Which of the following personality traits are linked to longer life?

By Joene Hendry

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A 50-year long study suggests that men and women who are active, emotionally calm, and organized, may live longer than people with less positive personality traits such as anxiousness, anger, or fearfulness.

Striving for emotional stability and a conscientious and active lifestyle "can reduce health risks, increase life satisfaction, and significantly extend life," Dr. Antonio Terracciano told Reuters Health.

Terracciano, from the National Institute on Aging, a division of the National Institutes of Health, in Baltimore, Maryland, and colleagues assessed personality traits among 2359 generally healthy people who, in 1958, enrolled in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging.

The researchers used these data, collected when participants were between 17 and 98 years old, to assess links between specific personality traits and the lifespan of the 943 participants who died during the 50-year study.

Their findings, published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, show men and women who scored above average in measures of general activity, emotional stability, or conscientiousness lived on average 2 to 3 years longer than those who scored below average.

These findings indicate that people who are more active and energetic, less likely to become angry or anxious (emotionally stable), and are better informed, disciplined, organized, and resourceful (conscientious) tend to live longer.

Among women, higher assertiveness was also linked to lower risk of death.

Links between personality traits and longevity were independent from those of two major health risk factors -- cigarette smoking and obesity -- the researchers report.

Furthermore, among participants who died of cardiovascular diseases, the most significant predictors of death were traits of emotional instability such as anxiousness, depression, vulnerability, and anger. These findings add to the growing body of knowledge that indicates "enduring cognitive, emotional, and behavioral tendencies (personality traits) have significant influence on health and longevity," Terracciano said.

SOURCE: Psychosomatic Medicine, July/August 2008.Copyright © 2008 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.

Why friends are better at predicting how long you’ll live from personality traits.

Men with conscientious personality traits and those who are open to experience live longer, a study finds.

For women, those who are more agreeable and emotionally stable enjoy a longer life.

The kicker is that it’s your friends — not you — who are better at judging these personality traits from the outside.

The results, published in the journal Psychological Science, come from one of the longest studies in history, spanning 75 years (Jackson et al., 2015).

Dr Joshua Jackson, the study’s first author, said:

“You expect your friends to be inclined to see you in a positive manner, but they also are keen observers of the personality traits that could send you to an early grave.”

The researchers used data from research that began in the 1930s, following a group of couples then in their mid-20s.

Almost all were about to be married and tests of their personality traits were conducted on the engaged couples and their friends also reported on the couple’s personalities.

Dr Jackson said:

“Our study shows that people are able to observe and rate a friend’s personality accurately enough to predict early mortality decades down the road.

It suggests that people are able to see important characteristics related to health even when their friends were, for the most part, healthy and many years from death.”

But why is it that friends are better at judging how long we’ll live from personality traits?

Dr Jackson says:

“There are two potential reasons for the superiority of peer ratings over self ratings.

First, friends may see something that you miss; they may have some insight that you do not.

Second, because people have multiple friends, we are able to average the idiosyncrasies of any one friend to obtain a more reliable assessment of personality.

With self reports, people may be biased or miss certain aspects of themselves and we are not able to counteract that because there is only one you, only one self-report.”

Dr Jackson pointed out that the personality traits which predict long life may be different if the study were started again today.

That’s because the personality traits associated with a longer life in the 1930s may reflect out-dated gender roles.

In the 1930s women’s roles in society — often as easy-going, supportive wives — were much more confined.

Nevertheless, the study is a fascinating demonstration of the link between personality and longevity.

Dr Jackson said:

“This is one of the longest studies in psychology.

It shows how important personality is in influencing significant life outcomes like health and demonstrates that information from friends and other observers can play a critical role in understanding a person’s health issues.

For example, it suggests that family members and even physician ratings could be used to personalize medical treatments or identify who is at risk for certain health ailments.”

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