Age-associated cognitive changes in community dwelling adults

在一个居住在社区的样本中（N = 4，790;年龄范围14-94），我们研究了人格特质是否前瞻性地预测了语言流畅性任务的表现。开放、外向和情绪稳定的参与者有更好的语言流畅性。在小层面上，性格快乐和自律的参与者检索到更多的单词;那些容易焦虑和抑郁的人和那些深思熟虑的人检索到的单词较少。教育程度调节了勤奋和流利之间的关联，因此，如果受教育程度较低的参与者也很认真，他们在流利任务中表现得更好。年龄不是一个主持人在域水平上，表明个性流畅协会是一致的整个寿命。情绪脆弱、不开放、不快乐和不自律的倾向可能对认知表现有害。 人格特质有助于健康结果，部分原因是它们与主要的可控风险因素（如肥胖）有关。反过来，体重反映了我们的行为和生活方式，并有助于我们看待自己和他人的方式。在这项研究中，作者使用了一项跨越50多年的大型（N = 1，988）纵向研究的数据，以研究人格特质如何与肥胖的多种测量以及体重指数（BMI）的波动相关。研究人员使用了14,531项人体测量评估，模拟了成年期BMI的轨迹，并测试了性格是否能预测其变化率。同时测量，神经质或外向性较高或责任心较低的参与者具有较高的BMI;这些关联在体脂，腰围和臀围中复制。发现与冲动性方面的关联最强：冲动性得分前10%的参与者平均比冲动性得分后10%的参与者重11公斤。纵向上，高神经质和低责任心，以及这些特质与冲动控制困难有关的方面，与体重波动有关，测量体重随时间的变化。最后，低亲和力和冲动相关的特征预测了成年后BMI的更大增长。BMI与人格特征的变化基本无关。人格特征是由认知，情感和行为模式定义的，这些模式可能导致不健康的体重和体重管理困难。这种关联可能阐明人格特质在疾病进展中的作用，并可能有助于设计更有效的干预措施。

In a community-dwelling sample (N = 4,790; age range 14-94), we examined whether personality traits prospectively predicted performance on a verbal fluency task. Open, extraverted, and emotionally stable participants had better verbal fluency. At the facet level, dispositionally happy and self-disciplined participants retrieved more words; those prone to anxiety and depression and those who were deliberative retrieved fewer words. Education moderated the association between conscientiousness and fluency such that participants with lower education performed better on the fluency task if they were also conscientious. Age was not a moderator at the domain level, indicating that the personality-fluency associations were consistent across the life span. A disposition toward emotional vulnerability and being less open, less happy, and undisciplined may be detrimental to cognitive performance. Personality traits contribute to health outcomes, in part through their association with major controllable risk factors, such as obesity. Body weight, in turn, reflects our behaviors and lifestyle and contributes to the way we perceive ourselves and others. In this study, the authors use data from a large (N = 1,988) longitudinal study that spanned more than 50 years to examine how personality traits are associated with multiple measures of adiposity and with fluctuations in body mass index (BMI). Using 14,531 anthropometric assessments, the authors modeled the trajectory of BMI across adulthood and tested whether personality predicted its rate of change. Measured concurrently, participants higher on Neuroticism or Extraversion or lower on Conscientiousness had higher BMI; these associations replicated across body fat, waist, and hip circumference. The strongest association was found for the impulsivity facet: Participants who scored in the top 10% of impulsivity weighed, on average, 11Kg more than those in the bottom 10%. Longitudinally, high Neuroticism and low Conscientiousness, and the facets of these traits related to difficulty with impulse control, were associated with weight fluctuations, measured as the variability in weight over time. Finally, low Agreeableness and impulsivity-related traits predicted a greater increase in BMI across the adult life span. BMI was mostly unrelated to change in personality traits. Personality traits are defined by cognitive, emotional, and behavioral patterns that likely contribute to unhealthy weight and difficulties with weight management. Such associations may elucidate the role of personality traits in disease progression and may help to design more effective interventions.