Pessimistic, Anxious, and Depressive Personality Traits Predict All-Cause Mortality: The Mayo Clinic Cohort Study of Personality and Aging
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Objective: To study the association between several personality traits and all-cause mortality. Methods: We established a historical cohort of 7216 subjects who completed the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) for research at the Mayo Clinic from 1962 to 1965, and who resided within a 120-mile radius centered in Rochester, MN. A total of 7080 subjects (98.1%) were followed over four decades either actively (via a direct or proxy telephone interview) or passively (via review of medical records or by obtaining their death certificates). We examined the association of pessimistic, anxious, and depressive personality traits (as measured using MMPI scales) with all-cause mortality. Results: A total of 4634 subjects (65.5%) died during follow-up. Pessimistic, anxious, and depressive personality traits were associated with increased all-cause mortality in both men and women. In addition, we observed a linear trend of increasing risk from the first to the fourth quartile for all three scales. Results were similar in additional analyses considering the personality scores as continuous variables, in analyses combining the three personality traits into a composite neuroticism score, and in several sets of sensitivity analyses. These associations remained significant even when personality was measured early in life (ages 20–39 years). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that personality traits related to neuroticism are associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality even when they are measured early in life. CES-D = Center for Epidemiologic Studies—Depression; CI = confidence interval; EPI = Eysenck Personality Inventory; HADS = Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; HR = hazard ratio; IQR = interquartile range; MMPI = Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory; NEO-FFI = NEO Five-Factor Inventory; NEO-PI-R = Revised NEO Personality Inventory; SD = standard deviation.
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Optimism is associated with lower risk of all-cause mortality over 40 years in college freshman.
“Optimism is associated with lower risk of all-cause mortality over 40 years in both college freshman [95, 96]”
From Personality and Longevity: Knowns, Unknowns, and Implications for Public Health and Personalized Medicine (2011) · cites this paper as [95]
Optimism is associated with lower risk of all-cause mortality over 40 years in community midlife samples.
“and over 30 [97] and 40 [96] years in community midlife samples.”
From Personality and Longevity: Knowns, Unknowns, and Implications for Public Health and Personalized Medicine (2011) · cites this paper as [96]
Optimism is associated with lower risk of all-cause mortality over 40 years in college freshman.
“Optimism is associated with lower risk of all-cause mortality over 40 years in both college freshman [95, 96]”
From Personality and Longevity: Knowns, Unknowns, and Implications for Public Health and Personalized Medicine (2011) · cites this paper as [96]
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- Authors
- Grossardt, B. R., Bower, J. H., Geda, Y. E., Colligan, R. C., & Rocca, W. A.
- Affiliations
- National Institutes of Health (US)
- Corresponding author
- Rocca, Walter A.
- Venue
- Psychosomatic Medicine
- Published
- 2009-06
- Volume
- 71
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 491-500
- ISSN
- 0033-3174 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3087200
- OpenAlex
- W2018586241
- Cited by
- 121
- References
- 48
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 45 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 20
- FWCI
- 12.05
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Psychosomatic Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (K01MH068351)
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (R01NS033978)
- National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (R01AR030582)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Cardiac Health and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- personality traits, pessimism, anxiety, depression, all-cause mortality, neuroticism, MMPI, aging, mortality risk
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aging, Anxiety, Cause of Death, Depression, Female, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, MMPI, Neurotic Disorders, Personality Disorders, Personality Inventory, Risk Factors, Sensitivity and Specificity, Cohort Studies, Dysthymic Disorder
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