Personal Adjustment to Aging: Longitudinal Prediction from Neuroticism and Extraversion

Abstract

Personal adjustment to aging as measured by scales from the Chicago Attitude Inventory (CAI) was examined longitudinally in a community-dwelling sample of 557 men aged 17 to 97. Concurrent and predictive relations between this age-appropriate measure of well-being and personality were examined by correlating the CAI variables with three factors from the Guilford-Zimmerman Temperament Survey identified as Neuroticism, Extraversion, and "Thinking Introversion." As hypothesized, Neuroticism was related negatively and Extraversion was related positively to most concurrent measures of well-being in both younger and older subsamples. "Thinking Introversion" was related only to positive attitudes toward religion. Predictive correlations between personality and subjective well-being over two-to-ten (M = 5.3) and ten-to-seventeen (M = 12.6) year intervals confirmed earlier research, and showed that enduring personality disposition antedate and predict measures of personal adjustment to aging.