Personality, Health, and Brain Integrity: The Lothian Birth Cohort Study 1936

Tom Booth*, Rene Mõttus, Janie Corley, Alan J Gow, Ross D Henderson, Susana Munoz-Maniega, Catherine Murray, Natalie A Royle, Emma Sprooten, Maria C Valdés Hernández, Mark E Bastin, Lars Penke, John M Starr, Joanna M Wardlaw, Ian J Deary

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Objective: To explore associations between the 5-factor model (FFM; neuroticism, extraversion, openness/intellect, agreeableness, and conscientiousness), personality traits, and measures of whole-brain integrity in a large sample of older people, and to test whether these associations are mediated by health-related behaviors. Method: Participants from the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 completed the International Personality Item Pool measure, a 5-factor public-domain personality measure (http://ipip.ori.org), and underwent a structural magnetic resonance brain scan at the mean age of 73 years, yielding 3 measures of whole brain integrity: average white matter fractional anisotropy (FA), brain-tissue loss, and white matter hyperintensities (N = 529 to 565). Correlational and mediation analyses were used to test the potential mediating effects of health-related behaviors on the associations between personality and integrity. Results: Lower conscientiousness was consistently associated with brain-tissue loss (β = -0.11, p
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1477-1486
Number of pages10
JournalHealth Psychology
Volume33
Issue number12
Early online date18 Nov 2013
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2014

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • five-factor model
  • brain volume
  • white matter hyperintensities
  • fractional anisotropy
  • health behaviors
  • BODY-MASS INDEX
  • WHITE-MATTER INTEGRITY
  • 6-YEAR FOLLOW-UP
  • ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE
  • PHYSICAL-ACTIVITY
  • OLDER-ADULTS
  • AGE
  • TRAITS
  • SAMPLE
  • VOLUME

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