@article {STEPHAN2023107127, title = {Personality associations with lung function and dyspnea: Evidence from six studies}, journal = {Respiratory Medicine}, volume = {208}, year = {2023}, pages = {107127}, abstract = {Objective The present study examined the association between Five Factor Model personality traits and lung function and dyspnea. Methods Participants were middle aged and older adults aged 34{\textendash}103 years old (N > 25,000) from the Midlife in the United States Study (MIDUS), the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), the National Health and Aging Trends Survey (NHATS), and the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study graduate (WLSG) and sibling (WLSS) samples. Data on peak expiratory flow (PEF), dyspnea, personality traits, smoking, physical activity, body mass index (BMI), emotional/psychiatric problems, and demographic factors were obtained in each sample. Results A meta-analysis indicated that higher neuroticism was related to lower PEF, higher risk of PEF less than 80\% of predicted value, and higher risk of dyspnea. In contrast, higher extraversion and conscientiousness were associated with higher PEF, lower likelihood of PEF lower than 80\% of the predicted value, and lower risk of dyspnea. Higher openness was related to higher PEF and lower risk of PEF less than 80\%, whereas agreeableness was related to higher PEF and lower risk of dyspnea. Smoking, physical activity, BMI and emotional/psychiatric problems partially accounted for these associations. There was little evidence that lung disease moderated the association between personality and PEF and dyspnea. Conclusions Across cohorts, this study found replicable evidence that personality is associated with lung function and associated symptomatology.}, keywords = {Dyspnea, lung function, Peak expiratory flow, Personality}, issn = {0954-6111}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rmed.2023.107127}, author = {Yannick Stephan and Angelina R. Sutin and Martina Luchetti and Damaris Aschwanden and Pauline Caille and Antonio Terracciano} } @article {10702, title = {An examination of potential mediators of the relationship between polygenic scores of BMI and waist circumference and phenotypic adiposity}, journal = {Psychology \& Health}, year = {2020}, note = {PMID: 32275177}, type = {Journal}, abstract = {AbstractObjective: The present study examined whether physical activity, personality, cognition, education, and depressive symptoms mediate the association between polygenic scores (PGS) for body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference and the corresponding phenotypic adiposity measures.Design: Participants were 9,139 individuals aged 50 to 107 years (57\% women; Mean Age: 68.17, SD: 10.06) from the Health and Retirement Study who were genotyped. Trained staff measured their height, weight, and waist circumference, and participants answered questions on physical activity, personality, education, cognitive function, and depressive symptoms.Main Outcome Measures: BMI and waist circumference.Results: A higher PGS for both BMI and waist circumference were related to higher phenotypic BMI and waist circumference, respectively, in part through their association with lower physical activity, conscientiousness, education, and higher depressive symptoms but not cognition. The mediators accounted for 6.6\% of the association between PGS and BMI and 9.6\% of the association between PGS and waist circumference.Conclusion: The present study provides new evidence on the multiple, distinct pathways through which genetic propensity to higher BMI and waist circumference may lead to higher adiposity in adulthood. Individuals with a higher genetic predisposition to obesity may gain more weight through less adaptive behavioral, personality and educational profiles.}, keywords = {BMI, depression, Education, Personality, Physical activity, polygenic score, Waist Circumference}, doi = {10.1080/08870446.2020.1743839}, url = {https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32275177}, author = {Yannick Stephan and Angelina R Sutin and Martina Luchetti and Pauline Caille and Antonio Terracciano} } @article {STEPHAN2019187, title = {Cigarette smoking and personality change across adulthood: Findings from five longitudinal samples}, journal = {Journal of Research in Personality}, volume = {81}, year = {2019}, pages = {187 - 194}, type = {Journal}, abstract = {Personality traits are related to cigarette smoking. However, little is known about the link between smoking and change in personality. Therefore, the present study examined whether current cigarette smoking and smoking cessation are associated with personality change across adulthood. Participants (n = 15,572) aged from 20 to 92 years were drawn from five longitudinal cohorts with follow-ups that ranged from 4 to 20 years. Compared to non-smokers, current smokers were more likely to increase on neuroticism and to decline on extraversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness over time. Compared to the persistent smokers, those who quit had a steeper decline in agreeableness. Cigarette smoking is related to detrimental personality changes across adulthood, and the pattern was not improved by smoking cessation.}, keywords = {Cigarette smoking, longitudinal study, Personality change}, issn = {0092-6566}, doi = {doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2019.06.006}, url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092656618300825}, author = {Yannick Stephan and Angelina R Sutin and Martina Luchetti and Pauline Caille and Antonio Terracciano} } @article {PMID:31335490, title = {Personality and hearing acuity: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing}, journal = {Psychosomatic medicine}, year = {2019}, month = {07/2019}, abstract = {OBJECTIVE:Several determinants of age-related hearing impairment have been identified, but little is known about the predictive value of psychological factors. The present study examined whether five-factor model personality traits are prospectively associated with hearing acuity in middle-aged and older adults. METHODS:Participants were adults aged 50 to 97 years (N> 10,000) drawn from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS, 2012-2016) and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA, 2010-2014). In each sample, personality, demographic factors, health-related behaviors, BMI, and memory function were assessed at baseline and objective hearing acuity was measured four years later. RESULTS:In both samples, higher conscientiousness and openness were associated with better hearing acuity and lower risk of impairment, whereas neuroticism was associated with a higher risk of hearing impairment. In the HRS and ELSA respectively, 1 SD higher conscientiousness and openness and 1 SD lower neuroticism were related to a 13-10\%, 8-6\%, and 10-13\% lower likelihood of hearing impairment, respectively. In both samples, additional analyses revealed that physical activity and memory mediated the association between personality and hearing. CONCLUSIONS:The present study provides robust evidence for an association between personality traits and hearing function. The findings broaden knowledge on risk and mitigating factors for age-related hearing impairment, which has implications for the quality of life of middle-aged and older adults.}, keywords = {English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, hearing, hearing acuity, Personality}, issn = {0033-3174}, doi = {10.1097/psy.0000000000000734}, url = {https://europepmc.org/abstract/med/31335490}, author = {Yannick Stephan and Angelina R Sutin and Pauline Caille and Antonio Terracciano} } @article {9941, title = {Polygenic Score for Alzheimer Disease and cognition: The mediating role of personality.}, journal = {Journal of Psychiatric Research}, volume = {107}, year = {2018}, pages = {110-113}, abstract = {Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s disease (AD) polygenic risk score (PGS) is associated with lower cognitive functioning even among older individuals without dementia. We tested the hypothesis that personality traits mediate the association between AD genetic risk and cognitive functioning. Participants (N > 7,000, aged 50-99 years old) from the Health and Retirement Study were genotyped and completed personality and cognition tests at baseline. Cognition was assessed again four years later. Bootstrap analysis revealed that a higher AD polygenic risk score was associated with lower cognitive scores at baseline through higher neuroticism, lower conscientiousness, and lower levels of the industriousness facet of conscientiousness. In addition, a higher polygenic score for AD was associated with decline in cognition over four years in part through higher neuroticism and lower conscientiousness. The findings support the hypothesis that the genetic vulnerability for AD contributes to cognitive functioning in part through its association with personality traits.}, keywords = {Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s disease, Cognition \& Reasoning, Personality, PGS}, issn = {1879-1379}, doi = {10.1016/j.jpsychires.2018.10.015}, author = {Yannick Stephan and Angelina R Sutin and Martina Luchetti and Pauline Caille and Antonio Terracciano} }