Surprising new research reveals that high school students who tend to be calm, empathetic and intellectually curious are more likely to be alive 50 years later than their peers who are less so.
This finding based on an in-depth analysis of personality surveys conducted over the past 50 years seems to suggest a teenager's personality can actually predict how long he or she will live.
The research team that uncovered this said their finding does not prove that certain traits in adolescence actually cause people to live longer. But it does reveal an association between a teenager's personality and his longevity.
This conclusion was derived from an in-depth analysis of personality surveys conducted in 1960 across the United States. These surveys involved nearly 27,000 high school students. Those results were then compared to participant deaths due to all causes over nearly 50 years.
Study author Benjamin Chapman said that what they found was that high school students who report adaptive personality characteristics have a lower risk of death over the ensuing half-century. Among these characteristics are things like high levels of calmness and low levels of impulsiveness.
Chapman is an associate professor at the departments of psychiatry and public health sciences at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York.
The initial survey also gauged teenage levels of social sensitivity; intellectual curiosity; maturity; self-confidence; sociability; leadership; energetic disposition and tidiness.
Chapman said his team looked initially at each trait one by one. This meant calmness was linked to a reduced risk of early death, regardless of whether the same teen also possessed other protective or risky traits
He also said adolescents who are more sociable tended also to be more self-confident, and so forth. This suggests some traits tend to group together in the same person
Regardless of a teen's ethnic or family background, those that scored higher in terms of energy, intellectual curiosity, maturity empathy, calmness, and tidiness plus low impulsiveness faced a lower risk of death over the 48-year period.
The insight of this work is that characteristics we think are not particularly helpful in teens for immediate outcomes can actually have very long-term health consequences, said Chapman. These characteristics include getting good grades; being in college and adjusting socially and emotionally to everyday life.
The study also shows that human connection is strongly correlated with health and happiness, so it's no surprise that those with more empathy - or our social glue -- would fare better.
The study showed that impulsivity is dangerous and people with stronger personal control are more likely to avoid substances and reckless behavior detrimental to health.
On the other hand, a calmer, more mature person will make better lifestyle choices that have long-reaching consequences.
In sum, personality drives the everyday health decisions that ultimately impact longevity.
