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Personality Change Predicts Self‐Reported Mental and Physical H ealth
Author(s) -
Magee Christopher A.,
Heaven Patrick C. L.,
Miller Leonie M.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2012.00802.x
Subject(s) - conscientiousness , neuroticism , personality , big five personality traits , mental health , extraversion and introversion , psychology , cohort , clinical psychology , personality assessment inventory , medicine , psychiatry , social psychology
Objective Personality dimensions are known to predict mortality and other health outcomes, but almost no research has assessed the effects of changes in personality traits on physical and mental health outcomes. In this article, we examined the effects of changes in the Big Five personality dimensions on health as assessed by the S hort F orm H ealth S urvey ( SF ‐36). Method Respondents were 11,105 Australian adults aged 20–79 years (52.7% female). Latent difference score modeling was used to examine whether personality change over a 4‐year period was associated with mental and physical health, and whether these effects were moderated by birth cohort. Results Increases in Conscientiousness and E xtraversion were found to be associated with improved mental and physical health, whereas increased N euroticism was linked with poorer health. The nature of these associations varied significantly by birth cohort. Conclusion The findings have implications for understanding how changes in personality traits over time are related to health, and could be used to aid the development of effective health promotion strategies targeted to specific personality traits and birth cohorts.