Personality Traits Can Predict Brain Health Later In Life, Study Suggests

Illustration 144769049 © Stmool | Dreamstime.com

All your efforts in finding your happy place now may come in handy later in life. New research points to better cognitive health for people who are more goal-oriented and disciplined, while those who are more irritable or experience mood swings are more likely to develop mild cognitive impairments.

The study, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology by the American Psychological Association, looked at how characteristics in almost 2,000 people correlate with cognitive decline. Researchers examined the levels of conscientiousness, extraversion, and neuroticism—three traits of the famous ‘Big Five’ personality model—of participants who joined the longitudinal Rush Memory and Aging Project in 1997.

They learned that those who ranked higher in conscientiousness and extraversion were able to delay cognitive decline longer. Conscientious people are responsible, hardworking, goal-directed, and organized; and extraverts (also known as extroverts) are sociable, enthusiastic about life, and action-oriented.

Tomiko Yoneda, a psychology postdoctoral student at the University of Victoria in Canada and the study’s lead author, notes that for every six points that someone gained for conscientiousness, there was a “22% decreased risk” of that person “transitioning from normal cognitive functioning to mild cognitive impairment.”

Meanwhile, participants who scored higher in neuroticism began to experience mild cognitive impairment earlier on. Neurotic people get easily frustrated by smaller inconveniences and are more anxious and angry in general. Every seven points added to their scale for neuroticism indicated a “12% increased risk” in brain decline.

Individuals who were more outgoing and practiced self-discipline could enjoy another year of good cognitive health. On the other end of the spectrum, those with regular mood swings might develop dementia a year earlier.

“Personality traits reflect relatively enduring patterns of thinking and behaving, which may cumulatively affect engagement in healthy and unhealthy behaviors and thought patterns across the lifespan,” Yoneda posits. “The accumulation of lifelong experiences may then contribute to susceptibility of particular diseases or disorders, such as mild cognitive impairment, or contribute to individual differences in the ability to withstand age-related neurological changes.”

However, Dr Richard Isaacson, MD, a neurologist who was not involved in the project, shares that it’s unclear if a person’s character traits are the “chicken or the egg” when it comes to cognitive decline, as quoted by CNN. While it can be said that a lifetime of habits can shape a person’s mental health, personality traits may also have a biological association with cognitive abilities.

Yoneda also acknowledges that there’s a lack of representation in the study group, who are mostly white, female, and highly educated, so more research would be required to determine if the same associations can be found across a more diverse sample. 

[via CNN and Medical Xpress, cover illustration 144769049 © Stmool | Dreamstime.com]