Abstract
In the present study we tested the inoculation hypothesis of the effect of conscientiousness on health. We tested the inoculation hypothesis using both cross-sectional and longitudinal methods. We used a representative sample of US citizens (N=. 2136 for Wave 1 and N=. 1170 for Wave 2), which completed the Chernyshenko Conscientiousness Scales, Perceived Stress Scale, and SF-36 measure of physical health twice over a three-year period. Stress partially mediated the relation between conscientiousness and health. Changes in conscientiousness were related to changes in stress over time and changes in stress partially mediated the association between changes in conscientiousness and changes in self-reported health. The relevance of stress to the conscientiousness-health relation is discussed.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 93-103 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Journal of Research in Personality |
| Volume | 59 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 1 2015 |
Funding
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Preparation of this manuscript was supported by Grant R01 AG21178 , from NIA .
Keywords
- Conscientiousness
- Longitudinal
- Mediation
- Physical health
- Stress
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Psychology
- General Psychology