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Article
Engaged Lifestyle, Personality, and Mental Status Among Centenarians
Journal of Adult Development
  • Peter Martin, Iowa State University
  • Joan Baenziger, Iowa State University
  • Maurice MacDonald, Iowa State University
  • Ilene C Siegler, Duke University
  • Leonard W Poon, University of Georgia
Document Type
Article
Disciplines
Publication Version
Accepted Manuscript
Publication Date
12-1-2009
DOI
10.1007/s10804-009-9066-y.
Abstract

This study assessed engaged lifestyle activities (e.g., volunteering, traveling, and public speaking) for centenarians of the Georgia Centenarian Study. A total of 285 centenarians and near-centenarians (i.e., 98 years and older) and their proxy informants participated in this study. The Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) was assessed for all centenarians, and proxy informants reported on lifestyle activities and personality traits of the centenarians. Results suggested that participants who had volunteered, traveled, and those who had given public talks and balanced their checkbooks were more likely to show relatively high mental status scores (i.e., MMSE > 17). Personality traits were found to be moderators in the relationship between engaged lifestyle and mental status: Participants with high levels of Emotional Stability, Extraversion, Openness, and Conscientiousness and with high levels of engaged lifestyle were more likely to show relatively high mental status scores (i.e., MMSE > 17), whereas participants with low levels of Emotional Stability, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness and with low levels of engaged lifestyle were more likely to show relatively low mental status scores (i.e., MMSE < 18). The results suggest that engaged lifestyle, particularly in combination with personality traits, plays an important role in the level of cognitive functioning among oldest old adults.

Comments

This manuscript is published as Martin, Peter, Joan Baenziger, Maurice MacDonald, Ilene C. Siegler, and Leonard W. Poon. "Engaged lifestyle, personality, and mental status among centenarians." Journal of adult development 16, no. 4 (2009): 199. 10.1007/s10804-009-9066-y. . Posted with permission.

Copyright Owner
Springer Science+Business Media
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Citation Information
Peter Martin, Joan Baenziger, Maurice MacDonald, Ilene C Siegler, et al.. "Engaged Lifestyle, Personality, and Mental Status Among Centenarians" Journal of Adult Development Vol. 16 Iss. 4 (2009) p. 199 - 208
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/peter-martin/16/