationship between personality and IADLs, we recruited and ran 65 independent community dwelling OAs. Bivariate correlations and hierarchical regressions were completed to determine the associations between openness and agreeableness with IADLs. Lastly, mediation analyses were completed to examine our hypothesis that EF would mediate this relationship
  
  
  RESULTS
  Correlation and regression findings support the relationship between openness and IADLs but not agreeableness and IADLs. As hypothesized, the relationship between openness and IADLs was mediated by EF.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We replicated the relationship between openness and IADLs and extend the literature by showing the mechanism of action for this relationship is EF. While our mediation results support this perspective, future research should determine if interventions that increase OAs' EF, in turn, increase or attenuate decline in IADLs over time.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.|Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Antonio Nicolas
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Puente
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Cutter A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Lindbergh
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.|Division of Neuroscience, Biomedical Health Sciences Institute, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.
authors.forename: L Stephen
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001290:Attitude; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D057187:Independent Living / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010551:Personality; D012044:Regression Analysis
keywords: executive functioning; functional ability; older adults; openness; personality