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Published on: January 24, 2020
Personality and Affect Characteristics Associated With Compensation in Older Adults
Sudev Namboodiri1, Andrew T Weakley1, Danielle Harvey1
1University of California, Davis, USA.
Anger may drive compensation strategies in older adults, while personality traits like neuroticism and openness predict compensation differently across racial groups. These findings inform interventions for maintaining daily function.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Gerontology
Background:
- Compensation strategies can maintain daily functioning and delay dementia onset in older adults.
- Psychological characteristics may influence compensation behaviors and intervention effectiveness.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between personality and affective traits with compensation in cognitively healthy older adults.
- To explore how these associations differ across ethnoracial groups.
Main Methods:
- 126 older adults completed measures of compensation (self- and informant-report), cognition, personality (Big Five), grit, self-efficacy, positive affect, and negative affect (sadness, anger).
- Statistical analyses examined associations between psychological characteristics and compensation, stratified by ethnoracial group.
Main Results:
- Higher anger ratings correlated with self-reported compensation in the overall sample.
- Neuroticism predicted self-reported compensation in non-Hispanic White participants.
- Openness predicted informant-reported compensation in non-White participants.
Conclusions:
- Anger may motivate compensatory actions for perceived or actual cognitive changes.
- Personality traits linked to compensation strategies may differ across diverse ethnoracial backgrounds and reporting perspectives.
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