Personality traits can predict your sunscreen use — and physical health
Google “health” and you’ll find more than 933 million hits. The quest for personal health and wellness is a global phenomenon. So it’s no wonder researchers are asking: How does personality affect physical health, if at all?
Personality traits can, indeed, influence physical health. Next time you’re at the beach, watch men and women slather on sunscreen. That’s what researchers did in 1998, examining “sun protective behavior” with regard to traits such as anxiety, emotional stability and extraversion in 211 adolescents. Researchers found that women were more likely to use sunscreen than men, and that sunscreen use increased with mental and emotional stability. The conclusion: Programs intended to reduce skin cancer and promote healthy sun-protective behaviors — generous and frequent application of sunscreen — should take into account the different behaviors of different personalities.
Maybe it should come as no surprise that personality may even play a role in whether people smoke. Nearly everyone is aware that smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. Yet researchers have found that introverted people may be driven to smoke cigarettes as a way to enhance their social skills and bond with others. Other studies have found that extroverts are more likely to smoke in social situations, such as at a bar, than they are in stressful situations. People with high baseline anxiety, however, are the exact opposite: They are more likely to smoke when they’re stressed out, hoping to calm down, than in social situations to have fun.
Yet the relationship between personality and health goes far beyond whether people smoke or use sunscreen. Many studies suggest that personality can influence health in an even greater variety of ways.
Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, director of the Ohio State University Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research, argues that behavior can influence immune function. Kiecolt-Glaser and colleagues have found that negative emotions — sadness, anger, guilt and embarrassment — can directly stimulate immune system dysfunction. That dysfunction is a core mechanism for diseases such as osteoporosis, arthritis, Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other similar conditions. Psychologist Gerald Matthews suggests that personality traits may even be a driving factor for conditions such as stress, heart disease and even cancer.
The ability to control impulses and delay gratification — conscientiousness — has long been established as a predictor of health and well being. In 2004, researchers analyzed the relationship between conscientiousness-related behaviors and mortality in the United States. They found that people with high levels of conscientiousness — a k a those who are able to effectively regulate their cravings and delay indulgence — are more likely to exercise and eat a balanced diet, and less likely to engage in risky health-related behaviors such as using tobacco and drinking excessive amounts of alcohol.
In another study on on middleand upper-level executives, Suzanne C. Kobasa at the University of Chicago found that high-stress executives who rarely were ill showed more self-control and a stronger commitment to personal health and well being than highly stressed colleagues who reported being ill more often. Accordingly, personality may ultimately influence how people view a message on healthy lifestyles and behaviors, as well as whether or not they choose to then follow tips for better health.
While future research should aim to draw out more ways in which personality traits affect health, what’s known as Health Belief Models — i.e., how people think about their health — are now in use to target and change specific personality-related behaviors. This approach will set a milestone for preventative care and greatly reduce health-care costs, a consequence of decreased behavior-related patient complications. But there’s an even-greater payoff: more targeted and customized health care better suited to patients.
Most important, by understanding how personality affects physical health, we can take personal responsibility for our own health. I’ll call that “patient empowerment.” As President Barack Obama says, “We are the change that we seek.”