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RESEARCH ARTICLE |
1 Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, New York.
2 Department of Psychology, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena and Philipps University of Marburg, Germany.
Address correspondence to Silvia Sörensen, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Geriatric Psychiatry Program, University of Rochester Medical Center, 300 Crittenden Boulevard, Rochester, NY 14642-8409. E-mail: silvia_sorensen{at}urmc.rochester.edu
We investigated associations between personality and health cognitions and behaviors related to preparation for future care among 355 primary care patients who were 65 years of age and older. Path analyses examined the effects of the personality traits of neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness on health cognitions about future care (avoidance, awareness), health-planning behaviors (gathering information, decision making, and planning), and beliefs about planning, while covarying age, gender, education, medical burden, functional status, and depression-symptom severity. Higher levels of neuroticism, openness, and agreeableness were associated with greater awareness of care needs; higher openness was also associated with more gathering of information and less avoidance. Extraversion and conscientiousness were not related to future-oriented health cognitions. Depression was inversely associated with the gathering of information. Age and education were related to more positive beliefs about the planning. Neither concrete planning nor decision making were related to personality variables. Health professionals should consider the impact of individual differences when addressing preparation for future care with older adults.
Key Words: Long-term care planning • Personality traits • Primary care • Future care needs • Decision-making • Health cognitions
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