The emergence of the Five Factor model, which posits that personality can be described on the five broad dimensions of neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, openness to experience and conscientiousness, offered a way to standardize and amalgamate personality-health research. The aims of this study are: to apply the five-factor model to cardiovascular disease, and to follow up previous research on hostility and anger, using objective measures of clinical and subclinical disease. Prospective analysis of hostility data will help determine the causal directions of the relationship, and the use of standard, reproducible instruments to assess the five factors will help further elucidate the role of personality in cardiovascular disease risk. The study is based on a cohort of 809 men and 783 women, aged 55-74 years, who were randomly sampled from the general population in Edinburgh. Submissiveness was protective of objectively-determined nonfatal myocardial infarction over five years, particularly in women. Traits associated with neuroticism were predictive of subjectively defined angina pectoris. Associations between anger-out and prevalent myocardial infarction in men, and neuroticism and prevalent intermittent claudication in women, were prominent. Different aspects of anger were inconsistently associated with other disease outcomes. Low agreeableness was not independently associated with disease. These results confirm the strength and direction of personality and cardiovascular disease associations previously observed, and can help improve our prediction of risk. They indicate that the five factor model's dimensions may be too heterogeneous for this type of research, and that they should be used alongside narrower measures. However, because of the important interaction between many personal factors, such as life stress, coping and especially socioeconomic status, studies examining only one of these elements may be too restrictive. In addition, the research into the biological mechanisms of the association is important and should continue. Only by integrating the individual strands of research can we understand the complex effects of personality and other non-physical factors on cardiovascular diseases.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:663723 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Creators | Whiteman, Martha C. |
| Publisher | University of Edinburgh |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://hdl.handle.net/1842/21604 |
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