Psychosocial Predictors Of Mental And Physical Health

Aging

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Abstract

Summary of Work: Highlights of our research involve relation of personality dimensions to personality disorders as well as other problems in living and mood and behavior problems. Two different leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States that adversely impact the quality of life of individuals as well as communities in this country, smoking and criminal activity were investigated. Smoking Tobacco smoking is a major preventable risk factor for disease, disability, and death. Programs of smoking cessation and prevention are increasingly concerned with understanding individual differences involved in smoking initiation and maintenance and matching potential interventions to individuals' needs and their stage of change. Identifying which, if any, personality traits increase risk for cigarette smoking or contribute to difficulty in smoking cessation efforts may lead to improved interventions through public policies and personalized treatment. Previous literature has found only weak and inconsistent relations between personality factors and smoking. Using a comprehensive hierarchical structural model of personality, the Five-Factor Model, as operationalized by the NEO PI-R, this study investigated associations between personality traits at both the domain and facet level and smoking status. After controlling for the effects of age, gender, and education, three of the five factors, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and neuroticism, were significantly associated with smoking status. A discriminant function analysis highlighted the importance of an interaction between neuroticism and conscientiousness. Individuals low in conscientiousness and high in neuroticism defined an under-controlled group who were two times more likely to be current smokers than the group low on conscientiousness and low on neuroticism (relaxed group) and three times more likely to be current smokers than those high on conscientiousness and low on neuroticism. Neuroticism is related to smoking mostly among individuals low on conscientiousness. Former smokers showed intermediate scores on these factors, suggesting that neuroticism and conscientiousness may play a role in both smoking initiation and maintenance/cessation. These findings support the use of a comprehensive model of personality to avoid the risk of neglecting important correlates of health risk behavior. The neuroticism-by-conscientiousness interaction effect illustrates that personality traits can influence behavior in a complex manner. The level of conscientiousness seems to be a moderator factor in the relationship between neuroticism and smoking. Individuals high on conscientiousness nay not adopt the same maladaptive strategy (i.e., smoking) to deal with high neuroticism. Further, the present findings have implications for smoking cessation programs including, the recognition that smokers are not a homogeneous group, necessitating a diversity of treatment modalities; and treatment strategies tailored to the needs of individual smokers are required to reduce the prevalence of cigarette smoking. Criminal activity Previous studies have implicated antisocial personality disorder in criminal behavior, but little is known about the association between normal or general personality dimensions and arrest. We investigated the relationships between these personality dimensions and prior arrest in a sample of adults participating in a longitudinal epidemiological study. Between 1993 and 1999, psychiatrists re-examined subjects who were originally interviewed in Baltimore in 1981 as part of the Epidemiological Catchment Area study; the psychiatrists diagnosed axis I and axis II disorders according to DSM-IV criteria. A total of 611 subjects also completed the Revised NEO Personality inventory that assesses five broad factors and 30 facets of personality. History of criminal arrest in Maryland in the period 1981 to 1993 was dettermined from the state criminal database. We found that several personality dimensions were associated with prior arrest over the preceding 13+ years. Compared to those who had not been arrested, arrested subjects had significantly higher mean scores on NEO PI-R scales of angry hostility, impulsiveness, and excitement-seeking, and the odds of prior arrest increased between 4% and 7% per unit increase on these scales. Arrested subjects also had lower mean scores on NEO PI-R scales of trust straightforwardness, compliance, modesty, dutifulness, and deliberation, and the odds of prior arrest decreased 4% to 5% per unit decrease on these scales. The association between scores on these NEO PI-R scales and prior arrest were independent of demographic characteristics, alcohol or drug use disorders and DSM-IV personality disorder dimensions. Given that personality was assessed currently and arrest retrospectively, we cannot conclude definitively that personality traits predict arrest; longitudinal studies are needed to confirm the causal order: personality traits may have become "hardened" as a function of arrest. Despite these potential limitations, the findings support the notion that specific personality dimensions are associated with arrest in the community, and may help in evaluating the proneness of individuals to criminal arrest. Understanding these relationships is important for developing strategies to reduce the likelihood of criminal activity and arrest in individuals with extreme scores on specific personality dimensions.