Personality, Aging Self-Perceptions, and Subjective Health: A Mediation Model

Abstract

Since the global item of subjective health has emerged as a strong predictor of important health outcomes such as mortality, there have been many attempts to uncover its correlates. In this study, we tested whether personality as assessed via the five-factor model of personality predicted subjective health when physician-rated health and depression were controlled for. We analyzed a cohort of 362 German community-dwelling 60-year-olds from the first wave of the ongoing Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study on Aging. We found that neuroticism, but none of the other four personality factors, predicted subjective health. However, the association between neuroticism and subjective health was mediated by aging self-stereotypes (attitudes toward oneself as an aging person), which in recent studies have been shown to influence older individuals' health behaviors and functional health. The results indicate that those high in neuroticism tend to have more negative aging self-stereotypes; these aging self-stereotypes, in turn, seem to affect how those individuals globally perceive their own health. Unlike many predictors of subjective health, such as age, gender, socio-cultural differences, actual health, or personality traits, negative attitudes about one's own aging may be modified through adequate intervention.

Personality and personal control make a difference for life satisfaction in the oldest-old: findings in a longitudinal population-based study of individuals 80 and older

“…Neuroticism and extraversion have repeatedly been found to relate to life satisfaction levels (Costa and McCrae 1980;DeNeve and Cooper 1998;Headey and Wearing 1989;Hilleras et al 2001) and change (Mroczek and Spiro 2005), and also to health (Duberstein et al, 2003;Moor et al 2006). …”

Attitude toward own aging in midlife and early old age over a 12-year period: Examination of measurement equivalence and developmental trajectories.

“…Regarding personality, recent studies with related constructs suggest that traits, such as neuroticism and extraversion, play a role in shaping awareness of aging processes, with neuroticism being positively and extraversion be ing negatively related to negatively toned age awareness (Wahl, Konieczny, & Diehl, 2013). Individuals high in neuroticism, those having little optimism, and individuals low in tolerance of ambi guity tend to display more negative ATOA than others (KotterGriihn et al, 2009;Levy, 2008;Moor, Zimprich, Schmitt, & Kliegel, 2006). Beyond personality, psychological resources, such as control beliefs, might be important for preserving positive ATOA when physical functioning declines (Sargent-Cox et al, 2012b).…”

Self-Perception of Aging and Satisfaction With Children’s Support

“…Neuroticism is a fundamental personality dimension that predisposes a person to see things negatively and to experience nega-tive affect (Costa & McCrae, 1985). Not only is neuroti-cism found to be associated with negative self-perception of aging (Jang et al, 2004;Moor, Zimprich, Schmitt, & Kliegel, 2006) but it is also inversely related to the perceived availability of social support (Lewis, Bates, Posthuma, & Polderman, 2014). If the hypothesized relationship between negative self-perception of aging and satisfaction with chil-dren's support is simply driven by a common personality trait, then the interpretations outlined earlier cannot be accepted.…”