Associations of openness and conscientiousness with walking speed decline: findings from the Health, Aging, and Body Composition Study

Classification of gait variation under mental workload in big five personalities

BACKGROUND

Human behavior patterns involve mutual interactions among psychology, physiology, and stress, which are all associated with gait at different grades.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The study aims to reveal the interrelationship among personality, mental workload, and gait patterns by capturing gait variations using inertial sensors. It also assesses individual personality traits and simulates stress to construct a gait classification model.

METHODS

Sixty participants were instructed to perform regular, low, and high mental workload walking on the corridor to simulate a natural setting walking. Meanwhile inertial measurement units (IMUs) were placed on eight body parts. Mental workload was induced using the auditory n-back task, and their Big Five personality traits were evaluated. Gait data from IMUs were categorized into nine classifications of average, low, and high Big Five Inventory scores with three levels of mental workload walking. Subsequently, the segmentation gait data were used as input features for classifications in deep learning models, employing a sliding window long short-term memory network for nine classifications for different personality dimensions.

RESULTS

The results indicated average accuracies of nine classifications were 83.6 % for Openness, 84.4 % for Conscientiousness, 82.0 % for Extraversion, 85.2 % for Agreeableness, and 84.5 % for Neuroticism across all IMU placements. Remarkably, gait data from the lower back IMU achieved the highest model performance, with an average accuracy of 92.7 %, in classifying the different levels of personality and mental workload walking. In contrast, the left wrist and chest showed several misclassifications among regular, low, and high mental workload walking across personality traits.

SIGNIFICANCE

Successful classification can help monitor an individual's mental state in real time and analyze personality dimensions, providing feedback and suggestions. The present study demonstrated that gait characteristics can contribute to more profound and personalized health information.

The Life-Space Mobility of Community-Dwelling Older Adults is Associated With Personality Traits

Life-space mobility (LSM) in older adults is influenced by physical, cognitive, and psychological states. However, the relationship between LSM and personality traits remains unclear. Thus, our cross-sectional study investigated this correlation, which included 144 participants aged ≥60 years. LSM was assessed using the life-space assessment (LSA), and personality traits were evaluated using the Japanese version of the Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI-J). Physical data were also collected. Univariate analyses revealed that among young-older adults, extroversion in the TIPI-J showed a significant association with LSA scores in addition to handgrip strength. Among old-older adults, openness to experience in the TIPI-J demonstrated a significant association with LSA scores in addition to quadriceps strength. This study revealed correlations between personality traits (extroversion and openness to experience) and LSM, in addition to physical function. Considering older adults' personality traits is crucial for designing support and interventions to maintain and expand LSM.

Mind to move: Differences in running biomechanics between sensing and intuition shod runners

Delving into the complexities of embodied cognition unveils the intertwined influence of mind, body, and environment. The connection of physical activity with cognition sparks a hypothesis linking motion and personality traits. Hence, this study explored whether personality traits could be linked to biomechanical variables characterizing running forms. To do so, 80 runners completed three randomized 50-m running-trials at 3.3, 4.2, and 5m/s during which their running biomechanics [ground contact time (tc), flight time (tf), duty factor (DF), step frequency (SF), leg stiffness (kleg), maximal vertical ground reaction force (Fmax), and maximal leg compression of the spring during stance (ΔL)] was evaluated. In addition, participants' personality traits were assessed through the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test. The MBTI classifies personality traits into one of two possible categories along four axes: extraversion-introversion; sensing-intuition; thinking-feeling; and judging-perceiving. This exploratory study offers compelling evidence that personality traits, specifically sensing and intuition, are associated with distinct running biomechanics. Individuals classified as sensing demonstrated a more grounded running style characterized by prolonged tc, shorter tf, higher DF, and greater ΔL compared to intuition individuals (p≤0.02). Conversely, intuition runners exhibited a more dynamic and elastic running style with a shorter tc and higher kleg than their sensing counterparts (p≤0.02). Post-hoc tests revealed a significant difference in tc between intuition and sensing runners at all speeds (p≤0.02). According to the definition of each category provided by the MBTI, sensing individuals tend to focus on concrete facts and physical realities while intuition individuals emphasize abstract concepts and patterns of information. These results suggest that runners with sensing and intuition personality traits differ in their ability to use their lower limb structures as springs. Intuition runners appeared to rely more in the stretch-shortening cycle to energetically optimize their running style while sensing runners seemed to optimize running economy by promoting more forward progression than vertical oscillations. This study underscores the intriguing interplay between personality traits of individuals and their preferred movement patterns.

The impact of personality traits on the course of frailty

OBJECTIVES

Determinants of frailty are generally explored within context of somatic healthcare and/or lifestyle characteristics. To examine the impact of personality traits on change in frailty and the potential role of depression.

METHODS

A 2-year follow-up study including 285 patients with a depressive disorder and 116 never-depressed controls. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to regress the Big Five personality traits (independent variables) on different frailty measures (dependent variables), including the Frailty Index, Frailty phenotype, gait speed, and handgrip strength. Analyses were adjusted for confounders (with and without depressive disorder) and baseline frailty severity. Interactions between personality traits and depressive disorder were examined.

RESULTS

All personality traits were associated with change in at least one frailty marker over time. Over time, a higher level of neuroticism was associated with an accelerated increase of frailty, whereas a higher level of extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness were associated with an attenuated increase of frailty. None of the associations were moderated by depression. Additional adjustment for depression decreased the strength of the association of neuroticism, extraversion and conscientiousness with frailty.

CONCLUSIONS

Personality traits have impact on frailty trajectories in later life.

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

Underlying pathways and potential modification by psychotherapy merit further study.

Reliability and validity analysis of personality assessment model based on gait video

Personality affects an individual’s academic achievements, occupational tendencies, marriage quality and physical health, so more convenient and objective personality assessment methods are needed. Gait is a natural, stable, and easy-to-observe body movement that is closely related to personality. The purpose of this paper is to propose a personality assessment model based on gait video and evaluate the reliability and validity of the multidimensional model. This study recruited 152 participants and used cameras to record their gait videos. Each participant completed a 44-item Big Five Inventory (BFI-44) assessment. We constructed diverse static and dynamic time-frequency features based on gait skeleton coordinates, interframe differences, distances between joints, angles between joints, and wavelet decomposition coefficient arrays. We established multidimensional personality trait assessment models through machine learning algorithms and evaluated the criterion validity, split-half reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity of these models. The results showed that the reliability and validity of the Gaussian process regression (GPR) and linear regression (LR) models were best. The mean values of their criterion validity were 0.478 and 0.508, respectively, and the mean values of their split-half reliability were all greater than 0.8. In the formed multitrait-multimethod matrix, these methods also had higher convergent and discriminative validity. The proposed approach shows that gait video can be effectively used to evaluate personality traits, providing a new idea for the formation of convenient and non-invasive personality assessment methods.

Relationship between personality and physical capacities in older adults: The mediating role of subjective age, aging attitudes and physical self-perceptions

Walking speed and muscular strength are two main markers of health in adulthood. Previous studies have shown that personality traits may predict these two outcomes. However, little is known about the mechanisms underlying these relationships. Thus, the present study examined whether personality traits are associated with walking speed and muscular strength through the mediating role of subjective age (how young or old individuals experience themselves to be), attitudes toward aging and physical self-perceptions. Community-dwelling older women (N = 243; M_age = 73.0; SD_age = 6.5) were recruited. For reasons of recruitment feasibility, participants were only older women. They were requested to complete a questionnaire measuring personality, subjective age, attitudes toward aging and physical self-perceptions. Following this, their walking speed and their muscular strength were investigated. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. In line with the literature, we extended the associations between extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness and walking speed and between conscientiousness, neuroticism, openness and muscular strength. Physical self-perceptions appear to be a robust mediator between personality traits and walking speed whereas attitudes toward aging and subjective age mediated the personality traits/muscular strength relationship. This study provides evidence, for the first time, that the associations between personality traits and physical capacities are different according to the physical capacities investigated. Based on these results, it could be interesting to adapt physical activity interventions to the psychological profile of older adults.

Personality traits and physical functioning: a cross-sectional multimethod facet-level analysis

BACKGROUND

This study aimed to investigate whether personality traits and their facets are associated with a multi-methods assessment of physical activity and walking performance and whether they explain the discrepancy between self-reported and accelerometer-assessed physical activity.

METHODS

The participants were community-dwelling, 70-85-year-old men and women from Finland (n = 239) who were part of a clinical trial. Personality traits and their facets were measured using the 240-item NEO Personality Inventory-3. Physical activity was assessed using questions about frequency, intensity and duration of exercise (self-reported metabolic equivalent minutes (MET)) and by tri-axial accelerometers (light and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and total MET-minutes). Walking performance was measured by 6-min walking distance and 10-m walking speed. Linear regression analyses were controlled for age, sex, education, body mass index, disease burden, and intervention group.

RESULTS

The activity facet of extraversion was positively associated with self-reported MET-minutes, accelerometer-assessed light physical activity and walking performance. The positive emotions facet of extraversion was positively associated with self-reported MET-minutes and walking performance. Openness and its facets and the excitement seeking facet of extraversion were positively associated with walking performance. Conscientiousness and most of its facets were associated with both physical activity and walking performance, but these associations were not statistically significant after accounting for all control variables. The impulsiveness facet of neuroticism was negatively associated with accelerometer-assessed light physical activity and walking performance, but the associations with walking performance attenuated after accounting for all control variables. Accelerometer-assessed moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was not associated with personality traits or facets. Discrepancy analyses suggest that openness and the excitement-seeking facet of extraversion were associated with higher self-reported than accelerometer-assessed physical activity.

CONCLUSIONS

Consistently across methods, older adults who scored higher on facets of extraversion and conscientiousness tended to be more active and outperformed peers on walking performance. Older adults who scored higher in the facets of openness and the excitement-seeking facet of extraversion had better walking performance but also overestimated their self-reported physical activity compared to the accelerometers.

Personality and Risk of Frailty: the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

Background

There is evidence that the personality traits conscientiousness, extraversion and neuroticism are associated with health behaviours and with risk of various health outcomes. We hypothesised that people who are lower in conscientiousness or extraversion or higher in neuroticism may be at greater risk of frailty in later life.

Methods

We used general linear models to examine the prospective relation between personality, assessed using the Midlife Development Inventory, and change in frailty, modelled by a frailty index, in 5314 men and women aged 60 to over 90 years from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.

Results

Men and women with higher levels of neuroticism or lower levels of extraversion or conscientiousness had an increased frailty index score at follow-up. After adjustment for potential confounding or mediating variables, including frailty index score at baseline, the frailty index score at follow-up—which potentially ranges from 0 to 1—was higher by 0.035 (95 % confidence interval 0.018, 0.052) for a standard deviation increase in neuroticism and lower by 0.061 (0.031, 0.091) or 0.045 (0.020, 0.071) for a standard deviation increase in extraversion or conscientiousness, respectively. There was some evidence that the association between extraversion and frailty may be due to reverse causation whereby poorer health affected responses to items in the personality inventory.

Conclusions

Higher levels of neuroticism or lower levels of conscientiousness or extraversion may be risk factors for the onset or progression of frailty. Future studies need to replicate these observations in other populations and explore the mechanisms underlying these associations.

The role of gender in the association between personality and task priority in older adults' dual-tasking while walking

BACKGROUND

Falls are a major problem for older adults. Many falls occur when a person's attention is divided between two tasks, such as a dual task (DT) involving walking. Most recently, the role of personality in walking performance was addressed; however, its association with DT performance remains to be determined.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study of 73 older, community-dwelling adults explores the association between personality and DT walking and the role of gender in this relationship. Personality was evaluated using the five-factor model. Single-task (ST) and DT assessment of walking-cognitive DT performance comprised a 1-min walking task and an arithmetic task performed separately (ST) and concurrently (DT). Dual-task costs (DTCs), reflecting the proportional difference between ST and DT performance, were also calculated.

RESULTS

Gender plays a role in the relationship between personality and DT. Extraversion was negatively associated with DTC-motor for men (ΔR² = 0.06, p < 0.05). Conscientiousness was positively associated with DTC-cognition for women (ΔR² = 0.08, p < 0.01).

CONCLUSION

These findings may lead to effective personality-based early detection and intervention for fall prevention.

Personality and Lung Function in Older Adults

OBJECTIVES

Lung disease is a leading cause of disability and death among older adults. We examine whether personality traits are associated with lung function and shortness of breath (dyspnea) in a national cohort with and without chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

METHOD

Participants (N = 12,670) from the Health and Retirement Study were tested for peak expiratory flow (PEF) and completed measures of personality, health behaviors, and a medical history.

RESULTS

High neuroticism and low extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness were associated with lower PEF, and higher likelihood of COPD and dyspnea. Conscientiousness had the strongest and most consistent associations, including lower risk of PEF less than 80% of the predicted value (OR = 0.67; 0.62-0.73) and dyspnea (OR = 0.52; 0.47-0.57). Although attenuated, the associations remained significant when accounting for smoking, physical activity, and chronic diseases including cardiovascular and psychiatric disorders. The associations between personality and PEF or dyspnea were similar among those with or without COPD, suggesting that psychological links to lung function are not disease dependent. In longitudinal analyses, high neuroticism (β = -0.019) and low conscientiousness (β = 0.027) predicted steeper declines in PEF.

DISCUSSION

A vulnerable personality profile is common among individuals with limited lung function and COPD, predicts shortness of breath and worsening lung function.

Personality and Walking Speed Across Adulthood

Walking speed is one marker of health in adulthood. Although personality may contribute to gait speed, there is limited longitudinal data on this association. Thus, the present study examined whether personality traits are prospectively associated with walking speed among middle aged and older adults. Participants were adults aged from 25 to 100 years old ( N > 15,000) drawn from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study Graduate and Sibling samples, the Midlife in the United States Survey, the Health and Retirement Study, and the National Health and Aging Trends Survey. Across most samples and in a meta-analysis, lower neuroticism and higher extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness at baseline were prospectively related to faster gait speed. In the HRS, lower neuroticism and higher extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness were related to slower gait speed decline. This study provides robust evidence that walking speed in adulthood reflects, in part, the individual’s personality.

Personality and actigraphy-measured physical activity in older adults

Most studies on personality and physical activity have relied on self-report measures. This study examined the relation between Five Factor Model personality traits and objective physical activity in older adults. Sixty-nine participants (Mage = 80.2 years; SD = 7.1) wore the ActiGraph monitor for 7 days and completed the NEO Personality Inventory-3 First Half. Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness were associated with more moderate physical activity and more steps per day whereas Neuroticism was inversely related to these physical activity measures (βs > .20). The associations for Neuroticism and Conscientiousness were attenuated by approximately 20-40% when accounting for disease burden and body mass index but were essentially unchanged for Extraversion and Agreeableness. These findings confirm self-report evidence that personality traits are associated with physical activity levels in older adults. (PsycINFO Database Record

12-Year Associations of Health with Personality in the Second Half of Life

Abstract. We examined longitudinal associations between personality, objective (physician-rated) and self-rated health over 12 years in two German cohorts (midlife cohort, born 1950/52, nT0 = 502; late-life cohort, born 1930/32, nT0 = 500) from the Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study of Adult Development (ILSE). Based on cross-lagged panel design analyses controlling for sex, education, depression, and cognitive abilities, we found that after 12 years better baseline objective health predicted lower Neuroticism and higher Agreeableness, whereas baseline Extraversion and Conscientiousness were positive predictors of later self-rated health. Our findings thus illustrate that the direction of longitudinal personality-health associations is dependent on whether objective or self-rated health is considered, whereas relations do not seem to be considerably different in midlife vs. in old age.

A cross-sectional study of the association between mobility test performance and personality among older adults

Background

Falls among the elderly are a major public health challenge. The Timed-Up and Go (TUG) test is commonly used to identify older adults with mobility limitations. This study explored the association between TUG test results and personality among community-dwelling older adults.

Methods

This cross-sectional study included 85 older adults. Personality was evaluated with the Five Factor Model. Times to complete the TUG as a single task (TUGST) alone and also with an additional cognitive task i.e., dual-task (DT), were recorded. Ordinary least squares OLS regression models were used to examine the associations between personality factors and both single DT TUG.

Results

Extraversion was found to be inversely associated with time to complete the TUGST (β = -.26, p < .05). Conscientiousness was inversely associated with TUGDT (β = -.24, p < .01).

Conclusions

Findings from this study highlight the relationship between personality and the TUG test. Specifically, older adults with high Extraversion completed the TUGST test more quickly than those who had lower measures of this trait and, people with high Conscientiousness completed the TUGDT tests more quickly. These findings may contribute to early identification of older adults at higher risk from mobility limitations and falls, and to developing personality-tailored interventions for fall prevention.

The Role of Personality in Sport and Physical Activity

There is now good evidence that athletic success and participation in physical activity can be predicted by personality traits. In this article, we review new studies that have contributed to our understanding of these relationships and outline potential avenues of inquiry to support the development of personality-trait research in exercise and sport. Our review identified a number of novel findings from contemporary studies. In the context of sport performance, new studies have demonstrated that personality traits relate to long-term athletic success, interpersonal relationships, and athletes’ psychological states before, during, and after competitions. In the context of health-related exercise, new studies have demonstrated that personality traits relate to leisure-time sitting time, strength and mobility in old age, and unhealthy (addictive) exercise behaviors. There is also evidence that physical activity contributes to personality change. Our recommendations include a more targeted focus on adolescence (as this is the age of greatest change in personality and sport participation) and a greater consideration of consultant personality traits in applied research and professional practice (given their role in intervention effectiveness).

Personality traits and chronic disease: implications for adult personality development

OBJECTIVE

Personality traits have been associated with chronic disease. Less is known about the longitudinal relation between personality and disease and whether chronic disease is associated with changes in personality. Method. Participants from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (N = 2,008) completed the Revised NEO Personality Inventory and a standard medical interview at regularly scheduled visits; the Charlson Comorbidity Index, a weighted sum of 19 serious diseases, was derived from this interview. Using data from 6,685 visits, we tested whether personality increased risk of disease and whether disease was associated with personality change.

RESULTS

Measured concurrently, neuroticism and conscientiousness were associated with greater disease burden. The impulsiveness facet of neuroticism was the strongest predictor of developing disease across the follow-up period: For every standard deviation increase in impulsiveness, there was a 26% increased risk of developing disease and a 36% increased risk of getting more ill. Personality traits changed only modestly with disease: As participants developed chronic illnesses, they became more conservative (decreased openness). Discussion. This research indicates that personality traits confer risk for disease, in part, through health-risk behaviors. These traits, however, were relatively resistant to the effect of serious disease.

Factors influencing adult physical health after controlling for current health conditions: evidence from a british cohort

This study explored a longitudinal data set of 6875 British adults examining the effects of parental social status (measured at birth), cognitive ability (at age 11 yrs), personality traits, education and occupational attainment on physical health and functioning (all measured at age 50 yrs), after taking account of current health conditions (number of illness). Correlation analysis showed that parental social class, childhood cognitive ability, education and occupation, and two personality traits (Emotional Stability/Neuroticism, and Conscientiousness) were all significantly associated with adult physical health variables. Structural equation modelling showed that health conditions and personality traits were significantly, and inversely, associated with physical health (indicated by good daily physical functioning, relative absence of pain, perceived health, and low level of limitations at work due to physical health). Parental social status, childhood intelligence, educational and occupational attainment were all modestly, but significantly and directly, associated with adult physical health. The effect of childhood intelligence on adult physical health was, in part, mediated through Emotional Stability and Conscientiousness. After controlling for health conditions Emotional Stability was the strongest predictor of physical health. Implications and limitations are discussed.

Personality profile of the children of long-lived parents

OBJECTIVES

Past research has shown that parental longevity is related to offspring physical health and longevity. Preliminary studies suggest that parental longevity may be linked to the offspring's personality traits. A comprehensive 5-factor personality model has been related to physical health, but the association with parental longevity has not yet been investigated. We used a 5-factor personality model to investigate the relationship between parental longevity and offspring personality.

METHOD

Data from the longitudinal Health and Retirement Study (HRS) was used in the analyses. Using the Midlife Development Inventory and the Life Orientation test, the relationship between parental attained age and offspring personality was assessed using regression models for both men and women.

RESULTS

Male offspring of long-lived fathers and mothers were more likely to be open to new experiences (p < .01) and be more extroverted (p = .03) compared with male offspring of short-lived fathers or mothers. Maternal or paternal attained age had no effect on the female offspring personality traits.

DISCUSSION

Personality is an important phenotype to consider when investigating genetic and environmental determinants of longevity. Further research is needed to investigate the potential of gender-specific mechanisms.

Interplay of cognitive and motivational resources for out-of-home behavior in a sample of cognitively heterogeneous older adults: findings of the SenTra project

OBJECTIVES

We examined in this study the hypothesis that cognitive resources are more closely linked with out-of-home behavior than motivational resources.

METHOD

A cognitively heterogeneous sample of 222 older adults aged 59-91 years (M = 72.7; SD = 6.2), including 146 cognitively healthy persons and 76 persons with mild cognitive impairment-recruited in the German and Israeli arm of the SenTra project-was used for the analysis. Out-of-home behavior was assessed by means of global positioning system technology (time out of home; number of nodes visited) as well as by questionnaire (out-of-home activities). Mini-Mental State Examination and trail-making tests A and B were used to assess cognitive resources. Well-being, depression, and environmental mastery were assessed as motivational resources.

RESULTS

Findings at the zero-order and latent variable levels confirmed that cognitive resources were more closely linked with out-of-home behavior than motivational resources.

DISCUSSION

Findings support the view that well-being-related motivations to exert out-of-home behavior may become less important in old age because of the increasing cognitive resources required by such behavior.