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Wiley, Journal of Personality, 1(78), p. 179-216, 2010

DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2009.00613.x

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Personality and Health, Subjective Well-Being, and Longevity

Journal article published in 2010 by Howard S. Friedman, Margaret L. Kern ORCID, Chandra A. Reynolds
This paper is available in a repository.
This paper is available in a repository.

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Abstract

Personality traits can be employed to guide understanding of trajectories to health and longevity, but long-term longitudinal study and multifaceted assessment of healthy aging are crucial. Following up on the life span study initiated by Lewis Terman, we assessed 4 validated factors of personality in young adulthood in 1940, constructed a multifactor measure of participants' healthy aging in 1986, and collected death certificates through 2007 (to determine longevity) on a sample of 1,312 Terman participants (732 men). Neuroticism predicted worse physical health and subjective well-being in old age and, for women, higher mortality risk, but for men, neuroticism predicted decreased mortality risk. For both sexes, extraversion predicted old-age social competence, whereas conscientiousness predicted men's old-age productivity. Differential patterns of association between personality traits and healthy aging components are informative about individual personality characteristics and long-term health outcomes.