A life-span behavioral mechanism relating childhood conscientiousness to adult clinical health

Abstract

Objective: To investigate a life-span health-behavior mechanism relating childhood personality to adult clinical health.

Methods: Childhood Big Five personality traits at mean age 10, adult Big Five personality traits, adult clinically assessed dysregulation at mean age 51 (a summary of dysregulated blood glucose, blood pressure, and lipids), and a retrospective, cumulative measure of life-span health-damaging behavior (lifetime smoking, physical inactivity, and body mass index from age 20) were assessed in the Hawaii Personality and Health Cohort (N = 759). Structural equation modeling was used to test the conceptual model with direct and indirect paths from a childhood Conscientiousness factor to an adult Conscientiousness factor, life-span health-damaging behaviors, educational attainment, adult cognitive ability, and adult clinical health.

Results: For both men and women, childhood Conscientiousness influenced health-damaging behaviors through educational attainment, and life-span health-damaging behaviors predicted dysregulation. Childhood Conscientiousness predicted adult Conscientiousness, which did not predict any other variables in the model. For men, childhood Conscientiousness predicted dysregulation through educational attainment and health-damaging behaviors. For women, childhood Conscientiousness predicted dysregulation through educational attainment and adult cognitive ability.

Conclusions: Assessing cumulative life-span health behaviors is a novel approach to the study of health-behavior mechanisms. Childhood Conscientiousness appears to influence health assessed more than 40 years later through complex processes involving educational attainment, cognitive ability, and the accumulated effects of health behaviors, but not adult Conscientiousness.

Figure 1

Hypothesized initial model from childhood Conscientiousness to dysregulation including indirect paths through lifespan health-damaging behaviors, educational attainment and adult cognitive ability, with lifespan health-damaging behaviors and adult cognitive ability allowed to correlate.

Figure 2

a. Path diagram showing standardized factor loading and regression weights for the trimmed model from men’s childhood Conscientiousness to adult dysregulation (N = 372). Fit statistics for the trimmed model: χ² = 22.83, df = 11, p =.02, RMSEA = .05, 90% CI = .02, .08, CFI =.98; for the initial model: χ² = 19.07, df = 9, p =.02, RMSEA = .06, 90% CI = .02, .09, CFI =.98. b. Path diagram showing standardized factor loading and regression weights for the trimmed model from women’s childhood Conscientiousness to adult dysregulation (N = 387). Fit statistics for the trimmed model: χ² = 26.78, df = 13, p =.01, RMSEA = .05, 90% CI = .02, .08, CFI =.98; for the initial model: χ² = 21.48, df = 9, p =.01, RMSEA = .06, 90% CI = .03, .09, CFI =.98.

Figure 2

a. Path diagram showing standardized factor loading and regression weights for the trimmed model from men’s childhood Conscientiousness to adult dysregulation (N = 372). Fit statistics for the trimmed model: χ² = 22.83, df = 11, p =.02, RMSEA = .05, 90% CI = .02, .08, CFI =.98; for the initial model: χ² = 19.07, df = 9, p =.02, RMSEA = .06, 90% CI = .02, .09, CFI =.98. b. Path diagram showing standardized factor loading and regression weights for the trimmed model from women’s childhood Conscientiousness to adult dysregulation (N = 387). Fit statistics for the trimmed model: χ² = 26.78, df = 13, p =.01, RMSEA = .05, 90% CI = .02, .08, CFI =.98; for the initial model: χ² = 21.48, df = 9, p =.01, RMSEA = .06, 90% CI = .03, .09, CFI =.98.