Association of personality traits with elder self-neglect in a community-dwelling population

Elder self-neglect is an important public health issue. However, little is known about the association between personality traits and risk of elder self-neglect among community-dwelling populations. The objectives of this study are as follows: 1) to examine the association of personality traits with elder self-neglect and 2) to examine the association of personality traits with elder self-neglect severity.

Population-based study conducted from 1993 to 2005 of community-dwelling older adults (N = 9,056) participating in the Chicago Health Aging Project (CHAP). Subsets of the CHAP participants (N = 1,820) were identified for suspected self-neglect by social services agency, which assessed the severity. Personality traits assessed included neuroticism, extraversion, rigidity, and information processing. Logistic and linear regressions were used to assess these associations.

In the bivariate analyses, personality traits (neuroticism, extraversion, information processing, and rigidity) were significantly associated with increased risk of elder self-neglect. However, after adjusting for potential confounders, the above associations were no longer statistically significant. In addition, personality traits were not associated with increased risk of greater self-neglect severity. Furthermore, interaction term analyses of personality traits with health and psychosocial factors were not statistically significant with elder self-neglect outcomes.

Neuroticism, extraversion, rigidity, and information processing were not associated with significantly increased risk of elder self-neglect after consideration of potential confounders.