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Big Five personality traits and allostatic load in midlife
Dinne Skjaerlund Christensen1,2, Trine Flensborg-Madsen1,2, Ellen Garde1,2,3
1a Section of Environmental Health , Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen , Copenhagen , Denmark.
Psychology & Health
|March 26, 2019
Summary
Personality traits like Agreeableness and Conscientiousness are linked to lower allostatic load (AL), a measure of bodily wear and tear, especially in men. These associations persist beyond socio-demographic and health behavior factors.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Gerontology
- Biomedical Science
Background:
- Allostatic load (AL) reflects cumulative physiological wear and tear.
- Big Five personality traits are stable individual differences in behavior, emotion, and cognition.
- Understanding the interplay between personality and health in midlife is crucial for aging research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the associations between Big Five personality traits and midlife allostatic load.
- To explore the moderating roles of sex, socio-demographic factors, and health behaviors in these associations.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional analysis of 5512 participants (aged 49-63 years) from the Copenhagen Aging and Midlife Biobank.
- Allostatic load (AL) was calculated using 14 biomarkers across inflammatory, cardiovascular, and metabolic systems.
- Analyses were stratified by sex due to significant sex × trait interactions.
Main Results:
- Openness and Conscientiousness showed inverse associations with AL in both sexes.
- Extraversion was positively associated with AL in men.
- Agreeableness was inversely associated with AL in men, an association strengthened after accounting for socio-demographic factors and health behaviors.
Conclusions:
- Higher Agreeableness (in men) and Conscientiousness are associated with lower allostatic load, independent of socio-demographic factors and health behaviors.
- The study highlights the importance of considering sex × trait and trait × trait interactions in personality-health research.
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