Maladaptive Personality Traits and Health Behaviors, Health Perceptions, and Inflammatory Biomarkers in Older Adults
Year: 2020
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Traits from dimensional models of normal-range personality have been shown to predict physical health outcomes including health behaviors, health perceptions, disease, and mortality. Maladaptive traits of personality disorders may predict even more variance in physical health indicators. Dimensional models of maladaptive personality traits are replacing categorical models of personality disorder, and the five-factor model of personality disorder (FFMPD) has been shown to be a useful dimensional model of maladaptive traits. However, there has been little work investigating the criterion validity of the FFMPD for predicting physical health indicators. The present study examines FFMPD scales in the prediction of health behaviors, heath perceptions, and inflammatory biomarkers across two timepoints in a large, representative community sample of older adults. Findings indicate that the FFMPD scales explain a moderate amount of variance in the physical health variables across time. Exploratory analyses indicate that the FFMPD traits have incremental validity over covariates, normal-range personality traits, and categorical personality disorders. Results are considered in the broader context of the personality and health literature and future research directions are discussed.
Author: Oltmanns, Joshua
Institution: University of Kentucky
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3028066662