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. 2013 Sep;68(5):739-49.
doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbs117. Epub 2012 Dec 28.

Personality factors in the Long Life Family Study

Stacy L Andersen  1 , Jenny X Sun, Paola Sebastiani, Jaimie Huntly, Jesse D Gass, Lori Feldman, Harold Bae, Lene Christiansen, Thomas T Perls
Affiliations

Personality factors in the Long Life Family Study

Stacy L Andersen et al. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2013 Sep.

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate personality profiles of Long Life Family Study participants relative to population norms and offspring of centenarians from the New England Centenarian Study. METHOD Personality domains of agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, and openness were assessed with the NEO Five-Factor Inventory in 4,937 participants from the Long Life Family Study (mean age 70 years). A linear mixed model of age and gender was implemented adjusting for other covariates.

Results: A significant age trend was found in all five personality domains. On average, the offspring generation of long-lived families scored low in neuroticism, high in extraversion, and within average values for the other three domains. Older participants tended to score higher in neuroticism and lower in the other domains compared with younger participants, but the estimated scores generally remained within average population values. No significant differences were found between long-lived family members and their spouses.

Discussion: Personality factors and more specifically low neuroticism and high extraversion may be important for achieving extreme old age. In addition, personality scores of family members were not significantly different from those of their spouses, suggesting that environmental factors may play a significant role in addition to genetic factors.

Keywords: Centenarian; Longevity; NEO; Neuroticism; Personality..

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Scatter plots of NEO scores in participants of the LLFS. The y-axes report the T-score for the five domains included in the NEO-FFI. The x-axes report the age at the test. The color lines represent the fitted values by gender and field center as explained in the legend. The area between the two red horizontal lines indicates the normal range for T-score values.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Scatter plots of NEO scores (T-score on the y-axis) for the five domains included in the NEO-FFI versus age (x-axis) in participants of the LLFS with ages between 60 and 90 years (left panel) and offspring of the NECS in the same age range (right panel). Coding for the colored lines in the left panel is as in Figure 1. The colored lines in the right panel represent the fitted values by gender in NECS offspring (red = women, green = men). In all plots, the area between the red horizontal lines at 45 and 55 indicates the normal range for T-score values.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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