The Role of Personality in Becoming Aware of Age-Related Changes

Overview

Journal GeroPsych (Bern)

Specialty Geriatrics

Date 2020 May 5

PMID 32362819

Citations 10

Authors

Fiona S Rupprecht

Anne J Dutt

Hans-Werner Wahl

Manfred K Diehl

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Awareness of age-related change (AARC) refers to an individual's conscious knowledge about the gains and losses resulting from growing older. Personality traits reflect dispositional patterns of behavior, perception, and evaluation and should therefore influence the experience of AARC. The 4.5-year longitudinal study examines this association between personality traits and AARC in a sample of 423 individuals aged 40 to 98 years ( = 62.9 years) using latent change analyses. After controlling for sex, health, and education, a different pattern of associations for cross-sectional vs. longitudinal relations. Cross-sectionally, neuroticism was positively related to AARC losses, whereas openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism were positively related to AARC gains. Longitudinally, the impact of personality traits on change in AARC was rather limited with only higher conscientiousness acting as a predictor of decreases in AARC losses over time. Overall, the findings add to the existing literature on associations between personality traits and subjective aging. Specifically, the results indicate that personality traits are differentially related to awareness of age-related gains in comparison to awareness of age-related losses.

Citing Articles

Personal views of aging in midlife and older age: the role of personality.

Carbone E, Sella E, Signori D, Borella E Front Psychol. 2024; 15:1437232.

PMID: 39444839 PMC: 11497127. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1437232.

Awareness of age-related change in the context of major life events.

Rupprecht F, Sabatini S, Diehl M, Gerstorf D, Kaspar R, Schilling O Front Psychiatry. 2022; 13:954048.

PMID: 36386972 PMC: 9650375. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.954048.

No Pain, No Gain? Personality Associations With Awareness of Aging Depend on Arthritis.

Dunsmore V, Neupert S Front Psychol. 2022; 13:863152.

PMID: 35756270 PMC: 9218331. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.863152.

Awareness of Age-Related Changes Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults: Longitudinal Trajectories, and the Role of Age Stereotypes and Personality Traits.

Wettstein M, Kornadt A, Wahl H Front Psychiatry. 2022; 13:902909.

PMID: 35693951 PMC: 9174521. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.902909.

Associations of Agency and Communion With Domain-Specific Self-Perceptions of Aging: A Cross-Sectional Study In Old-Old Adults in Poor Health.

Blawert A, Schafer S, Wurm S Int J Aging Hum Dev. 2021; 95(2):245-262.

PMID: 34658260 PMC: 9289974. DOI: 10.1177/00914150211050874.

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