Hostname: page-component-6bb9c88b65-kzqxb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-07-24T23:23:47.480Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Facets of Conscientiousness and risk of dementia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 September 2017

A. R. Sutin ,
Y. Stephan  and
A. Terracciano
A. R. Sutin*
Affiliation:
Florida State University College of Medicine, Tallahassee, FL, USA
Y. Stephan
Affiliation:
University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
A. Terracciano
Affiliation:
Florida State University College of Medicine, Tallahassee, FL, USA
*
*Address for correspondence: A. R. Sutin, Ph.D., Florida State University College of Medicine, 1115 W. Call Street, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA. (Email: angelina.sutin@med.fsu.edu)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

Multiple studies have found Conscientiousness to be protective against dementia. The purpose of this study is to identify which specific aspects, or facets, of Conscientiousness are most protective against cognitive impairment and whether these associations are moderated by demographic factors and/or genetic risk.

Methods

Health and Retirement Study participants were selected for analysis if they completed the facets of Conscientiousness measure, scored in the range of normal cognitive functioning at the baseline personality assessment, and had at least one follow-up assessment of cognition over the up to 6-year follow-up (N = 11 181). Cox regression was used to test for risk of incident dementia and risk of incident cognitive impairment not dementia (CIND).

Results

Over the follow-up, 278 participants developed dementia and 2186 participants developed CIND. The facet of responsibility had the strongest and most consistent association with dementia risk: every standard deviation increase in this facet was associated with a nearly 35% decreased risk of dementia; self-control and industriousness were also protective. Associations were generally similar when controlling for clinical, behavioral, and genetic risk factors. These three facets were also independent predictors of decreased risk of CIND.

Conclusions

The present research indicates that individuals who see themselves as responsible, able to control their behavior, and hard workers are less likely to develop CIND or dementia and that these associations persist after accounting for some common clinical, behavioral, and genetic risk factors.

Keywords

Alzheimer's diseasecognitive impairmentConscientiousnessdementiafacetsorderresponsibilityself-control

Information

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 48 , Issue 6 , April 2018 , pp. 974 - 982
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Alzheimer's Association (2017) 2017 Alzheimer's disease facts and figures. Alzheimer's & Dementia 13, 325–373.Google Scholar
Chapman, BP, Fiscella, K, Kawachi, I, Duberstein, PR (2010). Personality, socioeconomic status, and all-cause mortality in the United States. American Journal of Epidemiology 171, 83–92.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Costa, PT, McCrae, RR (1992) Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) Professional Manual. Psychological Assessment Resources: Odessa, FL.Google Scholar
Crimmins, EM, Kim, JK, Langa, KM, Weir, DR (2011). Assessment of cognition using surveys and neuropsychological assessment: the health and retirement study and the aging, demographics, and memory study. Journals of Gerontology Series B Psychological Science and Social Sciences 66, i162–i171.Google Scholar
Daly, M, Egan, M, Quigley, J, Delaney, L, Baumeister, RF (2016). Childhood self-control predicts smoking throughout life: evidence from 21,000 cohort study participants. Health Psychology 35, 1254–1263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dar-Nimrod, I, Chapman, BP, Franks, P, Robbins, J, Porsteinsson, A, Mapstone, M, Duberstein, PR (2012). Personality factors moderate the associations between apolipoprotein genotype and cognitive function as well as late onset Alzheimer disease. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 20, 1026–1035.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dir, AL, Coskunpinar, A, Cyders, MA (2014). A meta-analytic review of the relationship between adolescent risky sexual behavior and impulsivity across gender, age, and race. Clinical Psychology Review 34, 551–562.Google Scholar
Duberstein, PR, Chapman, BP, Tindle, HA, Sink, KM, Bamonti, P, Robbins, J, Jerant, AF, Franks, P (2011). Personality and risk for Alzheimer's disease in adults 72 years of age and older: a 6-year follow-up. Psychology and Aging 26, 351–362.Google Scholar
Elam, KK, Wang, FL, Bountress, K, Chassin, L, Pandika, D, Lemery-Chalfant, K (2016). Predicting substance use in emerging adulthood: a genetically informed study of developmental transactions between impulsivity and family conflict. Developmental Psychopathology 28, 673–688.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Farrer, LA, Cupples, LA, Haines, JL, Hyman, B, Kukull, WA, Mayeux, R, Myers, RH, Pericak-Vance, MA, Risch, N, van Duijn, CM (1997). Effects of age, sex, and ethnicity on the association between apolipoprotein E genotype and Alzheimer disease. A meta-analysis. APOE and Alzheimer Disease Meta Analysis Consortium. JAMA 278, 1349–1356.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gartland, N, O'Connor, DB, Lawton, R (2012). The effects of conscientiousness on the appraisals of daily stressors. Stress and Health 28, 80–86.Google Scholar
Gauthier, S, Reisberg, B, Zaudig, M, Petersen, RC, Ritchie, K, Broich, K, Belleville, S, Brodaty, H, Bennett, D, Chertkow, H, Cummings, JL, de Leon, M, Feldman, H, Ganguli, M, Hampel, H, Scheltens, P, Tierney, MC, Whitehouse, P, Winblad, B (2006). Mild cognitive impairment. Lancet 367, 1262–1270.Google Scholar
Jekel, K, Damian, M, Wattmo, C, Hausner, L, Bullock, R, Connelly, PJ, Dubois, B, Eriksdotter, M, Ewers, M, Graessel, E, Kramberger, MG, Law, E, Mecocci, P, Molinuevo, JL, Nygård, L, Olde-Rikkert, MG, Orgogozo, JM, Pasquier, F, Peres, K, Salmon, E, Sikkes, SA, Sobow, T, Spiegel, R, Tsolaki, M, Winblad, B, Frölich, L (2015). Mild cognitive impairment and deficits in instrumental activities of daily living: a systematic review. Alzheimer's Research and Therapy 7, 17.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jokela, M, Hintsanen, M, Hakulinen, C, Batty, GD, Nabi, H, Singh-Manoux, A, Kivimäki, M (2013). Association of personality with the development and persistence of obesity: a meta-analysis based on individual-participant data. Obesity Reviews 14, 315–323.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Langa, KM, Larson, EB, Crimmins, EM, Faul, JD, Levine, DA, Kabeto, MU, Weir, DR (2017). A comparison of the prevalence of dementia in the United States in 2000 and 2012. JAMA Internal Medicine 177, 51–58.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Langa, KM, Plassman, BL, Wallace, RB, Herzog, AR, Heeringa, SG, Ofstedal, MB, Burke, JR, Fisher, GG, Fultz, NH, Hurd, MD, Potter, GG, Rodgers, WL, Steffens, DC, Weir, DR, Willis, RJ (2005). The aging, demographics, and memory study: study design and methods. Neuroepidemiology 25, 181–191.Google Scholar
Luchetti, M, Terracciano, A, Stephan, Y, Sutin, AR (2016). Personality and cognitive decline in older adults: data from a longitudinal sample and meta-analysis. Journals of Gerontology Series B Psychological Science and Social Sciences 71, 591–601.Google Scholar
Machulda, MM, Pankratz, VS, Christianson, TJ, Ivnik, RJ, Mielke, MM, Roberts, RO, Knopman, DS, Boeve, BF, Petersen, RC (2013). Practice effects and longitudinal cognitive change in normal aging vs. Incident mild cognitive impairment and dementia in the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging. Clinical Neuropsychology 27, 1247–1264.Google Scholar
Moffitt, TE, Arseneault, L, Belsky, D, Dickson, N, Hancox, RJ, Harrington, H, Houts, R, Poulton, R, Roberts, BW, Ross, S, Sears, MR, Thomson, WM, Caspi, A (2011). A gradient of childhood self-control predicts health, wealth, and public safety. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 108, 2693–2698.Google Scholar
Moffitt, TE, Poulton, R, Caspi, A (2013). Lifelong impact of early self-control. American Scientist 101, 352–359.Google Scholar
Norton, S, Matthews, FE, Barnes, DE, Yaffe, K, Brayne, C (2014). Potential for primary prevention of Alzheimer's disease: an analysis of population-based data. Lancet Neurology 13, 788–794.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paunonen, SV, Haddock, G, Forsterling, F, Keinonen, M (2003). Broad versus narrow personality measures and the prediction of behaviour across cultures. European Journal of Personality 17, 413–433.Google Scholar
Roberts, BW, Chernyshenko, OS, Strark, S, Goldberg, LR (2005a). The structure of Conscientiousness: an empirical investigation based on seven major personality questionnaires. Personnel Psychology 58, 103–139.Google Scholar
Roberts, BW, Walton, KE, Bogg, T (2005b). Conscientiousness and health across the life course. Review of General Psychology 9, 156–168.Google Scholar
Roy, S, Ficarro, S, Duberstein, P, Chapman, BP, Dubovsky, S, Paroski, M, Szigeti, K, Benedict, RH (2016). Executive function and personality predict instrumental activities of daily living in Alzheimer disease. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 24, 1074–1083.Google Scholar
Salthouse, TA (2014). Selectivity of attrition in longitudinal studies of cognitive functioning. Journals of Gerontolology Series B Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 69, 567–574.Google Scholar
Stern, Y (2012) Cognitive reserve in ageing and Alzheimer's disease. Lancet Neurology 11, 1006–1012.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sutin, AR, Stephan, Y, Luchetti, M, Artese, A, Oshio, A, Terracciano, A (2016). The five factor model of personality and physical inactivity: a meta-analysis of 16 samples. Journal of Research in Personality 63, 22–28.Google Scholar
Sutin, AR, Stephan, Y, Luchetti, M, Robins, RW, Terracciano, A (2017). Parental educational attainment and adult offspring personality: an intergenerational lifespan approach to the origin of adult personality traits. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 113, 144–166.Google Scholar
Sutin, AR, Terracciano, A (2016). Personality traits and body mass index: modifiers and mechanisms. Psychology and Health 31, 259–275.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Terracciano, A, Costa, PT (2004). Smoking and the five-factor model of personality. Addiction 99, 472–481.Google Scholar
Terracciano, A, Iacono, D, O'Brien, RJ, Troncoso, JC, An, Y, Sutin, AR, Ferrucci, L, Zonderman, AB, Resnick, SM (2013). Personality and resilience to Alzheimer's disease neuropathology: a prospective autopsy study. Neurobiology of Aging 34, 1045–1050.Google Scholar
Terracciano, A, Stephan, Y, Luchetti, M, Albanese, E, Sutin, AR (2017). Personality traits and risk of cognitive impairment and dementia. Journal of Psychiatric Research 89, 22–27.Google Scholar
Terracciano, A, Sutin, AR, An, Y, O'Brien, RJ, Ferrucci, L, Zonderman, AB, Resnick, SM (2014). Personality and risk of Alzheimer's disease: new data and meta-analysis. Alzheimer's and Dementia 10, 179–186.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wang, HX, Karp, A, Winblad, B, Fratiglioni, L (2002). Late-life engagement in social and leisure activities is associated with a decreased risk of dementia: a longitudinal study from the Kungsholmen project. American Journal of Epidemiology 155, 1081–1087.Google Scholar
Weston, SJ, Hill, PL, Jackson, JJ (2015). Personality traits predict the onset of disease. Social Psychological and Personality Science 6, 309–317.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, RS, Schneider, JA, Arnold, SE, Bienias, JL, Bennett, DA (2007). Conscientiousness and the incidence of Alzheimer disease and mild cognitive impairment. Archives of General Psychiatry 64, 1204–1212.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Sutin et al supplementary material

Tables S1-S2

Download Sutin et al supplementary material(File)
File 45.2 KB