Aging Anxiety and Personality Traits Among Taiwanese Undergraduates

Abstract

In this study the relationship between anxiety about aging and personality traits in a Taiwanese population was examined. One hundred and seventy-six college students completed the Anxiety About Aging Scale (Lasher & Faulkender, 1993) and the Big Five Inventory, Taiwan version (Chen, 2004). Results showed that personality traits (neuroticism, urgency, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) significantly correlated with overall aging anxiety. The 4 dimensions of anxiety about aging were related differentially to various personality traits.

Five‐Factor Personality Traits and Age Trajectories of Self‐Rated Health: The Role of Question Framing

“…However, regardless of their actual health status, individuals high in N are also prone to evaluate their health more pessimistically (Costa & McCrae, ). In particular, high N is associated with more unfavorable social comparisons (A. Roberts & Good, ; van der Zee, Buunk, & Sanderman, ; van der Zee, Buunk, Sanderman, Botke, & van den Bergh, ; van der Zee, Oldersma, Buunk, & Bos, ) and more pessimistic perceptions of health trajectories over time (Gao, ; Harris & Dollinger, ; Moor et al., ; Quirouette & Pushkar, ). Based on these findings, one would expect that associations of N with SRH operate along both of the pathways outlined above.…”

“…For example, some studies report beneficial effects of E on mortality (Iwasa et al., ) while others do not (Weiss & Costa, ; Wilson et al., ). At the same time, there is good evidence that E promotes favorable social comparisons (Olson & Evans, ; van der Zee et al., ; although see van der Zee et al., ) and more positive expectations about health trajectories (Gao, ; Harris & Dollinger, ). Based on this pattern of findings, one would expect that effects of E on SRH are primarily operating through self‐evaluative pathways.…”

“…These behavioral tendencies are likely to contribute to the well-established link among high C, better objective health, and lower mortality (Friedman, 2000;Kern & Friedman, 2008;O'Cleirigh, Ironson, Weiss, & Costa, 2007;Terracciano, Löckenhoff, Zonderman, et al, 2008;Terracciano et al, 2009). Although there is little evidence for an association of C with social comparative tendencies (van der Zee et al, 1999), C is associated with a sense of achievement and competence (Carver & Connor-Smith, 2010;Lee & Klein, 2002), which may contribute to more positive perceptions of temporal health trajectories among individuals high in C (Gao, 2009;Harris & Dollinger, 2003). Taken together, these results suggest that C affects SRH both through self-evaluative pathways and via its influence on objective health.…”

Aging anxieties and disturbed eating in female students: It’s not all about aging appearance concern

“…This is unsurprising given fear of negative evaluation is fundamental to DE ( Gilbert & Meyer, 2005 ), aging anxiety and psychological maladjustment more generally ( Bellew, Gilbert, Mills, McEwan, & Gale, 2006 ; Lundgren, Anderson, & Thompson, 2004 ). Aging anxiety and DE are themselves linked to maladaptive personality traits ( Allan, Johnson, & Emerson, 2014 ; Cassin & von Ranson, 2005 ; Gao, 2009 ; Garner, 2004 ; Harris & Dollinger, 2003 ; Keel & Forney, 2013 ). This also suggests more general psychological maladjustments related to social appearance and self-esteem could have a role to play in their co-occurrence and qualitative research suggests health professionals delivering interventions enhancing body image view body dissatisfaction as an indicator of “... a greater sense of self-esteem problems that manifests through body image dissatisfaction” ( Moulding & Hepworth, 2001 , p. 313).…”

Factor structure and reliability of the Lasher and Faulkender’s Anxiety about Aging Scale in Mexican adults

“…On the contrary, the Anxiety about Aging Scale (AAS), proposed by Lasher and Faulkender, is a 20-item instrument, based on the sociocultural theory and measures anxiety in the face of aging in a multidimensional way, in addition, it presents adequate psychometric properties, which have been supported by other studies with different populations and cultures, providing evidence for the factor structure of the original version (Gao, 2012;Pakpour et al, 2021); in addition, it has been used in research with a wide range of ages assessing the relationships between aging anxiety, personality traits (extraversion, agreeableness, openness, neuroticism, and conscientiousness), anxiety about death, cultural attitudes, alterations between emotions and beliefs, and age discrimination; which makes it one of the most reliable, widely used and appropriate scales to measure anxiety about aging (Allan et al, 2014;Boswell, 2012;Bugental & Hehman, 2007;Fernández-Jiménez et al, 2020;Gao, 2009;Mcconatha et al, 2003).…”