TY - JOUR
T1 - Compensatory conscientiousness and health in older couples
T2 - Research article
AU - Roberts, Brent W.
AU - Smith, Jacqui
AU - Jackson, Joshua J.
AU - Edmonds, Grant
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by Grant AG21178 from the National Institute on Aging. We would like to thank Melissa Rayner at the Institute for Social Research for her assistance in compiling the couple data files from the Health and Retirement Study, and Teresa Cardador for inspiring the idea of compensatory conscientiousness.
PY - 2009/5
Y1 - 2009/5
N2 - The present study tested the effect of conscientiousness and neuroticism on health and physical limitations in a representative sample of older couples (N = 2,203) drawn from the Health and Retirement Study. As in past research, conscientiousness predicted better health and physical functioning, whereas neuroticism predicted worse health and physical functioning. Unique to this study was the finding that conscientiousness demonstrated a compensatory effect, such that husbands' conscientiousness predicted wives' health outcomes above and beyond wives' own personality. The same pattern held true for wives' conscientiousness as a predictor of husbands' health outcomes. Furthermore, conscientiousness and neuroticism acted synergistically, such that people who scored high for both traits were healthier than others. Finally, we found that the combination of high conscientiousness and high neuroticism was also compensatory, such that the wives of men with this combination of personality traits reported better health than other women.
AB - The present study tested the effect of conscientiousness and neuroticism on health and physical limitations in a representative sample of older couples (N = 2,203) drawn from the Health and Retirement Study. As in past research, conscientiousness predicted better health and physical functioning, whereas neuroticism predicted worse health and physical functioning. Unique to this study was the finding that conscientiousness demonstrated a compensatory effect, such that husbands' conscientiousness predicted wives' health outcomes above and beyond wives' own personality. The same pattern held true for wives' conscientiousness as a predictor of husbands' health outcomes. Furthermore, conscientiousness and neuroticism acted synergistically, such that people who scored high for both traits were healthier than others. Finally, we found that the combination of high conscientiousness and high neuroticism was also compensatory, such that the wives of men with this combination of personality traits reported better health than other women.
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U2 - 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02339.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02339.x
M3 - Article
C2 - 19476589
AN - SCOPUS:65549132976
SN - 0956-7976
VL - 20
SP - 553
EP - 559
JO - Psychological Science
JF - Psychological Science
IS - 5
ER -