Abstract
Individual differences in the Big Five personality traits have emerged as predictors of health and longevity. Although there are robust protective effects for higher levels of conscientiousness, results are mixed for other personality traits. In particular, higher levels of neuroticism have significantly predicted an increased risk of mortality, no-risk at all, and even a reduced risk of dying. The current study hypothesizes that one potential reason for the discrepancy in these findings for neuroticism is that interactions among neuroticism and other key personality traits have largely been ignored. Thus, in the current study we focus on testing whether the personality traits neuroticism and conscientiousness interact to predict mortality. Specifically, we borrow from recent evidence of "healthy neuroticism" to explore whether higher levels of neuroticism are only a risk factor for increased mortality risk when conscientiousness levels are low. We conducted a pre-registered integrative data analysis using 12 different cohort studies (total N = 44,702). Although a consistent pattern emerged of higher levels of conscientiousness predicting a reduced hazard of dying, neuroticism did not show a consistent pattern of prediction. Moreover, no study provided statistical evidence of a neuroticism by conscientiousness interaction. The current findings do not support the idea that the combination of high conscientiousness and high neuroticism can be protective for longevity. Future work is needed to explore different protective factors that may buffer the negative effects of higher levels of neuroticism on health, as well as other behaviors and outcomes that may support the construct of healthy neuroticism.
Highlights
IntroductionIn the current study we focus on testing whether the personality traits neuroticism and conscientiousness interact to predict mortality
The plotted survival curves showed that women high in conscientiousness and low in neuroticism had the lowest mortality risk, but based on visual inspection we suggest that there was a survival advantage when neuroticism was high in combination with high conscientiousness
Significant associations between higher neuroticism and increased mortality risk were only found in three studies, while null effects were found in the others which is similar to an earlier investigation of many of the same studies (Graham et al, 2017)
Summary
In the current study we focus on testing whether the personality traits neuroticism and conscientiousness interact to predict mortality. Future work is needed to explore different protective factors that may buffer the negative effects of higher levels of neuroticism on health, as well as other behaviors and outcomes that may support the construct of healthy neuroticism. The combination of high neuroticism and high conscientiousness would result in reduced mortality risk whereas the combination of high neuroticism and low conscientiousness will be associated with increased mortality risk. We tested this hypothesis in a coordinated analysis framework across 12 diverse longitudinal studies, some of which span the full adult life span
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