PERSONALITY, CHRONIC MEDICAL MORBIDITY, AND HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY-OF-LIFE AMONG OLDER PERSONS

This article examines the main and moderating effects of 3 personality characteristics on the association between chronic medical morbidity and health-related quality of life (HRQL) in a large (N = 5,279) commu nity-based older sample. Reasonably high unique contributions of neuro ticism, mastery, and self-efficacy to HRQL were found. The additional amounts of variance explained beyond and above medical morbidity and a ge vary from about 4% (bodily pain) to above 30% (mental health). Litt le empirical evidence was found for the moderating effects of personal ity. In conclusion, personality characteristics such as neuroticism, m astery, and self-efficacy influence the reported levels of HRQL. The e xtent to which this is due to an influence of personality on true vers us perceived levels of HRQL is unclear.