Genetic Influences on Life Span and Its Relationship to Personality

Abstract

Extraversion, psychoticism, and optimism/pessimism are significant predictors of longevity; extraversion is associated with a reduction, and pessimism and psychoticism are associated with an increase in mortality risk. Genetic influences on longevity in Australian twins are very low (7%). Our data also suggest a small, albeit nonsignificant, genetic influence on the relationship of pessimism and psychoticism with life span.

Effects of high alcohol intake, alcohol‐related symptoms and smoking on mortality

“…Hazard ratio for smoking score is per unit on the scale never = 0, ex = 1, current < 10 cigarettes/day = 2, current 10+ cigarettes/day = 3; comparison of groups 0 (never-smoker) and 3 (current 10+) showed HR 2.82, 95% CI 2.52-3. 16 estimated from responses to questions about number of drinks in a typical week also showed a significant association overall and in men; the association was not significant in women, but the 95% CI for men and women overlapped. Results from calculation of alcohol intake as beer, wine or spirits, and estimation of the effects of each beverage type on all-cause mortality, are also shown in Table 2.…”

Dispositional optimism

“…A family/pedigree paradigm has also yielded associations between optimism levels of parents and offspring in two separate cohorts [86]. More recently, evidence has been found that associations between optimism and longevity may also have genetic underpinnings [87]. …”

Personality, Well-Being, and Health

“…Neuroticism is highly correlated with negative feelings (DeNeve & Cooper 1998) and, as noted, with health complaints and lower perceptions of health, but its causal role in health and well-being is complex and far from understood (Yap et al 2012). Most importantly, neuroticism inconsistently predicts mortality risk, with some studies finding higher risk (Abas et al 2002, Denollet et al 1996, Schulz et al 1996, Wilson et al 2004) and many other studies finding null (Almada et al 1991, Huppert & Whittington 1995, Iwasa et al 2008, Mosing et al 2012 or protective effects (Korten et al 1999, Taga et al 2009, Weiss & Costa 2005. Across four decades of adulthood in the Terman Life Cycle Study, neuroticism was most predictive of subjective well-being but least predictive of longevity (the most objective measure of health) (Friedman et al 2010).…”

“…One study of large numbers of monozygotic twins found minimal predictive ability for individual health (Roberts et al 2012), and even these may be overestimates of direct biological effects, as genetic predispositions play a role in situation selection and evocation. For example, Swedish twin studies suggest that core health-relevant social relations such as stable, happy marriages can be partly predicted by genetic variation (Walum et al 2008; see also Mosing et al 2012). When the genetic code and early-life stress are viewed as an initial step in a long-term trajectory-in other words, in terms of personality and development-then the model becomes much more powerful as health risks cumulate.…”