Personality and Alzheimer’s disease: An integrative review.

Abstract

The objective of this article is to review and integrate interrelated areas of research on personality and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Prospective studies indicate that individuals who score higher on conscientiousness (more responsible and self-disciplined) and lower on neuroticism (less anxious and vulnerable to stress) have a reduced risk of developing dementia, even in the presence of AD neuropathology. Personality is also related to measures of cognitive performance and cognitive decline, with effect sizes similar to those of other clinical, lifestyle, and behavioral risk factors. These associations are unlikely to be due to reverse causality: Long-term prospective data indicate that there are no changes in personality that are an early sign of the disease during the preclinical phase of AD. With the onset and progression of dementia, however, there are large changes in personality that are reported consistently by caregivers in retrospective studies and are consistent with the clinical criteria for the diagnosis of dementia. The review also discusses potential mechanisms of the observed associations and emphasizes the need for prospective studies to elucidate the interplay of personality traits with AD neuropathology (amyloid and tau biomarkers) in modulating the risk and timing of onset of clinical dementia. The article concludes with the implications of personality research for identifying those at greater risk of AD and the potential of personality-tailored interventions aimed at the prevention and treatment of AD.

Personality‐cognition associations across the adult life span and potential moderators: Results from two cohorts

“…Our study supports the claim that higher levels of Neuroticism are associated with poorer cognitive performance in healthy adults, in line with several cross‐sectional studies (Graham & Lachman, 2014; Saylik, Szamentat, Cheeta, 2018; Soubelet & Salthouse, 2011), and longitudinal findings that indicate higher Neuroticism is associated with greater cognitive decline in older adults (Luchetti et al, 2016; Waggel et al, 2015), major depression, and incident Alzheimer's disease (for a review see Terracicano & Sutin, 2019). These findings are consistent with the “mental noise hypothesis,” which suggests that individuals with higher Neuroticism experience more mental noise due to higher levels of anxiety, stress, worry‐related thoughts, aspects that contribute to distractions and can impair cognitive performance (Curtis et al, 2015; Robinson & Tamir, 2005; Robison, Gath, & Unsworth, 2017).…”

Associations between personality and whole‐brain functional connectivity at rest: Evidence across the adult lifespan

“…Evidence indicates that personality traits, particularly conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness, are associated with general health, longevity, cognitive performance (Chapman, Roberts, & Duberstein, ; Curtis, Windsor, & Soubelet, ), and dementia risk (Chapman et al, ; Terracciano & Sutin, ). Conscientiousness has been associated with reduced cognitive decline, while neuroticism has been associated with greater decline (Caselli et al, ; Hock et al, ; Luchetti, Terracciano, Stephan, & Sutin, ).…”

The Relation Between Personality and Biomarkers in Sensitivity and Conversion to Alzheimer-Type Dementia

“…Conscientiousness has been linked to a myriad of outcomes (see Bogg & Roberts, 2013, for a review), including health outcomes (Bogg & Roberts, 2004), depressive symptoms (Kendler et al, 2006), occupational and educational attainment (Lodi-Smith et al, 2010) and even mortality (Friedman et al, 1993;Wilson et al, 2004). Hence, it is quite possible that individuals high in conscientiousness are more likely to engage in health and lifestyle behaviors that may serve to protect against the accumulation of AD neuropathology and hence reduce risk for AD onset (e.g., Bogg & Roberts, 2013Chapman et al, 2011Terracciano et al, 2013;Terracciano & Sutin, 2019;Wilson et al, 2007).…”