Personality and Perceived Health in Older Adults: The Five Factor Model in Primary Care
Abstract
Responses to specific questions tapping perceived health are associated with morbidity, mortality, and the use of health services, yet there has been little research on their personality correlates. We examined the associations between Five Factor Model personality traits and responses to four items extracted from the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 in 266 primary care patients who were 65 years of age or older. Multivariate analyses controlling for age, gender, depressive symptoms, and physical disease burden showed that having a higher Neuroticism score was associated with worse perceived health in response to all items except “I am as healthy as anybody I know.” Having a lower Extraversion score was associated with worse perceived health in response to the item “I expect my health to get worse.” We discuss implications for understanding personality influences on morbidity, mortality, and health services utilization.
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Shade, M. Y., Yan, C., Jones, V., & Boron, J. A. B. (2024) · doi:10.2196/preprints.64763
- Authors
- Chapman, B. P., Duberstein, P. R., Sörensen, S., & Lyness, J. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Rochester Medicine (US)
- Corresponding author
- Chapman, Benjamin P.
- Venue
- The Journals of Gerontology: Series B
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2006-11-01
- Volume
- 61
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- P362-P365
- ISSN
- 1079-5014 (ISSN-L)
- 1758-5368
- OpenAlex
- W2155644142
- Cited by
- 58
- References
- 27
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 4
- FWCI
- 3.31
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Journals of Gerontology Series B (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- University of Rochester
- National Institutes of Health (5k07mh001113-05)
- Medical Center, University of Rochester
- National Institute on Aging (K01AG022072, L30 AG031021)
- National Institute of Mental Health (K07MH01113, T32MH073452)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Keywords
- Big Five personality traits, personality traits, health perception, older adults, neuroticism, extraversion, primary care, health-related quality of life, health care utilization, morbidity and mortality
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Attitude to Health, Factor Analysis, Statistical, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Personality Disorders, Primary Health Care, Surveys and Questionnaires
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