Individual temperament as a predictor of health or premature disease.

Two studies of temperament as a possible predictor of continuing good health or premature disease are reported. In earlier work to determine youthful precursors of premature disease, a number of separate characteristics distinguishing medical students who remain healthy from those with premature disorders have been identified. Characterization by temperament, an expression of innate biological endowment, provides a more global portrayal of an organism that can an aggregate of separate characteristics alone. Criteria for designating three temperament types, termed Alpha, Beta and Gamma, are presented. In 1948, 45 subjects were assigned to one of these types on the basis of youthful characteristics. The subjects in the three temperament groups had different health outcomes 30 years later, significant at the p less than 0.01 level. Gamma type had the most disorders and deaths, Beta type the fewest. A cross-validation study on 127 subjects had similar results at the p less than 0.05 level. Temperament appears to be a variable of predictive potential of individual stamina, or of vulnerability to premature disease and death.