Personality, lifestyle, and risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer: follow-up of population based cohort

Abstract

Objective To study the relation between measures of personality and risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer in a large cohort. Design Follow-up of population based cohort. Setting Heidelberg, Germany. Participants 5114 women and men aged 40-65 in 1992-5. Main outcome measures Psychological traits assessed by several standardised personality questionnaires in 1992-5, related to cause of death (to 2002-3) or reported incidence of cardiovascular diseases and cancer (validated by treating doctors). Relative risks (and 95% confidence intervals) for combined morbidity and mortality according to five important personality traits were estimated using multivariable Cox proportional hazards models. Results During median follow-up of 8.5 years, 257 participants died and 72 were diagnosed with a heart attack, 62 with stroke, and 240 with cancer (morbidity and mortality combined). A high internal locus of control over disease was associated with a decreased risk of myocardial infarction (adjusted relative risk for an increase of 1 SD = 0.75; 95% confidence interval 0.58 to 0.96). An increase of 1 SD in time urgency was associated with a decreased risk of cancer (adjusted relative risk 0.83; 0.73 to 0.95). Other major personality traits-anger control, psychoticism, and symptoms of depression-were not consistently associated with myocardial infarction, stroke, or cancer. Conclusion Internal locus of control over disease and time urgency seem to be associated with reduced risk for common chronic diseases, probably by affecting unmeasured health related behaviour. The other personality traits assessed had no major impact on cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Free will and the obesity epidemic

“…The problem is that most people do not believe that their decision was determined solely by experiential and biological factors (138) . Nevertheless, we know that the more decisions people feel they can control regarding their health, the healthier they are as expressed by lower rates of mortality (139) , reduced myocardial infarction (140,141) , less depression and anxiety (142,143) , and better self-rated degree of health (144) . Learning that we can control our weight through adjustments in intake may not only have a direct positive effect on weight, but may also act indirectly by strengthening a sense of control over body weight and health.…”

Locus of Control and Peer Relationships Among Caucasian, Hispanic, Asian, and African American Adolescents

“…Rotter (1954) conceptualized locus of control as occurring on a continuum from internal to external control, rather than as a dichotomous variable. Among the most replicable findings, internal locus of control has been associated with better academic performance (e.g., Chang et al 2007;Strayhorn 2010), healthrelated outcomes (e.g., Jose and Weir 2013;Sturmer et al 2006), job performance (see review by Ng et al 2006), and athletic performance (e.g., Denny and Steiner 2009), whereas lacking a sense of control has been associated with negative outcomes, such as anxiety (Weems et al 2003) and depression (Muris et al 2004). In short, decades of research have shown that locus of control plays an important role in a wide range of behaviors.…”

Personality and personal control make a difference for life satisfaction in the oldest-old: findings in a longitudinal population-based study of individuals 80 and older

“…Furthermore, defined by Rotter as a personality trait (Rotter 1966), locus of control has been found to be associated with both health (Sturmer et al 2006) and life satisfaction (Hickson et al 1988;Landau and Litwin 2001) and has also been found to moderate the health and well-being relationship (Landau and Litwin 2001) in old age. The perception of personal influence is assumed to become increasingly important in situations when individuals experience restrictions in their everyday life as a result of deteriorated health, compromised functional capacities and social changes.…”