Targeting psychological processes related to personality facets to promote healthy aging.

Abstract

The relationship between personality and healthy aging has been well-documented. Conscientiousness has been shown to be related to life span (Roberts, Kuncel, Shiner, Caspi, & Goldberg, 2007) and to the development of Alzheimer's disease (Terracciano et al., 2014). Neuroticism has also been linked to health, but in both positive and negative ways. (Friedman, 2000; Roberts et al., 2007). The presence of these relationships leads to numerous questions regarding the pathways through which these relationships are formed, the possibility of causal relationships between facets of personality and health-specifically, the behavioral, emotional, and cognitive dispositions and processes that constitute distinct personality facets-and the ways in which information about these processes may be utilized to promote health and well-being. Although personality is often thought of as a stable trait, Roberts et al. (2017) had shown that facets of personality may be modifiable, leading to the question of whether distinct psychological processes associated with the personality traits of conscientiousness and neuroticism can be modified to promote healthy aging. The articles in this special section were inspired by this growing body of literature linking personality to health and well-being, and the body of literature showing that behavioral and emotional processes that may be related to facets of personality are modifiable. This special section is devoted to an exploration of these questions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).