Demographic, personality, and social cognition correlates of coronavirus guideline adherence in a U.S. sample.

OBJECTIVE: The present study examined patterns and psychosocial correlates of coronavirus guideline adherence in a U.S. sample (N = 500) during the initial 15-day period advocated by the White House Coronavirus Task Force. METHOD: Descriptive and correlational analyses were used to examine the frequency of past 7-day adherence to each of 10 guidelines, as well as overall adherence. Guided by a disposition-belief-motivation model of health behavior, path analyses tested associations of personality traits and demographic factors to overall adherence via perceived norms, perceived control, attitudes, and self-efficacy related to guideline adherence, as well as perceived exposure risk and perceived health consequence if exposed. RESULTS: Adherence ranged from 94.4% reporting always avoiding eating/drinking inside bars/restaurants/food courts to 13.6% reporting always avoiding touching one's face. Modeling showed total associations with overall adherence for greater conscientiousness (ß = .191, p < .001), openness (ß = .098, p < .05), perceptions of social endorsement (ß = .202, p < .001), positive attitudes (ß = .105, p < .05), self-efficacy (ß = .234, p < .001), and the presence versus absence or uncertainty of a shelter-in-place order (ß = .102, p < .01). Age, self-rated health, sex, education, income, children in the household, agreeableness, extraversion, neuroticism, perceived exposure risk, and perceived health consequence showed null-to-negligible associations with overall adherence. CONCLUSIONS: The results clarify adherence frequency, highlight characteristics associated with greater adherence, and suggest the need to strengthen the social contract between government and citizenry by clearly communicating adherence benefits, costs, and timelines. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Personality Traits, Coping, Health-related Behaviors, and Cumulative Physiological Health in a National Sample: 10 Year Prospective Effects of Conscientiousness via Perceptions of Activity on Allostatic Load.

BACKGROUND: Personality traits, coping styles, and health-related behaviors show associations with various aspects of health. However, integrative life-course investigations of pathways by which these factors might affect later cumulative physiological health risk remain sparse. PURPOSE: To investigate prospective associations of personality traits via coping styles and health-related behaviors on allostatic load in a national sample. METHODS: Using data from the Midlife in the United States study (MIDUS; N = 1,054), path analyses were used to test direct and indirect associations (via coping styles, smoking, frequency of alcohol consumption, leisure-time physical activity, and perceptions of activity) of personality traits on a latent measurement model of allostatic load informed by 10 biomarkers associated with cardiovascular, inflammation, glucose, and lipid subsystems. RESULTS: Direct 10 year associations of greater conscientiousness on healthier allostatic load and greater extraversion on less healthy allostatic load were observed. Consistent with hypothesized behavioral pathways, relationships between conscientiousness and extraversion on allostatic load were prospectively mediated by greater perceptions of activity. Physical activity and more frequent alcohol use were associated with healthier allostatic load but did not act as prospective mediators. CONCLUSIONS: The results provide further evidence of conscientiousness' standing as a marker of health via cumulative physiological health. Moreover, a greater perception of activity was identified as a pathway through which conscientious individuals experienced healthier physiological profiles over time. Examining a more detailed picture of the psychosocial mechanisms leading to development of health risk, as was found with perceptions of activity, remains an important area for future research.

Activity mediates conscientiousness' relationship to diurnal cortisol slope in a national sample.

OBJECTIVE: The present study explored pathways from the personality traits of neuroticism and conscientiousness through health-related behaviors to diurnal patterns of the stress hormone cortisol using data from a large national study. METHOD: Using prospective data from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS II) study and the National Study of Daily Experiences (NSDE II, a MIDUS substudy), hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) and Monte Carlo estimation for multilevel model mediation were used to test direct and indirect effects (via general activity level, moderate and vigorous physical activity, lifetime history of regular smoking, and alcohol consumption) of neuroticism and conscientiousness on cortisol at wakeup, diurnal cortisol slope, and cortisol awakening response (N = 960). RESULTS: Initial HLM models showed greater levels of conscientiousness were associated with steeper (i.e., healthier) diurnal cortisol slope. Consistent with a hypothesized indirect biobehavioral pathway, when controlling for demographic factors, cortisol-related medications, daily stressors, and positive affect, HLM models showed the relationship between conscientiousness and diurnal cortisol slope was mediated by general activity levels. Lifetime history of smoking was associated with flatter diurnal cortisol slope, but did not mediate the effect of conscientiousness on diurnal cortisol slope. No effects were found for neuroticism. CONCLUSIONS: The results support a psychophysiological model of resilience--one that provides a more complete rendering of the health-protective mechanisms of conscientiousness via hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis functioning. Specifically, the mediated pathway suggests greater engagement in the activities of day-to-day life are an instrumental means by which conscientious individuals experience healthier patterns of stress hormone secretion.

Conscientiousness and health-related behaviors: a meta-analysis of the leading behavioral contributors to mortality.

Previous research has established conscientiousness as a predictor of longevity (H. S. Friedman et al., 1993; L. R. Martin & H. S. Friedman, 2000). To better understand this relationship, the authors conducted a meta-analysis of conscientiousness-related traits and the leading behavioral contributors to mortality in the United States (tobacco use, diet and activity patterns, excessive alcohol use, violence, risky sexual behavior, risky driving, suicide, and drug use). Data sources were located by combining conscientiousness-related terms and relevant health-related behavior terms in database searches as well as by retrieving dissertations and requesting unpublished data from electronic mailing lists. The resulting database contained 194 studies that were quantitatively synthesized. Results showed that conscientiousness-related traits were negatively related to all risky health-related behaviors and positively related to all beneficial health-related behaviors. This study demonstrates the importance of conscientiousness' contribution to the health process through its relationship to health-related behaviors.