Premium
Personality's association with IADLs in community dwelling older adults
Author(s) -
Puente Antonio Nicolas,
Lindbergh Cutter A.,
Miller L. Stephen
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
international journal of geriatric psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.28
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1099-1166
pISSN - 0885-6230
DOI - 10.1002/gps.4243
Subject(s) - openness to experience , personality , psychology , agreeableness , mediation , activities of daily living , extant taxon , big five personality traits , gerontology , clinical psychology , medicine , psychiatry , social psychology , evolutionary biology , biology , political science , law , extraversion and introversion
Objectives Extant research has established several predictors of functional ability (FA) in older adults (OAs); however, one factor that has been relatively ignored is personality. Preliminary evidence suggests that openness and agreeableness are associated with instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). However, how personality is related to IADLs remains unclear. We aimed to determine how personality factors predict performance of IADLs, which we hypothesized, was because of executive functioning (EF). Methods To best understand the relationship between personality and IADLs, we recruited and ran 65 independent community dwelling OAs. Bivariate correlations and hierarchical regressions were completed to determine the associations between openness and agreeableness with IADLs. Lastly, mediation analyses were completed to examine our hypothesis that EF would mediate this relationship Results Correlation and regression findings support the relationship between openness and IADLs but not agreeableness and IADLs. As hypothesized, the relationship between openness and IADLs was mediated by EF. Conclusions We replicated the relationship between openness and IADLs and extend the literature by showing the mechanism of action for this relationship is EF. While our mediation results support this perspective, future research should determine if interventions that increase OAs' EF, in turn, increase or attenuate decline in IADLs over time. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.