Skip to main content
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact

Search form

American Institutes for Research

  • Our Work
    • Education
    • Health
    • International
    • Workforce
    • ALL TOPICS >
  • Our Services
    • Research and Evaluation
    • Technical Assistance
  • Our Experts
  • News & Events

You are here

  • Home
16 Oct 2019
Journal Article

High School Personality and Dementia

Association Between High School Personality Phenotype and Dementia 54 Years Later: Results from a National U.S. Sample

Benjamin P. Chapman, University of Rochester Medical Center
Alison Huang, AIR
Kelly Peters, AIR
Elizabeth Horner, AIR
Jennifer Manly, Columbia University Medical Center
David A. Bennett, Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center
Susan Lapham, AIR

Personality phenotype has been associated with subsequent dementia in studies of older adults. This study used Project Talent data to examine whether personality during adolescence—a time when pre-clinical dementia pathology is unlikely to be present—confers risk for dementia in later life.

The full text of this article appears in the October 16, 2019 edition of JAMA Psychiatry,

Abstract

Personality phenotype has been associated with subsequent dementia in studies of older adults. However, neuropathology often precedes cognitive symptoms by many years, and may affect personality itself. Thus, it is unclear whether supposed dementia-prone personality profiles (high Neuroticism and low Conscientiousness) are true risk factors, or merely reflections of pre-existing disease.

Objectives: To examine whether personality during adolescence—a time when pre-clinical dementia pathology is unlikely to be present—confers risk for dementia in later life. We also tested whether associations could be accounted for by health factors in adolescence, or differed across socioeconomic status (SES).

Participants: Members of Project Talent (PT), a national sample of high school students in 1960.

Assessments: Ten personality traits were measured by the 150-item PT Personality Inventory. SES was measured by a composite based on parental education, occupation, and property ownership. Participants were also surveyed on demographic factors and height and weight.

Main Outcome and Measures: Medicare records were collected, with dementia diagnoses in the period of 2011-2013 classified according to the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) ICD-9-based algorithm. Cox proportional hazard models estimated the relative risk for dementia based on the ten personality traits, testing interactions with SES and adjusting for demographic confounders.

Results: The sample of 82,232 participants was 50% female, with M (SD) ages at baseline of 15.75 (1.67) and at follow-up of 69.51 (1.23). Lower risk of dementia was associated with higher levels of vigor (HR for 1 standard deviation = .93, 95% confidence interval (CI) .90, .97, p < .001). Calm and maturity showed protective associations with later dementia that increased with SES (interaction p’s < .001). At +1 standard deviation of SES, calm showed an HR of .89 (95% CI = .84, .95), maturity showed an HR of .90 (95% CI = .85, .96).

Conclusions and Relevance: The adolescent personality traits associated with later life dementia are similar to those observed in studies of older persons. Moreover, the reduction in dementia risk associated with a calm and mature adolescent phenotype was greater at higher levels of SES. Personality phenotype may be a true risk factor for dementia, preceding it by many decades and interacting with adolescent socioeconomic conditions.

High School Personality and Dementia

Related Projects

Project talent logo2.jpg

project talent logo
Project

Project Talent

377,000 students. 1,300 schools. In 1960, AIR launched Project Talent, the largest and most comprehensive study of high school students ever conducted in the United States. Now, as the original study participants move into retirement, Project Talent has become an important resource for understanding the aging process.

Related Work

15 Apr 2019
Q & A

Project-Talent-students-black-white-400w.jpg

Image of students from the 1960s taking a test in a classroom

Checking in on Project Talent with AIR Vice President Susan Lapham

Project Talent is the largest, most comprehensive study of high school students ever conducted in the United States. Since its launch in 1960, researchers have continued to collect data on the original participants and now its data are helping AIR researchers study possible risk and protective factors of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Project Talent Director and AIR Vice President Susan Lapham answered a few questions about the project, its history, and its potential influence.
Topic: 
Education, Health, Aging, Healthcare Analysis and Evaluation

Further Reading

  • High School Personality Traits and 48-Year All-cause Mortality Risk: Results from a National Sample of 26,845 Baby Boomers
  • The Relationship Between Adolescent Cognitive Ability and Dementia
  • Project Talent
  • Checking in on Project Talent with AIR Vice President Susan Lapham
  • AIR Experts on Aging to Present at the Gerontological Society of America’s 68th Annual Scientific Meeting
Share

Contact

Image of Kelly Peters

Kelly Peters

Principal Psychometrician
Image of Susan Lapham

Susan Lapham

Vice President

Topic

Health
Aging

RESEARCH. EVALUATION. APPLICATION. IMPACT.

About Us

About AIR
Board of Directors
Leadership
Experts
Clients
Contracting with AIR
Contact Us

Our Work

Education
Health
International
Workforce

Client Services

Research and Evaluation
Technical Assistance

News & Events

Careers at AIR


Search form


 

Connecting

FacebookTwitterLinkedinYouTubeInstagram

American Institutes for Research

1400 Crystal Drive, 10th Floor
Arlington, VA 22202-3289
Call: (202) 403-5000
Fax: (202) 403-5000

Copyright © 2020 American Institutes for Research®.  All rights reserved.

  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap