Personality and Inflammation: the Protective Effect of Openness to Experience

Overview

Journal Ethn Dis

Specialties Public Health
Social Sciences

Date 2010 Feb 25

PMID 20178176

Citations 10

Authors

Charles R Jonassaint

Stephen H Boyle

Cynthia M Kuhn

Ilene C Siegler

William E Copeland

Redford Williams

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Prior research found reduced mortality in coronary heart patients with higher scores on the Openness to Experience domain and its facets. Decreased C-reactive protein level (CRP) levels may be one mechanism by which higher Openness to Experience leads to decreased mortality. Thus, the current study aimed to test the association between the Openness to Experience domain and its facets, as assessed by the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised, and CRP in a sample of 165 healthy Black and White, male and female community volunteers.

Methods: Blood samples were taken before and after a 40-minute mental stress protocol. BMI and education were significant predictors of CRP and, in addition to age, were included as covariates in all analyses. Race and sex were tested as possible moderating variables.

Results: In a mixed effects model the main effect of time (pre/post-stress), Openness to Experience (O) and their interaction were not significant predictors of CRP. However, results showed a significant race x O effect on CRP (P=.03). In Blacks, higher Openness to Experience domain (r=-.41, P<.01), aesthetics facet (r=-.30, P=.01), feelings facet (r= -.41, P<.01), and ideas facet (r=-.38, P<.01) scores were associated with lower mean CRP levels. In contrast, among White participants, neither the Openness to Experience domain nor its related facets were associated with CRP.

Discussion: The Openness to Experience domain and its facets may be associated with markers of the inflammatory process among Blacks but not Whites.

Citing Articles

Associations of Personality Traits With Chronic Low-Grade Inflammation in a Swiss Community Sample.

Wagner E, Ajdacic-Gross V, Strippoli M, Gholam-Rezaee M, Glaus J, Vandeleur C Front Psychiatry. 2019; 10:819.

PMID: 31798472 PMC: 6863063. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00819.

Openness to experience and stress responsivity: An examination of cardiovascular and underlying hemodynamic trajectories within an acute stress exposure.

OSuilleabhain P, Howard S, Hughes B PLoS One. 2018; 13(6):e0199221.

PMID: 29912932 PMC: 6005471. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0199221.

Individual differences in aesthetic engagement are reflected in resting-state fMRI connectivity: Implications for stress resilience.

Williams P, Johnson K, Curtis B, King J, Anderson J Neuroimage. 2018; 179:156-165.

PMID: 29908310 PMC: 6410354. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.06.042.

Rhesus macaque personality, dominance, behavior, and health.

Robinson L, Coleman K, Capitanio J, Gottlieb D, Handel I, Adams M Am J Primatol. 2018; 80(2).

PMID: 29457637 PMC: 5969515. DOI: 10.1002/ajp.22739.

Personality Correlates of Midlife Cardiometabolic Risk: The Explanatory Role of Higher-Order Factors of the Five-Factor Model.

Dermody S, Wright A, Cheong J, Miller K, Muldoon M, Flory J J Pers. 2015; 84(6):765-776.

PMID: 26249259 PMC: 4744582. DOI: 10.1111/jopy.12216.

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