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The Impact of Personality Change on Health Among a Diverse Sample of Older Americans: Findings from the Health and Retirement Study

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Applied Demography and Public Health in the 21st Century

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Abstract

Research analyzing racial/ethnic variation in personality from a population-level is limited, yet serves as an important component in researchers’ understanding of the links between psychosocial well-being and health outcomes. Using the 2006 and 2010 waves of the Health and Retirement Study, this study examines racial/ethnic variation in the reports of personality, as measured by the Big Five personality model, in a sample of whites, blacks and Hispanics, ages 50 and older. This study also evaluates changes in the mean score of personality traits by race/ethnicity between 2006 and 2010. T-tests and logistic regression analyses were conducted. Personality at the trait level and the change in the mean score of personality are used as predictors of hypertension in 2010. Results show that variation exists on mean personality scores, with Hispanics having higher scores on neuroticism and lower scores on openness to experience. Whites score higher on conscientiousness than both blacks and Hispanics. Small mean changes are evident in the sample, with extraversion showing a slight decline over time in all groups. Neuroticism, conscientiousness, and agreeableness are associated with the prevalence and management of hypertension. Blacks have higher rates of prevalence, yet lower rates of undiagnosed hypertension, a finding which remains significant after accounting for socio-demographic and personality related characteristics.

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  1. Pan-African Studies and Sociology, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA

    Latrica E. Best

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Hobby Center for Public Policy, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, USA

    M. Nazrul Hoque

  2. Institute for Demographic and and Socioeconomic Research, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, USA

    Beverly Pecotte

  3. Health Statistics Branch, Center for Public Health Practice, Arkansas Department of Health, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA

    Mary A. McGehee

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Best, L.E. (2017). The Impact of Personality Change on Health Among a Diverse Sample of Older Americans: Findings from the Health and Retirement Study. In: Hoque, M., Pecotte, B., McGehee, M. (eds) Applied Demography and Public Health in the 21st Century. Applied Demography Series, vol 8. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43688-3_4

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