Abstract
Studies have shown that higher levels of neuroticism are associated with greater risk of mortality. Yet what accounts for this association? One major theoretical position holds that persons higher in neuroticism engage in poorer health behaviors, such as smoking and excessive drinking, thus leading to earlier death. We tested this hypothesis using 30-year mortality in 1788 men from the VA Normative Aging Study. Using proportional hazards (Cox) models we found that one health behavior, smoking, attenuated the effect of neuroticism on mortality by 40%. However, 60% remained unexplained, suggesting that the effects of other pathways (e.g., biological) also influence the relationship between neuroticism and mortality.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 653-659 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Journal of Research in Personality |
| Volume | 43 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 2009 |
Funding
This study was supported by grants from the National Institute on Aging (R01-AG18436 and P01-AG020166), and by a Merit Review from the Clinical Sciences Research and Development Service of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The VA Normative Aging Study (NAS) is supported by the Cooperative Studies Program/ERIC, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and is a research component of the Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center (MAVERIC). The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Keywords
- Health behaviors
- Neuroticism
- Personality and health
- Personality and mortality
- Smoking
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Psychology
- General Psychology