1
The Link Between Personality Traits and Life Expectancy
PSY304
November 6, 2016
2
The Link Between Personality Traits and Life Expectancy
People move through life never suffering from a health problem, going on to live long
eventful life while others cannot seem to catch a break making frequent visits to the hospital after
suffering from various illnesses or diseases. Some individuals thrive in life, building strong
social relationships while others suffer from poor social relationships feeling destined to be alone
forever. Scientists have determined that there may be a commonality between personality traits
and health, and why some people live longer than others (Markey, Markey, Kern, Della Porta, &
& Friedman, 2014). Biological, physical, emotional, cognitive, and social factors each affect
personality traits throughout a person’s lifespan. By exploring various personality traits such as
conscientiousness and agreeableness, we will be able to see why and how personality is a link to
health and longevity. Additionally, we will observe how culture and historical perspective has
changed the way personality traits have been perceived over the decades.
Much research dedicates to linking health issues to the social environment. However,
many studies in the past few decades have concentrated their efforts on the “Big Five”
(Extraversion, Agreeable, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Openness to Experience)
personality traits (Bogg & Roberts, 2013). Theorists and researchers define personality as a
pattern of behavior, emotional experience, or cognition (Lecci, 2013). Personality traits are
unique to each person and evolve over time. Among the “Big Five” conscientiousness captures
characteristics such as the need for achievement, thoroughness, and organization. Of the five
factors, conscientiousness is one of the most favorable outcomes in several domains (Lecci,
2013). Studies have shown that higher levels of conscientiousness have been associated with an
increased level of coping skills as well as a reduction in exposure to stress. More specifically,
youths who were rated as more dependable in childhood live longer than their peers, even when
3
controlling their intelligence. In a cross-section of adults in their mid-70s with lower levels of
conscientiousness predicted increased risk of mortality 6.5 years later (Bogg & Roberts, 2013).
Physical and mental health are closely related to various levels of conscientiousness. As said by
Lecci (2013), individuals who possess higher levels of conscientiousness engage in more
proactive health behavior and have a longer lifespan. In a more recent study, after 700 people
were closely monitored over 40 years, results showed that childhood conscientiousness was
shown to predict an objective measure of adult health (Lecci, 2013). Another factor of the “Big
Five” is agreeableness. Agreeableness is a factor that involves the traits of friendliness and the
willingness to conform with others. They possess altruistic attributes and are more likely to be
more empathetic with others. Agreeable people tend to keep a more positive outlook on others
with a higher sense of life satisfaction through their overall lifespan. Individuals who cope with
stress, and manage their stress in a more positive light are attributed to longer life expectancies.
A study was done to evaluate how optimistic and pessimistic individuals assess their anticipated
life satisfaction (Busseri, 2013). Busseri (2013) followed these people over a lifespan across six
decades using the lifespan theory as a fundamental basis. He indicated that since people grow
over time, they tend to view their lives generally as improving over time even if there are varying
degrees of positivity. Bearing that in mind, he recorded their past, present and future paths and
found optimists rated their lives more positively than pessimists. Whereas pessimists tended to
evaluate their lives more negatively about the group norm, regardless of time.
Cognitive and psychosocial domains influence personality traits and can affect health. As
stated by Mossler (2014), cognitive development can be affected by self-esteem during
childhood due to a sense of belonging, socialization skills, and natural intelligence. Psychosocial
development can be affected by changes in personality, social interactions, and the understanding
4
of feelings and emotions. Even younger children are affected by these domains with the
development of play and friendships and personal traits like self-control. Personality begins to
form at infancy and transforms over time through biological and environmental changes. A
child’s relationship with a caregiver is likely to have a significant influence on later emotional
development, especially feelings of safety and security (Mossler, 2014). The way a caregiver
raises the infant will have profound effects on how the child will react to their physical
environments later in life. A healthy emotional relationship will allow the child to explore their
surroundings more freely, whereas a more limited and controlled child deprives those of taking
protected risks. A social environment that infants experience affects the growing personality.
Shriner and Shriner (2014) point out that social and emotional changes help evolve personality
and can influence, what some theorists call socioemotional development. An infant’s personality
is a construct of their social and emotional changes that will be detrimental to how they approach
their environment as they get older. Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson presented contrast theories
about how personalities form. Freud believed that personality forms during the first five years of
life while Erikson believed that psychosocial development starts at the beginning of life but
occurs over a lifespan of eight stages (Mossler, 2014). Each subsequent step must be mastered
before moving onto the next step. For example, Erikson believed that for people to properly
negotiate successful romantic relationship later in life, they must be able to trust those around
them when they are infants (Lecci, 2013). Theorists believe childhood years are of great
importance to how personality traits are formed.
Many researchers have found that environmental factors and personality traits
simultaneously work together to reinforce behavior patterns. Personality characteristics
influence the conditions individuals experience and how they behave in those situations, and
5
personality influences the relationships that people develop and the reactions they get from those
around them. Consecutively, the circumstances and relationships change how people want to be,
thus producing stable amounts of personality traits, situational attributes, and behaviors over
time. (Markey, Markey, Kern, Della Porta, & & Friedman, 2014). People’s personality traits are
formed and challenged by their environment. An individual’s personality can have an impact on
how they perceive their surroundings and alter their behavior affecting their life outcomes. The
way a person handles relationships, self-esteem, achievements, and stressors can affect health
which may predict longevity. Beliefs that a good diet will produce positive effects on health will
influence someone to eat a healthy diet. However, beliefs that genes or the environment are
responsible for health and longevity will not produce positive results on health. There is such
thing as being too optimistic, however. For instance, being too unrealistic about risk, either
unrealistic optimism or unrealistic pessimism can lead to negative health behaviors and
therefore, less positive outcomes (Feenstra, 2013). For example, if a patient receives treatment
for an illness and begins to have negative side effects from the medication may incline them to
stop the treatment thinking that the treatment is ineffective.
Not only do environment and social factors affect personality traits but biology plays a
major role in how personality is created as well. Longevity genes are related to the aging process
in that some genes have been found to increase the likeliness of living longer (Shriner & Shriner,
2014). A phenotype, which are the characteristics observable in genes, includes weight, height,
and hair color. Additionally, personality and intelligence are made up of a person’s phenotype.
A person may have a genetic predisposition to become obese, but with diet and exercise, the
phenotype for obesity may never be visible. Although genetics are a major component in various
personality traits, people can change their habits and environment for a healthier lifestyle.
6
Conscientiousness has phenotypic links to longevity, including physical and mental health
outcomes. Studies have shown that “not only may genetic influences on health change as a
function of an individual’s age, but it is also possible that there are cohort differences on aspects
of health and health behaviors” (South & Krueger, 2014). For example, geneticists used twin
samples to show how genetic influences on smoking were decreased when there was a ban put
on smoking in public places. Research has laid the groundwork for scientists to be able to learn
more about prevention and intervention procedures for molecular genetics research (South &
Krueger, 2014). With the help of this kind of investigation, scientists may be able to help people
with different kinds of problems relating their conscientiousness on the molecular level. They
will be able to understand better how and why people have problems, such as alcoholism.
Cultures fluctuate in their demands on children so that crises may occur differently
depending on the situation. Some cultures such as mainstream culture in the United States,
emphasize independence and children are usually rewarded for individual effort and
competitiveness. However, a child from an interdependent culture, such as Japan, is more likely
to have a collectivist mindset, in which group cooperation relations are valued over individual
accomplishments (Mossler, 2014). Because of these differences in cultures, a crisis in
development in one culture may not look the same in another. Being able to understand cultural
differences versus similarities can help us understand the underlying conditions responsible for
normative gender and age differences in various personality traits. What may be considered
healthy or pathological for one culture may not be the same for another. What has restricted the
study of psychology is the limited amount of culture and ethical perspectives (Lecci, 2013).
Because much research has come from Western culture, makes scientists wary about whether
they are adequately capturing the diversity of how human psychology functions. Cross-cultural
7
studies have provided researchers with information that has linked gender differences in
personality, such that men and women displayed larger differences in the Big Five personality
traits in individualistic, wealthier, and gender cultures compared to people in some developing
countries (Bleidom, et al., 2016). Men have a more positive outlook on life than women in
general, whereas men and women both have more life satisfaction as they age from adolescence
to early adulthood. It is important to understand that culture, ethnicity, and race are all
significant to all areas of personality psychology.
The study of trait psychology has made tremendous changes over the last 20 years and
has become a leading archetype in personality psychology. Scientists have begun to understand
more about the origins and influences of traits that have led to discoveries about lifespan
development. The Five Factor Model has been widely accepted by many theorists to classify
literature reviews about personality traits (McCrae & Costa, 2003). Many psychologists first
thought that personality traits were formed by adolescence and that adulthood marked the point
at which development stopped. Sigmund Freud wrote about the first few years of life and
William James claimed that by age 30, people were “set like plaster” (McCrae & Costa, 2003).
Carl Jung was among the first to discover that personality traits continue to develop through
adulthood. In Jung’s book “The Stages of Life,” he described many ideas of gerontological
thinking such as the midlife crisis (McCrae & Costa, 2003). In the 1970s many colleges were
offering programs that were geared towards stage theories of adult development. Stage theories
integrated several topics that discussed some of the likely social changes that occur from
adolescence to adulthood. Problems that once seemed to be personal became a universally
acknowledged experience by everyone. A shift began to take place in the United States, and
people started to live longer past 65. Researchers were increasingly becoming more interested in
8
the studies of personality versus the studies of cognition. Nowadays, researchers are starting to
think of age as merely just a number and not a good predictor of social functioning (McCrae &
Costa, 2003). While many of our personality traits remain in their same basic temperaments,
those same traits lead to a life of many changes.
In conclusion, research has shown that personality traits are formed early in childhood
years and create constructs for how they will behave in their environment, social interactions,
and relationships. High levels of consciousness have been linked to longevity. People who are
highly consciousness are more self-aware, make better decisions about their lives and value their
relationships. Many cultures value the social enrichment such as friends, family, and romantic
partners. Having a positive outlook on life are more likely to have a higher sense of life
satisfaction through their lifespan. Individuals who cope with stress, and manage their anxiety in
a positive way are attributed to longer life expectancies. Social and emotional changes help
evolve personality and can influence how they view themselves around others. Theorists such as
Freud and Erikson believes that personality traits start to form during childhood. However,
Erikson believed that psychosocial development continues through life. Personality traits in an
individual affect how they perceive their environment and can affect their life outcomes in
accordance to their behaviors. By exploring the “Big Five” factors through cognitive and
psychosocial domains of human development and examining the environment and biological
factors, we can see how different factors in personality traits can affect health and longevity,
positive or negative.
9
References
Bleidom, W., Denissen, J. A., Gebauer, J. E., Arslan, R. C., Rentfrow, P. J., Potter, J., & &
Gosling, S. D. (2016). Age and Gender Differences in Self-Esteem--A Cross- Cultural
Window. Journal of Personality & Psychology, 111(3), 396-410.
doi:10.1037/pspp0000078.supp
This article has pointed out that much research has been focused on Western cultures such as the
United States and that more research needs to be done on the rest of the world to have a more
accurate analysis of the differences in gender and self-esteem. These authors provide a
comprehensive cross-cultural examination of sex and age differences in self-esteem.
Bogg, T., & Roberts, B. (2013). The Case for Conscientiousness: Evidence and Implications for a
Personality Trait Marker of Health and Longevity. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 45(3),
278-288. doi:10.1007/s12160-012-9454-6
This article uses a modified health process model to link conscientiousness to health and disease
processes, including longevity and social, environmental factors related to health. The aim of
this research is to try to find interventions to foster better health.
Busseri, M. (2013). How Dispositional Optimists and Pessimists Evaluate their Past, Present and
Anticipated Future Life Satisfaction: A Lifespan Approach. European Journal of
Personality, 27(2), 186-195. doi:10.1002/per.1854
Busseri (2013) evaluated optimists and pessimists of various ages across six decades to
determine how they rated her life satisfaction from their past, present, and likely futures. He
determined that optimists rated their life satisfaction more positively than pessimists.
10
Feenstra, J. (2013). Social Psychology. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/
This book uses common experiences to help people learn of social psychological theories and
concepts. It includes the history of social psychology and goes more into depth about how
people interact with each other and their environments.
Lecci, L. B. (2013). Personality. Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
This book examines classic and contemporary theories of personality and how they apply to the
present day. Personality provides a summary of the basic theories and discusses the history
behind the how’s and why’s of personality traits.
Markey, C. N., Markey, P. M., Kern, M. L., Della Porta, S. S., & & Friedman, H. S. (2014).
Lifelong Pathways to Longevity: Personality, Relationships, Flourishing, and Health.
Journal of Personality, 6(472). doi:10.1111/jopy.12062
This article pays close attention to child personality and adult social relationships and how they
relate to health and longevity. The authors used regression and survival analyses to test models
of childhood personality predicting adult psychosocial factors. Conscientiousness and good
social relationships predicted longer life.
McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T. (2003). Personality in adulthood: A five-factor theory perspective.
Guilford Press.
The authors discuss emphasis on the stability in personality in adulthood using cross-cultural and
longitudinal findings. They argue that stability is the predominant feature of personality in
adulthood, but they also document likely changes at certain ages and individuals. McCrae and
Costa (2003) talk about the history of how personality psychology has shifted from several
decades ago to now and the theories used to build upon this foundation.
11
Mossler, R. (2014). Child and Adolescent Development (2nd ed) [Electronic version]. Retrieved
from https://content.ashford.edu/
This book works as a guide to the developing child that covers conception through the end of
adolescence. The book discusses cross-cultural examples and uses personal stories to help
students think critically about key developmental theories and practices to discern what
nutritional, physical, parental, educational, societal, and other factors that will contribute to lead
to optimal physical, cognitive, and psychosocial outcomes for the next generation of children.
Shriner, B., & Shriner, M. (2014). Essentials of Lifespan Development: A Topical Perspective.
San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education.
This book studies different aspects of the human body from infancy to adulthood such as
cognitive, physical, and emotional development.
South, S., & Krueger, R. (2014). Genetic Strategies for Probing Conscientiousness and its
Relationship to Aging. Developmental Psychology, 50(5), 1362-1376.
This article focusses on how behavioral and molecular genetics methodologies can aid in further
explaining the link between conscientiousness and aspects of health and well-being later in life.
The author talks about how phenotypes are closely related to personality traits and behavior
genetic methods can determine causes behind these relationships.