Big Five Personality Traits and Predicting Mental Health among Iranian Older Adults

Abstract

Aging has been a major issue for experts, policymakers, and even the general public in recent years. There is a growing body of evidence highlighting the role of personality traits in the health of older adults, but this evidence is still in its infancy. This study aimed to investigate the role of the big five personality traits in predicting the mental health among older adults. In this cross-sectional study, 150 community-residing older adults were selected and completed the Ten Item Personality Inventory, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, Adult Hope Scale, and Short-Form Health Survey. According to the results, extraversion and openness to experience can explain 11% of the variances of hope, extraversion and conscientiousness account for 16% of the variances in perceived social support, and all the big five personality traits together predict 34% of the variances in the health-related quality of life. Given the role of personality traits in predicting the mental health of older adults, counselors and psychologists working with these people can pay attention to the personality traits of older adults in designing their psychological, educational, and research programs to achieve more desirable outcomes.

Mental health of family caregivers: does the complimentary roles of personality trait, social support and resilience matter?

“…Thus, the findings of the study showed that personality trait (extraversion) was positively and significantly associated with mental health of family caregivers. This finding is consistent with previous findings [25,26], which revealed that extraversion was positively associated with mental health. This is pertinent because extraversion is characterized by high levels of activity, sociability and a greater tendency to experience positive outcomes [16].…”

“…In the same vein, agreeableness positively associated with family caregivers' mental health. The finding aligned with Day et al [29] and Rastami et al [26] studies, which found a significant positive relationship between agreeableness and mental health. These studies evidenced that people with higher level of agreeableness exhibit higher levels of mental wellbeing.…”

“…In addition, highly extraverted individuals appear to have better perception and orientation to mental health, lower rate of depression and negative emotion. Equally, Rastami et al [26] postulated that individual's with extraversion trait are more prone to adaptive coping strategies, lower burden and stress and better mental and physical health due to their disposition towards life orientation. Thus, it could be affirmed that family caregivers with such personality disposition maintain a sense of their own wellbeing through social relationships, involvement in activities that have potential of enhancing their self-worth, which aids in managing psychological tension [37].…”

Fatores De Personalidade E De Resiliência Como Preditores Do Funcionamento Executivo De Adultos Idosos

“…Considerando o modelo para o DEX, além do fator amabilidade, neuroticismo e conscienciosidade também foram preditores significativos, indicando que a tendência a apresentar maior estabilidade emocional, ter elevado padrão de realização e buscar alcançar metas contribuem para maior capacidade de inibição e controle emocional. A literatura não apresenta consenso quanto ao papel de cada fator de personalidade e de resiliência para o desenvolvimento cognitivo em adultos idosos, mas os resultados apresentados corroboram outras pesquisas que verificaram a influência dessas características para a saúde mental, qualidade de vida e desempenho executivo no envelhecimento (ROSTAMI et al, 2022;SAEZ-SANZ et al, 2023).…”

Providing a health‐promotion behaviors model in elderly: Psychological capital, perceived social support, and attitudes toward death with mediating role of cognitive emotion regulation strategies

“…One of the ways to promote the health of the elderly and the most basic way to prevent the injuries of old age is self‐care. 6 , 7 In fact, self‐care is a promising path that affects the resilience of the elderly. 8 Self‐care as a learned regulatory function means the ability to perform self‐care practices.…”