Examining the Long-Term Association of Personality With Cause-Specific Mortality in London: Four Decades of Mortality Surveillance in the Original Whitehall Smoking Cessation Trial

Abstract

The personality domains of extraversion and neuroticism are regarded as being stable individual psychological characteristics, yet it remains unclear whether they are associated with chronic disease over an extended period of time. In a randomized controlled trial of smoking cessation nested within the original prospective Whitehall Study , the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire was administered to 832 male self-declared smokers who had undergone a medical examination during which their levels of extraversion and neuroticism were quantified. In the 42-year follow-up period, there were 781 deaths. In analyses in which participants from both trial arms were pooled, there was little evidence of a robust relation of either personality domain with death from all causes, coronary heart disease, stroke, respiratory disease, or cancer in any of our analyses. We therefore found no support for a role of either extraversion or neuroticism as determinants of long-term mortality risk.

Adolescent tolerance for deviance, cigarette smoking trajectories, and premature mortality: A longitudinal study

“…In our models that controlled for other factors that elevate the risk for premature death, there was no association between adolescent tolerance for deviance and tobacco-specific mortality, but adolescents who were less tolerant of deviance were more likely to die prematurely of any cause in our sample. Although this finding was in the unexpected direction, previous studies, including meta-analyses, have found no direct association between personality and mortality (Batty et al, 2016;Jokela et al, 2013;Jokela et al, 2014). Indeed, the zero-order correlations from the current data indicated no prospective relation between tolerance for deviance in adolescence and either mortality outcome.…”

“…These included educational attainment, other tobacco use, physical activity, healthy eating, and seat belt use. Previous studies testing predictors of elevated mortality risk have similarly included demographic factors and engagement in other healthy and risky behaviors as covariates (Batty et al, 2016;Inoue-Choi et al, 2016;Khan et al, 2015).…”

Type A personality and mortality: Competitiveness but not speed is associated with increased risk

“…Studies investigating personality traits in general observed for all-cause mortality an association with conscientiousness only (31)(32)(33). For CVD mortality, there was evidence for a positive association with neuroticism (12,34), anger, and hostility (35).…”

“…Only few studies restricting to males (6,10,26,27,33) or females (32) presented sex-specific figures, however without finding significant associations. The sex-specific results in the competitiveness subscale that we found might be partly explained by a greater likelihood of CVD events induced by postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy (40).…”

Is Healthy Neuroticism Associated with Longevity? A Coordinated Integrative Data Analysis

“…The combination of substance abuse, chronic stress, and altered cardiovascular function over a lifetime can be detrimental to health and ultimately lead to premature mortality. Ample studies report an association between higher neuroticism and an increased risk of all-cause mortality (Batty, Jokela, Kivimaki, & Shipley, 2016;Chapman, Fiscella, Kawachi, & Duberstein, 2009;Christensen et al, 2002;Denollet, Sys, & Brutsaert, 1995;Mroczek, Spiro III, & Turiano, 2009;Murberg, Bru, & Aarsland, 2001;Ploubidis & Grundy, 2009;Read, Vogler, Pedersen, & Johansson, 2006;Shipley, Weiss, Der, Taylor, & Deary, 2007;Terracciano, Löckenhoff, Zonderman, Ferrucci, & Costa Jr., 2008;Weiss, Gale, Batty, & Deary, 2009;Wilson, Bienias, Mendes de Leon, Evans, & Bennett, 2003;Wilson et al, 2005;Wilson, Mendes de Leon, Bienias, Evans, & Bennett, 2004). Higher levels of neuroticism have also been found to predict cause-specific cardiovascularrelated mortality (Hagger-Johnson et al, 2012;Jokela, Pulkki-Råback, Elovainio, & Kivimäki, 2013;Murberg et al, 2001;Shipley et al, 2007).…”