Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26716813›Full record

ArticlePsychosomatic medicine2016

Allostatic Load and Personality: A 4-Year Longitudinal Study.

Yannick Stephan, Angelina R Sutin, Martina Luchetti, Antonio Terracciano

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Psychosomatic medicine, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 43 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
43citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

43 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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  6. Big-5 personality traits as predictors of allostatic load in Latino Americans: a longitudinal study.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2025
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  13. Profiles of Risk, Allostatic Load, and Mental Health in Low-Income Children.Clinical psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science · 2024
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Yannick StephanFrom the UFRSTAPS, University of Montpellier (Stephan), Montpellier, France; and Departments of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine (Sutin, Luchetti) and Geriatrics (Terracciano), College of Medicine, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida.
Angelina R Sutin
Martina Luchetti
Antonio Terracciano

Funding

Personality Change as an Early Marker of Alzheimer's DiseaseR03AG051960 · NIA · FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY · PI TERRACCIANO, ANTONIO · 2016 to 2017
$152k
NIA NIH HHS R03 AG051960
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveDysregulation across multiple physiological systems, referred to as allostatic load, has pervasive consequences for an individual's health. The present study examined whether allostatic load is associated with personality and personality changes during a 4-year follow-up.

methodsA total of 5200 participants aged from 50 to 99 years (59.5% women, mean [standard deviation] age = 66.91 [8.88] years) from the Health and Retirement Study provided data on cardiovascular, metabolic, and immune markers at baseline and personality both at baseline and at 4 years later.

resultsHigher allostatic load was related to higher neuroticism (β = 0.03, p = .042), lower extraversion (β = -0.06, p < .001), and lower conscientiousness (β = -0.06, p < .001) at baseline, and to declines in extraversion (β = -0.03, p = .007), conscientiousness (β = -0.04, p < .001), and agreeableness (β = -0.02, p = .020) over the 4-year period, controlling for demographic covariates. A significant quadratic relation between allostatic load and changes in openness (β = -0.03, p = .002) suggested that openness declines when individuals exceed a high level of cumulative physiological dysregulation. No association was found with changes in neuroticism.

conclusionsAllostatic load is associated with personality change across adulthood and old age. The findings indicate that physiological dysregulation across multiple systems challenges personality stability and is associated with accelerated personality traits change.

Indexed as

BiomarkersAgedAged, 80 and overAgingAllostasisAnxiety DisordersConscienceExtraversion, PsychologicalFemaleHumansLongitudinal StudiesMaleMiddle AgedNeuroticismPersonalityBiomarkers

Identifiers

PMID26716813
PMCPMC5481782

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.