Department of Psychology, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland; Health Research Institute, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.
Department of Psychology, West Virginia University, WV, United States.
Brain Behav Immun. 2021 Mar;93:238-244. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2021.01.032. Epub 2021 Feb 9.
Personality is associated consistently with mortality hazards, but the physiological pathways are not yet clear. Immune system dysregulation may be one such pathway due to its role in age-related morbidity and mortality. In this preregistered study, we tested whether interleukin-6 (IL-6) and C-reactive protein (CRP) mediated the associations between personality traits and mortality hazards. The sample included 957 participants (M ± SD = 58.65 ± 11.51 years; range = 35-86 years) from the Midlife in the United States Survey that had 14 years of follow-up. Higher conscientiousness was associated with lower mortality hazards, with each one standard deviation higher conscientiousness associated with a 35% lower mortality risk. IL-6, but not CRP, partially mediated this association, with IL-6 accounting for 18% of this association in the fully adjusted model. While there was initial evidence that the biomarkers mediated both neuroticism and agreeableness and mortality risk, the indirect effects were not significant when controlling for the sociodemographic variables. Taken together, higher conscientiousness may lead to a longer life partially as a result of lower IL-6. This work highlights the importance of biological pathways that link personality to future mortality risk.
人格与死亡率风险始终相关,但生理途径尚不清楚。免疫系统失调可能是其中一种途径,因为它与年龄相关的发病率和死亡率有关。在这项预先注册的研究中,我们测试了白细胞介素 6 (IL-6) 和 C 反应蛋白 (CRP) 是否介导了人格特质与死亡率风险之间的关联。样本包括来自美国中年调查的 957 名参与者(M ± SD = 58.65 ± 11.51 岁;范围为 35-86 岁),随访时间为 14 年。更高的尽责性与更低的死亡率风险相关,每一个标准差更高的尽责性与死亡率风险降低 35%相关。IL-6,但不是 CRP,部分介导了这种关联,在完全调整后的模型中,IL-6 占这种关联的 18%。虽然有初步证据表明生物标志物介导了神经质和宜人性与死亡率风险之间的关系,但在控制社会人口统计学变量后,间接效应并不显著。总的来说,更高的尽责性可能会导致寿命延长,部分原因是 IL-6 水平降低。这项工作强调了将人格与未来死亡率风险联系起来的生物途径的重要性。