Personality and Falls Among Older Adults: Evidence From a Longitudinal Cohort

Brice Canada, Yannick Stephan, Angelina R Sutin, Antonio Terracciano and Derek Isaacowitz

The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 2020, vol. 75, issue 9, 1905-1910

Abstract: ObjectivesFalls can have catastrophic consequences, especially for older adults. This study examined whether personality traits predict the incidence of falls in older age.MethodParticipants were older adults aged from 65 to 99 years (N = 4,759) drawn from the Health and Retirement Study. Personality traits and demographic factors were assessed at baseline. Falls were tracked for up to 11 years.ResultsOver the follow-up period, 2,811 individuals reported falls. Cox regression analyses that included demographic covariates indicated that lower conscientiousness and higher neuroticism increased the risk of falling. Disease burden, depressive symptoms, and physical inactivity mediated the associations between both traits and falls incidence, whereas smoking status and handgrip strength mediated the neuroticism–falls incidence association.DiscussionThis study provides new prospective evidence that personality predicts the incidence of falls in older adults and suggest that personality assessment may help identifying individuals at higher risk of falling.

Keywords: Conscientiousness; Functional limitation; Neuroticism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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The Journals of Gerontology: Series B is currently edited by Psychological Sciences - S. Duke Han, PhD and Social Sciences - Jessica A Kelley, PhD, FGSA

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