Key points. Among the "Big Five" personality traits, conscientiousness is especially predictive of living a longer life. The trait has also been linked to health-related behaviors such as smoking and sleep, which may help explain its link to longevity.
Among the "Big Five" personality traits, conscientiousness is especially predictive of living a longer life. The trait has also been linked to health-related behaviors such as smoking and sleep, which may help explain its link to longevity.
Conscientiousness seems to be the personality trait most closely linked to longevity.
Since Conscientiousness was the only personality trait that predicted mortality after adjusting for demographic factors, all other traits were dropped from the mediation analysis.
“Not only do conscientious individuals have better health habits and less risk-taking, but they also travel life pathways toward healthier psychosocial environments – such as more stable jobs and marriages – and may even have a biological predisposition toward good health,” he said.
These results suggest that high scores in the specific personality traits conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness, are associated with longevity.
Parental longevity is one of the most important predictors of survival to age 100 for both men and women.
Agreeableness and Conscientiousness showed relatively gradual increases in absolute scores across the life span whereas Neuroticism showed relatively gradual decreases.
Although several physiologic parameters differed between survivors and nonsurvivors, age-adjusted Cox regression revealed that exercise capacity was the strongest independent predictor of death.
Factors that influence longevity
The rate at which we age is determined by a multifactorial combination of lifestyle, genetics and environment, with the two most influential factors being genes and environment.
Exercising regularly, adopting a healthful diet, not smoking, not becoming overweight, and drinking only moderate amounts of alcohol could all lengthen life at age 50 for women by 14 years and for men by 12 years. Share on Pinterest Regular exercise is one of five things that you can do to lengthen your lifespan.
But research suggests there are two traits that are common to the majority of successful leaders: extroversion and conscientiousness.
They isolated five. Those who were optimistic, resilient, stubborn, hardworking, and family-oriented, tended to live longer and enjoyed better psychological health.
This means planning, foresight, and caution are the most valued personality traits when it comes to leading a long life—All traits that C personality types are very familiar with.
Studies show that maturation may have an impact on the five personality traits. As people age, they tend to become less extraverted, less neurotic, and less open to an experience. Agreeableness and conscientiousness, on the other hand, tend to increase as people grow older.
The results also show that some aspects of personality are more likely to change than others. For instance, leadership, calmness, and vigor traits were least likely to change over the course of one's lifespan, while culture, sociability, maturity, and self-confidence traits showed the most change.
In this table, the Big Five domains are ordered by their relative stability: from Extraversion (most stable) to Neuroticism (least stable).
The 10 Symbols of Longevity ("shipjangsaengdo") is a painting depicting the 10 elements of nature that symbolize eternal youth. These symbols are: the sun, clouds, mountains, water, pine trees, turtles, deer, cranes, peaches, and the herb of eternal youth.
Telomere length is the most well studied biological age predictor, but many new predictors are emerging. The epigenetic clock is currently the best biological age predictor, as it correlates well with age and predicts mortality.
Researchers have found that conscientiousness increases through young adulthood into middle age, as we become better able to manage our personal relationships and careers. Agreeableness also increases with age, peaking between 50 to 70 years. However, neuroticism and extroversion tend to decline slightly with age.
Conscientiousness is top personality predictor of positive career and work-related outcomes, has broad benefits | University of Minnesota.
What happens to our personality as we age? A 2018 study suggests that as we age, our levels of calmness, self-confidence, leadership, and social sensitivity increases.
The siblings and children (collectively called first-degree relatives) of long-lived individuals are more likely to remain healthy longer and to live to an older age than their peers. People with centenarian parents are less likely at age 70 to have the age-related diseases that are common among older adults.