Does character predict a person’s lifespan

Scientists have known for a long time that a person’s character has an impact on his health and the length of his life. For example, open and concessional people live longer than pessimists and neurotics.

However, one is not always able to judge one’s own character. And in this regard, scientists from the University of Washington decided to study the opinions and evaluations of friends.

Psychologists analyzed data from a large-scale study that began in the 1930s. They took 600 people /300 married couples / who at the time the study began were about 25 years of age.

5 close friends of the young people filled out questionnaires in which they evaluated the character of the participants. These friends attended the couple’s wedding reception.

The volunteers themselves also told how they define their own character.

75 years later, scientists again studied the participants or their obituaries. They compared the volunteers’ answers with those of their friends and found out whose opinion most accurately predicted their life expectancy.

The men’s self-estimates could tell how long they would live, but they were not as accurate as those of their friends.

But the ratings the women gave of their own character could not be used to predict their life expectancy, as significant bias was found.

Men whom their friends considered honest and open lived longer than others, or vice versa participants without such qualities died earlier.

Conscientious people are disciplined, organized, executive and reliable, while open people are inquisitive and inventive. Women’s longevity has been shown to be related to other character traits.

Women who were sociable, kind and emotionally stable, according to their close friends, lived the longest.

The opposite of emotional resilience is a personality trait of neuroticism – the tendency to anger, anxiety and depression. Condescension is expressed in the ability to cooperate with other people and empathize with them.

Still, the scientists note that their findings must be seen in a historical context, as the participants were adults in the 1930s, when the female wife she was usually considered the emotional leader of the family.