Age-associated cognitive changes in community dwelling adults

在一个居住在社区的样本(N=4,790；年龄范围14-94)中，我们研究了人格特征是否可以预测语言流利性任务的表现。开放、外向、情绪稳定的参与者有更好的语言流畅性。在侧面水平上，性格快乐和自律的参与者提取的单词更多；那些容易焦虑和抑郁的人以及那些深思熟虑的人提取的单词更少。教育缓和了责任心和流利性之间的联系，因此，如果参与者也是尽职尽责的，那么受教育程度较低的参与者在流利性任务中表现得更好。年龄不是领域水平上的调节变量，这表明个性-流畅性的关联在整个生命周期中是一致的。倾向于情绪脆弱，不那么开放，不那么快乐，不守纪律，可能会对认知表现不利。 人格特征有助于健康结果，部分是通过它们与肥胖等主要可控风险因素的关联。反过来，体重反映了我们的行为和生活方式，并有助于我们感知自己和他人的方式。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，以检验人格特征如何与肥胖的多项指标以及身体质量指数(BMI)的波动有关。使用14,531项人体测量评估，作者对成年后BMI的变化轨迹进行了建模，并测试了个性是否能预测其变化率。同时测量，神经质或外倾性较高或责任心较低的参与者有较高的BMI；这些关联在体脂、腰围和臀围上重复出现。冲动方面的关联性最强：冲动得分最高的10%的参与者平均比得分最低的10%的参与者多重11公斤。从纵向来看，高神经质和低责任心，以及这些特征中与冲动控制困难有关的方面，与体重波动有关，这是通过体重随时间的变化来衡量的。最后，低适宜性和冲动相关的特征预示着成年后BMI会有更大的增长。体重指数与人格特征的变化大多无关。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。这种关联可能会阐明人格特征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.