Personality, Well-Being, and Health*

In the paper

“These different outcomes are usually correlated (and sometimes highly correlated) with each other.”

In the paper

“Across four decades of adulthood in the Terman Life Cycle Study, neuroticism was most predictive of subjective well-being but least predictive of longevity (the most objective measure of health)”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Friedman et al. 2010

In the paper

“Individuals who are conscientious-that is, prudent, dependable, well organized, and persistent-stay healthier, thrive, and live longer.”

In the paper

“The reasons for these associations are complex and sometimes appear paradoxical, as there are multiple simultaneous causal links to health.”

In the paper

“excellent evidence that individual characteristics from earlier in life are reliable predictors and likely causal elements of health later in life”

In the paper

“Screening for prostate cancer with the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) biomarker is probably the most notorious case of causing significant harm to patients”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Welch & Black 2010
• Not checked yetcites Welch et al. 2011

In the paper

“an individual's sense of well-being is fairly stable across time”

In the paper

“niacin improves lipid levels, but taking niacin does not decrease mortality risk”

In the paper

“B vitamins lower homocysteine levels, but B vitamins do not in turn lower disease risk”

In the paper

“An analysis across 142 nations found that positive emotions predict better self-rated health around the world, with positive emotion trumping hunger, shelter, and safety in predictive value”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Pressman et al. 2013

In the paper

“subjective well-being and related concepts such as positive emotions are associated with better self-reported health, lower morbidity, less pain, and longevity”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Chida & Steptoe 2008
• Not checked yetcites Diener & Chan 2011
• Not checked yetcites Howell et al. 2007

In the paper

“this is an empirical question that has not yet been resolved”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Diener & Chan 2011

In the paper

“It is correlated with higher levels of agreeableness, extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness to experience, and with lower levels of neuroticism, depression, and psychoticism.”

In the paper

“in an eight-year study with over 900 individuals, cross-lagged relations between health and life satisfaction found that poor health predicted subsequent life dissatisfaction, but satisfaction did not prospectively predict changes in health”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Gana et al. 2013

In the paper

“subjective well-being or happiness is adaptive in some contexts but maladaptive in others”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Ford & Mauss 2014
• Not checked yetcites Gruber et al. 2011
• Not checked yetcites Hershfield et al. 2013

In the paper

“health is highly complex, and as it turns out, multiple causal processes are simultaneously at work in preserving health or promoting disease, although not in the ways often assumed”

In the paper

“life satisfaction predicts health and longevity, lower suicide risk, college and job retention, and marital success”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Diener et al. 2013

In the paper

“Actions or interventions that improve well-being might indirectly improve a person's physical function but not act directly.”

In the paper

“Optimism can function as a self-regulating mechanism, with optimistic people more likely to persevere and engage toward a goal”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Carver et al. 2010

In the paper

“the mixed findings concerning neuroticism and health are so striking and jumbled as to call into doubt the viability of further simple studies of these relationships”

In the paper

“strong empirical support is currently lacking for sense of meaning as a vital factor in future health”

In the paper

“there is little evidence that optimistic thinking will mobilize an immune system and cause tumors to shrink and increase longevity”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Coyne & Tennen 2010

In the paper

“Having a sense of purpose facilitates active life engagement, goal setting, and goal pursuit”

In the paper

“A study of over 11,000 Germans compared expected and actual life satisfaction across an 11-year period (Lang et al. 2013), finding that many individuals grew more pessimistic about their future satisfaction with increasing age, and this pessimism was associated with lower morbidity and mortality risk.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Lang et al. 2013

In the paper

“personality trajectories and personality interactions with life events also matter, which strongly suggests that a simple neuroticism-to-poor-health model is incomplete”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Chapman et al. 2010
• Not checked yetcites Löckenhoff et al. 2009
• Not checked yetcites Mroczek & Spiro 2007

In the paper

“Although there is no doubt that many diseases are associated with higher levels of anxiety and depression, the causal pathways have never been fully elucidated.”

In the paper

“A recent meta-analysis of mental health treatments (antidepressants and psychotherapies) for improving secondary event risk and depression among patients with coronary heart disease again showed mental health treatments did not reduce total mortality (absolute risk reduction = -0.00),although there was a minor influence on coronary heart disease events”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Rutledge et al. 2013

In the paper

“A Cochrane database review of randomized trials of psychological interventions in adults with coronary heart disease found effects on depression, supporting the success of treating psychological symptoms (Whalley et al. 2011).But there was little evidence that the interventions affected the disease process, with no reduction in the total occurrence of nonfatal infarction or death.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Whalley et al. 2011

In the paper

“In all of these cases, depression and/or anxiety are not only significant correlates of illness but are also significant results of illness or of challenges to homeostasis.”

In the paper

“Psychotherapy or advice to cheer up will not stop the progression of cancer or cardiovascular disease (Coyne & Tennen 2010, Thombs et al. 2013)”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Coyne & Tennen 2010
• Not checked yetcites Thombs et al. 2013

In the paper

“After menopause, not only the odds of heart disease but also the odds of depression for women are significantly increased (Bromberger et al. 2011).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Bromberger et al. 2011

In the paper

“Of course, if an intervention happens to affect the underlying causes of both health and depression for an individual, health will be improved.”

In the paper

“Such disruption is a long-term process that occurs through an interaction of internal and external forces as part of an individual's longterm trajectory, and it cannot be captured in a single measurement or experiment.”

In the paper

“However, when the physiological system is chronically disturbed, resources become depleted and regulatory processes are often affected (Cacioppo & Berntson 2011).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Cacioppo & Berntson 2011

In the paper

“Despite the common perception that very hard workers (workaholics) put their health at risk through nervous tension, work and health are intricately related, often in a positive way.”

In the paper

“Unemployment is a well-established correlate of disability, illness, depression, health care utilization, and mortality risk, often in vicious cycles (Roelfs et al. 2011).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Roelfs et al. 2011

In the paper

“data from the US Panel Study of Income Dynamics showed that job loss predicted increased risk of a new health condition over the next year, with significantly higher risk if no reemployment occurred (Strully 2009).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Strully 2009

In the paper

“And in England during the 2008-2010 recession, suicides and injury rates rose (Barr et al. 2012).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Barr et al. 2012

In the paper

“Outside of the formal work environment, psychological engagement and productivity are again important components of health and successful aging.”

In the paper

“Engaged workers approach their jobs with vigor, interest, and absorption and have enthusiasm both for the task at hand and for the organization as a whole (Lepine et al. 2005, Schaufeli et al. 2006).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Lepine et al. 2005
• Not checked yetcites Schaufeli et al. 2006

In the paper

“About one-third of all crimes happen to the same (repeat) victims, whereas most people face no criminal victimization at all, even after controlling for neighborhood risks (Tseloni 2000, Tseloni & Pease 2003, Tseloni et al. 2004).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Tseloni 2000
• Not checked yetcites Tseloni & Pease 2003
• Not checked yetcites Tseloni et al. 2004

In the paper

“In global areas with high concentrations of centenarians (Buettner 2012), most long-lived individuals have remained physically and socially active, embracing rather than avoiding challenge.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Buettner 2012

In the paper

“has revealed that conscientiousness is a very strong and reliable lifelong predictor of healthy pathways and of health and longevity (Friedman et al. 2013, Goodwin & Friedman 2006, Shanahan et al. 2013).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Friedman et al. 2013
• Not checked yetcites Goodwin & Friedman 2006
• Not checked yetcites Shanahan et al. 2013

In the paper

“As is discussed below, it is not the emotional lability (neuroticism) itself that is crucial, but rather the impulsivity (unconscientiousness).”

In the paper

“Third and relatedly, conscientious individuals are more likely to have more successful, meaningful careers, better educations, and higher incomes, all of which are known to be relevant to health, well-being, and longer life (Hampson et al. 2007, Ozer & Benet-Martinez 2006, Poropat 2009, Roberts et al. 2003).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Hampson et al. 2007
• Not checked yetcites Ozer & Benet-Martinez 2006
• Not checked yetcites Poropat 2009

In the paper

“First, conscientious individuals engage in a variety of important healthier behaviors-for example, they smoke less, eat healthier foods, and wear seat belts (Bogg & Roberts 2004, Lodi-Smith et al. 2010, Sutin et al. 2011).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Bogg & Roberts 2004
• Not checked yetcites Lodi-Smith et al. 2010
• Not checked yetcites Sutin et al. 2011

In the paper

“and in adulthood, conscientious people are more likely to connect with other conscientious people-personally, socially, and at work-and to place themselves in healthier social and physical environments (Hampson 2012).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Hampson 2012

In the paper

“Serotonin levels in the central nervous system are known to have a genetic basis, change with new circumstances, affect personality (including conscientiousness), and work to regulate core bodily functions (including sleep) necessary for good health (Carver et al. 2011, Caspi et al. 2010, Cicchetti et al. 2012; see also M õttus et al. 2013 regarding inflammation).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Carver et al. 2011
• Not checked yetcites Caspi et al. 2010
• Not checked yetcites Cicchetti et al. 2012

In the paper

“Conscientious individuals are more likely to achieve a good education (Poropat 2009), which in turn is helpful in creating more prudent, better-organized, and forward-thinking adults (Vaillant 2012).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Poropat 2009
• Not checked yetcites Vaillant 2012

In the paper

“That is, personality traits, sense of well-being, and many diseases have some genetic or perinatal basis, thus leading to later associations between personality and health that are caused in part by underlying biosocial third variables.”

In the paper

“The individual effect of each behavior is tiny (and hard to document), but taken together and compounded over decades, a substantial effect may emerge.”

In the paper

“A fuller understanding and more comprehensive causal models of personality, health, and well-being would make these sorts of artifacts less likely.”

In the paper

“Although the evidence for widely effective interventions is not yet available, more comprehensive models point toward core patterns that may indeed emerge as efficacious policies in promoting a well-organized, healthy, productive, long life.”

In the paper

“Fuller models of personality and health help clarify causality and offer likely points for successful intervention.”

In the paper

“We have argued that a more complete lifespan perspective (with expanded causal models) reveals that certain common assumptions about health and well-being are untenable and some common interventions are unjustified.”

In the paper

“Analogously, a misinterpretation of the correlations of depression with disease can result in the targeting of the wrong behavioral patterns for intervention.”

In the paper

“Further, the misunderstanding of the role of worrying may lead to minimization of sober, thoughtful, conscientious life patterns now known to be health protective.”

In the paper

“For example, the unconscientious boys in the Terman sample-even though very bright-were more likely to grow up to achieve less education, have unstable marriages, drink and smoke more, and be unsuccessful at work, all of which were relevant to dying at younger ages.”

In the paper

“Fortunately, with the increasing number of long-term data sets, more rigorous information is now emerging (Friedman et al. 2013).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Friedman et al. 2013

In the paper

“Some elements of the pursuit of happiness may very well result in increased health, but oversimplification of the strong correlations between subjective well-being and physical health can lead to the”

In the paper

“Individuals higher on positive emotions, agreeableness, and conscientiousness are much more likely to stay in ongoing studies, thus creating differential attrition and distorting findings (Czajkowski et al. 2009, Friedman 2011b).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Czajkowski et al. 2009
• Not checked yetcites Friedman 2011b

In the paper

“And, the degree and quality of such relations can be changed.”

In the paper

“Further, such approaches often do not consider long-term lifespan trajectories and the understanding of context.”

In the paper

“and a fuller understanding of the causal pathways and how they can be altered holds the promise of significant value to individuals and to society.”

In the paper

“Individual differences earlier in life are reliable predictors and likely causes of well-being and health status later in life”

In the paper

“The problem is that many other approaches to treating depression and subjective well-being likely are not very relevant to health.”

In the paper

“Although physical activity levels (not formal exercise per se) are somewhat stable over time, they too can be modified, and increased activity usually produces beneficial effects (Bouchard et al. 2012, Mutrie & Faulkner 2004, Pedersen & Saltin 2006).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Bouchard et al. 2012 source
• Not checked yetcites Mutrie & Faulkner 2004
• Not checked yetcites Pedersen & Saltin 2006