Montoliu Teresa, Hidalgo Vanesa, Salvador Alicia
Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience, IDOCAL-Department of Psychobiology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain.
IIS Aragón, Department of Psychology and Sociology, Area of Psychobiology, University of Zaragoza, Teruel, Spain.
Front Psychol. 2020 Jun 5;11:983. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00983. eCollection 2020.
Personality has been related to health and mortality risk, which has created interest in the biological pathways that could explain this relationship. Although a dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis has been associated with health outcomes and aging, few studies have explored the association between personality and HPA axis functioning in older adults. In addition, it has been suggested that sex could moderate the relationship between personality and HPA axis functioning. Thus, our aim was to analyze the relationship between the big five personality traits and the diurnal cortisol pattern in older adults, as well as sex differences in this relationship. To do so, 79 older people (40 men and 39 women) from 59 to 81 years old ( = 69.19, SD = 4.60) completed the NEO-Five-Factor Inventory (FFI) to measure neuroticism, conscientiousness, extraversion, openness, and agreeableness. Saliva samples were provided on three consecutive days (awakening; 15, 30, and 45 min post-awakening; and bedtime) in order to analyze the diurnal cortisol pattern and, specifically, two cortisol indexes: the cortisol awakening response (CAR) and the diurnal cortisol slope (DCS). Results showed that neuroticism and conscientiousness moderated the diurnal cortisol pattern. Thus, individuals with higher neuroticism and lower conscientiousness scores showed higher bedtime cortisol levels, suggesting a less healthy diurnal cortisol pattern. Regarding the cortisol indexes, higher neuroticism and lower conscientiousness were related to greater CAR and DCS. Sex moderated the association between extraversion and the DCS. Specifically, higher extraversion was related to a lower DCS only in women. Openness and agreeableness were not related to the diurnal cortisol pattern. In conclusion, our results show that in older adults, neuroticism is a vulnerability factor for HPA axis dysregulation, with possible adverse effects on health. By contrast, conscientiousness, and extraversion only in women, appear to be protective factors of HPA axis functioning, with potential beneficial effects on health.
人格与健康及死亡风险相关，这引发了人们对能够解释这种关系的生物学途径的兴趣。尽管下丘脑 - 垂体 - 肾上腺（HPA）轴功能失调与健康结果及衰老有关，但很少有研究探讨老年人的人格与HPA轴功能之间的关联。此外，有人提出性别可能会调节人格与HPA轴功能之间的关系。因此，我们的目的是分析老年人的大五人格特质与日间皮质醇模式之间的关系，以及这种关系中的性别差异。为此，79名年龄在59岁至81岁之间（平均年龄 = 69.19，标准差 = 4.60）的老年人（40名男性和39名女性）完成了大五人格量表（NEO - FFI），以测量神经质、尽责性、外向性、开放性和宜人性。连续三天采集唾液样本（醒来时；醒来后15、30和45分钟；以及就寝时间），以便分析日间皮质醇模式，具体而言，分析两个皮质醇指标：皮质醇觉醒反应（CAR）和日间皮质醇斜率（DCS）。结果表明，神经质和尽责性调节了日间皮质醇模式。因此，神经质得分较高且尽责性得分较低的个体就寝时皮质醇水平较高，表明其日间皮质醇模式不太健康。关于皮质醇指标，较高的神经质和较低的尽责性与较高的CAR和DCS相关。性别调节了外向性与DCS之间的关联。具体而言，仅在女性中，较高的外向性与较低的DCS相关。开放性和宜人性与日间皮质醇模式无关。总之，我们的结果表明，在老年人中，神经质是HPA轴功能失调的一个易患因素，可能对健康产生不利影响。相比之下，尽责性以及仅在女性中的外向性似乎是HPA轴功能的保护因素，可能对健康产生有益影响。
