Openness and conscientiousness predict 34-SSweek patterns of Interleukin-6 in older persons
Open accessAbstract
Studies have indicated that personality may be associated with inflammatory markers such as Interleukin (IL)-6. One pathway between personality and IL-6 may be health behaviors and conditions resulting in inflammation, while an alternate pathway involves activation of stress-response systems. In a clinical trial sample of 200 older adults, we examined associations between personality traits at baseline and three measures of IL-6 spanning 34 weeks of follow-up. Results indicate that IL-6 remained very stable over time, and that higher Conscientiousness and Openness were associated with lower IL-6 across the entire 34 week period. Goal striving was the active subcomponent of Conscientiousness, while aesthetic interests was the active subcomponent of Openness in IL-6 associations. Common health behaviors and chronic illness accounted for only a portion of these effects, suggesting that other behavioral and/or physiological processes may also predispose some persons to inflammation. Personality phenotype may provide useful prognostic information for inflammation. Older adults lower in Conscientiousness and Openness constitute a target population for anti-inflammatory interventions. Openness and Conscientiousness predicts 32-week patterns of Interleukin-6 in older persons.
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Neuroticism has been associated with higher levels of inflammatory markers in multiple studies, in addition to several null findings.
“In addition to several null findings (26-28), neuroticism has been associated with higher levels of inflammatory markers in multiple studies (29,30).”
From Socioeconomic Status Interacts with Conscientiousness and Neuroticism to Predict Circulating Concentrations of Inflammatory Markers (2017) · cites this paper as [27]
Higher levels of IL-6 have recently been linked to lower Conscientiousness.
“For instance, higher levels of the inflammatory marker Interleukin (IL)-6 have recently been linked to lower Conscientiousness [65, 66].”
From Personality and Longevity: Knowns, Unknowns, and Implications for Public Health and Personalized Medicine (2011) · cites this paper as [66]
Higher Openness was linked to lower levels of IL-6 in older persons.
“One study found that higher Openness was linked to lower levels of the inflammatory marker Interleukin-6 in older persons [66].”
From Personality and Longevity: Knowns, Unknowns, and Implications for Public Health and Personalized Medicine (2011) · cites this paper as [66]
Subsequent psychometric work identified subscales reflecting specific constituent traits of each of the Big 5 in the NEO-FFI.
“However, in some cases like the NEO-FFI, subsequent psychometric work identified subscales reflecting specific constituent traits of each of the Big 5 [190, 191] useful in health studies [66, 192].”
From Personality and Longevity: Knowns, Unknowns, and Implications for Public Health and Personalized Medicine (2011) · cites this paper as [66]
The increasing inclusion of biomarkers in personality-longevity studies is beginning to illuminate biological pathways such as systemic inflammation and artery calcification.
“Second, the increasing inclusion of biomarkers in personality-longevity studies is beginning to illuminate biological pathways such as systemic inflammation [65, 66, 218, 219] and artery calcification [220, 221]”
From Personality and Longevity: Knowns, Unknowns, and Implications for Public Health and Personalized Medicine (2011) · cites this paper as [66]
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- Authors
- Chapman, B. P., van Wijngaarden, E., Seplaki, C. L., Talbot, N., Duberstein, P., & Moynihan, J.
- Affiliations
- University of Rochester Medicine (US)
- Corresponding author
- Chapman, Benjamin P.
- Venue
- Brain, Behavior, and Immunity
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2011-05
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 667-673
- ISSN
- 0889-1591 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3358819
- OpenAlex
- W2021392550
- Cited by
- 59
- References
- 54
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 6.89
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Brain Behavior and Immunity (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Mentored Research Scientist Development Awards from the National Institute on Aging (R01AG025474, 1R24AG031089)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Biological Psychiatry › Tryptophan and brain disorders
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Keywords
- interleukin-6, personality traits, openness to experience, conscientiousness, older adults, inflammation, goal pursuit, aesthetic interest, health behavior, chronic disease, stress response, anti-inflammatory therapy, longitudinal stability
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Attitude to Health, Behavior, Female, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Personality, Psychophysiology, Reference Values, Temperament, Health Behavior, Interleukin-6, Models, Immunological
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