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Loneliness is a pervasive experience with adverse impacts on health and well-being. Despite its significance, notable gaps impede a full understanding of how loneliness changes across the adult life span and what factors influence these changes. To address this, we conducted a coordinated data analysis of nine longitudinal studies encompassing 128,118 participants ages 13 to 103 from over 20 countries. Using harmonized variables and models, we examined loneliness trajectories and predictors. Analyses revealed that loneliness follows a U-shaped curve, decreasing from young adulthood to midlife and increasing in older adulthood. These patterns were consistent across studies. Several baseline factors (i.e., sex, marital status, physical function, education) were linked to loneliness levels, but few moderated the loneliness trajectories. These findings highlight the dynamic nature of loneliness and underscore the need for targeted interventions to reduce social disparities throughout adulthood.

There has been longstanding and widespread interdisciplinary interest in understanding intergenerational processes, or the extent to which conditions repeat themselves across generations. However, due to the difficulty of collecting longitudinal, multigenerational data on early life conditions, less is known about the extent to which offspring experience the same early life conditions that their parents experienced in their own early lives. Using data from a socioeconomically diverse, White U.S. American cohort of 1,312 offspring (50% female) and their fathers (N = 518 families), we address three primary questions: (1) To what extent is there intergenerational continuity in early life experiences (social class, home atmosphere, parent-child relationship quality, health)? (2) Is intergenerational continuity in early life experiences greater for some domains of experience compared to others? and (3) Are there person-level (offspring sex, birth order, perceptions of marital stability) and family-level factors (family size, father education level and education mobility, marital stability) that moderate intergenerational continuity? Multilevel models indicated that intergenerational continuity was particularly robust for childhood social class, but nonsignificant for other early life experiences. Further, intergenerational continuity was moderated by several family-level factors, such that families with higher father education/mobility and marital stability, tended to have offspring with the most optimal early life experiences, regardless of what their father experienced in early life. We discuss the broader theoretical implications for family systems, as well as practical implications for individual-level and family-level interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

IntroductionThe extent to which the Big Five personality traits and subjective well-being (SWB) are discriminatory predictors of clinical manifestation of dementia versus dementia-related neuropathology is unclear.MethodsUsing data from eight independent studies (Ntotal = 44,531; Ndementia = 1703; baseline Mage = 49 to 81 years, 26 to 61% female; Mfollow-up range = 3.53 to 21.00 years), Bayesian multilevel models tested whether personality traits and SWB differentially predicted neuropsychological and neuropathological characteristics of dementia.ResultsSynthesized and individual study results indicate that high neuroticism and negative affect and low conscientiousness, extraversion, and positive affect were associated with increased risk of long-term dementia diagnosis. There were no consistent associations with neuropathology.DiscussionThis multistudy project provides robust, conceptually replicated and extended evidence that psychosocial factors are strong predictors of dementia diagnosis but not consistently associated with neuropathology at autopsy.HighlightsN(+), C(-), E(-), PA(-), and NA(+) were associated with incident diagnosis. Results were consistent despite self-report versus clinical diagnosis of dementia. Psychological factors were not associated with neuropathology at autopsy. Individuals with higher conscientiousness and no diagnosis had less neuropathology. High C individuals may withstand neuropathology for longer before death.

Background and objectivesThe existing literature highlights the importance of reading books in middle-to-older adulthood for cognitive functioning; very few studies, however, have examined the importance of childhood cognitive resources for cognitive outcomes later in life.Research design and methodsUsing data from 11 countries included in the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) data set (N = 32,783), multistate survival models (MSMs) were fit to examine the importance of access to reading material in childhood on transitions through cognitive status categories (no cognitive impairment and impaired cognitive functioning) and death. Additionally, using the transition probabilities estimated by the MSMs, we estimated the remaining years of life without cognitive impairment and total longevity. All models were fit individually in each country, as well as within the pooled SHARE sample.ResultsAdjusting for age, sex, education, and childhood socioeconomic status, the overall pooled estimate indicated that access to more books at age 10 was associated with a decreased risk of developing cognitive impairment (adjusted hazard ratio = 0.79, confidence interval: 0.76-0.82). Access to childhood books was not associated with risk of transitioning from normal cognitive functioning to death, or from cognitive impairment to death. Total longevity was similar between participants reporting high (+1 standard deviation [SD]) and low (-1 SD) number of books in the childhood home; however, individuals with more access to childhood books lived a greater proportion of this time without cognitive impairment.Discussion and implicationsFindings suggest that access to cognitive resources in childhood is protective for cognitive aging processes in older adulthood.

ObjectivesDispersion in cognitive test performance within a single testing session is proposed as an early marker of poor brain health. Existing research, however, has not investigated factors that may explain individual differences in cognitive dispersion. We investigate the extent to which the Big Five personality traits are associated with cognitive dispersion in older adulthood.MethodTo promote transparency and reliability, we applied preregistration and conceptual replication via coordinated analysis. Drawing data from seven longitudinal studies of aging (Ntotal = 33,581; Mage range = 56.4-71.2), cognitive dispersion scores were derived from cognitive test results. Independent linear regression models were fit in each study to examine personality traits as predictors of dispersion scores, adjusting for mean cognitive performance and sociodemographics (age, sex, education). Results from individual studies were synthesized using random effects meta-analyses.ResultsSynthesized results revealed that openness was positively associated with cognitive dispersion, 0.028, 95% CI [0.003, 0.054]. There was minimal evidence for associations between cognitive dispersion and the other personality traits in independent analyses or meta-analyses. Mean cognitive scores were negatively associated with cognitive dispersion across the majority of studies, while sociodemographic variables were not consistently associated with cognitive dispersion.ConclusionHigher levels of openness were associated with greater cognitive dispersion across seven independent samples, indicating that individuals higher in openness had more dispersion across cognitive tests. Further research is needed to investigate mechanisms that may help to explain the link between openness and cognitive dispersion, as well as to identify additional individual factors, beyond personality traits, that may be associated with cognitive dispersion. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption during pregnancy can have detrimental effects on the developing fetus, including fetal alcohol syndrome and low birth weight. Surprisingly little is known about the association of personality traits with smoking and alcohol consumption in the specific subpopulation of pregnant women. This study analyzed data from a geographically diverse sample of 603 pregnant women, aged 18 years and older, who provided information regarding their smoking and drinking habits before and during pregnancy. We compared women who consumed alcohol or smoked cigarettes before pregnancy with women who quit or continued smoking or drinking during pregnancy. Associations between personality and maladaptive behaviors prior to and during pregnancy were modeled using logistic regression. The study revealed that women who scored high on openness to experience were significantly more likely to continue alcohol consumption during pregnancy (OR = 1.07, 95% CI 1.01, 1.14, p = .02). This association was maintained after adjusting for potential confounds. This study demonstrated a significant relationship between personality traits and women's likelihood of continued alcohol consumption prior to and during pregnancy. Understanding personality-based determinants of health-detrimental behavior is important in order to design interventions that aim at decreasing rates of maladaptive health behaviors among pregnant women.

Frontal EEG asymmetry is thought to reflect variations in affective style, such that greater relative right frontal activity at rest predicts enhanced emotional responding to threatening or negative stimuli, and risk of depression and anxiety disorders. A diathesis-stress model has been proposed to explain how this neuro-affective style might predispose to psychopathology, with greater right frontal activity being a vulnerability factor especially under stressful conditions. Less is known about the extent to which greater relative right frontal activity at rest might be associated with or be a diathesis for deleterious physical health outcomes. The present study examined the association between resting frontal EEG asymmetry and systemic, low-grade inflammation and tested the diathesis-stress model by examining whether childhood maltreatment exposure interacts with resting frontal asymmetry in explaining inflammation. Resting EEG, serum inflammatory biomarkers (interleukin-6, C-reactive protein, and fibrinogen) and self-reported psychological measures were available for 314 middle-aged adults (age M=55.3years, SD=11.2, 55.7% female). Analyses supported the diathesis-stress model and revealed that resting frontal EEG asymmetry was significantly associated with inflammation, but only in individuals who had experienced moderate to severe levels of childhood maltreatment. These findings suggest that, in the context of severe adversity, a trait-like tendency towards greater relative right prefrontal activity may predispose to low-grade inflammation, a risk factor for conditions with inflammatory underpinnings such as coronary heart disease.

We examined the joint contributions of self-reported adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and recent life events (RLEs) to inflammation at midlife, by testing 3 competing theoretical models: stress generation, stress accumulation, and early life stress sensitization. We aimed to identify potential mediators between adversity and inflammation. Participants were 1,180 middle-aged and older adults from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) Biomarker Project (M age = 57.3 years, SD = 11.5; 56% female). A composite measure of inflammation was derived from 5 biomarkers: serum levels of C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, fibrinogen, E-selectin, and ICAM-1. Participants provided self-report data regarding ACEs, RLEs, current lifestyle indices (cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, physical exercise, waist circumference), current depressive symptoms, and demographic/biomedical characteristics. We also used indices of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical outflow (12-hr urinary cortisol) and sympathetic nervous system output (12-hr urinary norepinephrine and epinephrine). Analyses indicated that ACEs and RLEs were independently associated with higher levels of inflammation, controlling for each other's effects. Their interaction was not significant. The results were consistent with the hypothesis that associations between ACEs and inflammation were mediated through higher urinary norepinephrine output, greater waist circumference, smoking, and lower levels of exercise, whereas higher waist circumference and more smoking partially mediated the association between RLEs and inflammation. In support of the stress accumulation model, ACEs and RLEs had unique and additive contributions to inflammation at midlife, with no evidence of synergistic effects. Results also suggested that norepinephrine output and lifestyle indices may help explain how prior stressors foster inflammation at midlife.

INTRODUCTION: The extent to which the Big Five personality traits and subjective well‐being (SWB) are discriminatory predictors of clinical manifestation of dementia versus dementia‐related neuropathology is unclear. METHODS: Using data from eight independent studies (Ntotal= 44,531; Ndementia= 1703; baseline Mage= 49 to 81 years, 26 to 61% female; Mfollow‐up range = 3.53 to 21.00 years), Bayesian multilevel models tested whether personality traits and SWB differentially predicted neuropsychological and neuropathological characteristics of dementia. RESULTS: Synthesized and individual study results indicate that high neuroticism and negative affect and low conscientiousness, extraversion, and positive affect were associated with increased risk of long‐term dementia diagnosis. There were no consistent associations with neuropathology. DISCUSSION: This multistudy project provides robust, conceptually replicated and extended evidence that psychosocial factors are strong predictors of dementia diagnosis but not consistently associated with neuropathology at autopsy. Highlights: N(+), C(−), E(−), PA(−), and NA(+) were associated with incident diagnosis.Results were consistent despite self‐report versus clinical diagnosis of dementia.Psychological factors were not associated with neuropathology at autopsy.Individuals with higher conscientiousness and no diagnosis had less neuropathology.High C individuals may withstand neuropathology for longer before death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The extent to which the Big Five personality traits and subjective well-being (SWB) are discriminatory predictors of clinical manifestation of dementia versus dementia-related neuropathology is unclear., Methods: Using data from eight independent studies (N total = 44,531; N dementia = 1703; baseline M age = 49 to 81 years, 26 to 61% female; M follow-up range = 3.53 to 21.00 years), Bayesian multilevel models tested whether personality traits and SWB differentially predicted neuropsychological and neuropathological characteristics of dementia., Results: Synthesized and individual study results indicate that high neuroticism and negative affect and low conscientiousness, extraversion, and positive affect were associated with increased risk of long-term dementia diagnosis. There were no consistent associations with neuropathology., Discussion: This multistudy project provides robust, conceptually replicated and extended evidence that psychosocial factors are strong predictors of dementia diagnosis but not consistently associated with neuropathology at autopsy., Highlights: N(+), C(-), E(-), PA(-), and NA(+) were associated with incident diagnosis. Results were consistent despite self-report versus clinical diagnosis of dementia. Psychological factors were not associated with neuropathology at autopsy. Individuals with higher conscientiousness and no diagnosis had less neuropathology. High C individuals may withstand neuropathology for longer before death., (© 2023 The Authors. Alzheimer's & Dementia published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Alzheimer's Association.)

Personality traits have emerged as significant contributors to physical and mental health, as well as various economic outcomes including income. Few studies have explored whether personality is related to the frequency of days lost on the job due to physical or mental health issues, and the subsequent economic losses as a result. The current study bridged the health, economic, and personality variables to determine whether personality was associated with earnings lost due to work cut back days from poor physical or mental health. We found, both concurrently and over a 10 year follow up, that high neuroticism and low openness were associated with more earnings lost due to mental health, while low extraversion was associated with more earnings lost due to physical health. These findings are interpreted in light of the effects that personality may have on an individual's career and financial outcomes, and the economic effects of untreated physical and mental health problems.