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Annals of Behavioral Medicine
Published in: Annals of Behavioral Medicine 1/2017

Open Access 01-02-2017 | Original Article

Personality and Risk of Frailty: the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

Authors: Catharine R Gale, PhD, René Mõttus, PhD, Ian J Deary, PhD, Cyrus Cooper, DM, Avan Aihie Sayer, PhD

Published in: Annals of Behavioral Medicine | Issue 1/2017

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Abstract

Background

There is evidence that the personality traits conscientiousness, extraversion and neuroticism are associated with health behaviours and with risk of various health outcomes. We hypothesised that people who are lower in conscientiousness or extraversion or higher in neuroticism may be at greater risk of frailty in later life.

Methods

We used general linear models to examine the prospective relation between personality, assessed using the Midlife Development Inventory, and change in frailty, modelled by a frailty index, in 5314 men and women aged 60 to over 90 years from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.

Results

Men and women with higher levels of neuroticism or lower levels of extraversion or conscientiousness had an increased frailty index score at follow-up. After adjustment for potential confounding or mediating variables, including frailty index score at baseline, the frailty index score at follow-up—which potentially ranges from 0 to 1—was higher by 0.035 (95 % confidence interval 0.018, 0.052) for a standard deviation increase in neuroticism and lower by 0.061 (0.031, 0.091) or 0.045 (0.020, 0.071) for a standard deviation increase in extraversion or conscientiousness, respectively. There was some evidence that the association between extraversion and frailty may be due to reverse causation whereby poorer health affected responses to items in the personality inventory.

Conclusions

Higher levels of neuroticism or lower levels of conscientiousness or extraversion may be risk factors for the onset or progression of frailty. Future studies need to replicate these observations in other populations and explore the mechanisms underlying these associations.
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Metadata
Title
Personality and Risk of Frailty: the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing
Authors
Catharine R Gale, PhD
René Mõttus, PhD
Ian J Deary, PhD
Cyrus Cooper, DM
Avan Aihie Sayer, PhD
Publication date
01-02-2017
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Annals of Behavioral Medicine / Issue 1/2017
Print ISSN: 0883-6612
Electronic ISSN: 1532-4796
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-016-9833-5

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