Why Worry-Prone Personalities May Face a Higher Risk of Dying Earlier

Personality traits are often treated as quirks: the habits and tendencies that shape the way we think, feel, and interact with others. But a new analysis suggests they could also play a more discreet, more consequential role: influencing how long we live.

The findings come from a large new study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Analyzing decades of studies following nearly 570,000 people, researchers linked more anxious and worry-prone personality traits to a higher risk of dying earlier.

“Personality is a critical factor in health and longevity. Importantly, these effects are similar in magnitude to those of commonly considered public health determinants, such as socioeconomic status,” Máire McGeehan, a psychologist at the University of Limerick, said in a press release.

Personality traits and long-term health

Psychologists generally describe personality using five broad traits: neuroticism, extroversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. These traits reflect relatively stable patterns in how people respond to stress, organize their lives, seek social interactions, and manage responsibilities.

Over time, these patterns can shape daily behavior in ways that influence health. Personality traits have been linked to habits such as smoking, physical activity, medication adherence and how people deal with stress – all factors that can quietly affect disease risk over decades.

Previous research has hinted at links between personality and lifespan, but results have often been inconsistent. Some studies have found large effects for certain traits, while others have found few or none, depending on the population or country studied.

Learn more: Fear of nature? You may be one of the many people around the world suffering from biophobia

Anxiety, organization and risk of dying earlier

Researchers looked at data from 48 longitudinal studies that followed participants for years – in some cases, decades – recording personality traits early on and tracking their survival later in life.

One of the clearest patterns involved neuroticism, a trait characterized by chronic worry, anxiety, and emotional instability. Across all studies, higher levels of neuroticism were associated with a modest but consistent increase in the risk of dying earlier. The link was stronger among younger and middle-aged adults, suggesting that anxiety-related traits may be particularly relevant in the case of premature death.

Consciousness had the opposite effect. People who score higher on organization, self-discipline, and dependability tend to live longer. Extraversion – reflecting sociability and engagement with others – was also associated with lower mortality risk, although this protective effect was more evident in North America and Australia.

Not all traits showed clear connections. Openness and agreeableness were generally not associated with lifespan once the researchers accounted for differences between studies.

The effects on neuroticism, conscientiousness, and extraversion held even when the traits were analyzed together, suggesting that each contributes independently to longevity.

Small differences, long-term consequences

Personality-related differences in risk were relatively small – often just a few percentage points. But from one population to another and over long periods, these effects can add up.

Personality traits may influence health indirectly, by shaping behavior and biological responses to stress, rather than acting as direct causes of disease. When researchers adjusted for factors such as smoking, weight, or existing health problems, some associations weakened, suggesting that personality may take these pathways.

The results do not mean that personality is destiny. Characteristics may change over time and many health behaviors remain modifiable.

Still, the findings underscore that the way people tend to think, feel, and cope with the world can quietly shape their health trajectory throughout their lives—sometimes in ways that rival more familiar risk factors.

Learn more: About 25 percent of your mental health risk is related to your personality

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