NEUROTICISM AND SELF-REPORTED HEALTH IN AN ELDERLY COMMUNITY SAMPLE

Previous research has shown that self-reported health is correlated wi th the personality trait of neuroticism, but objective measures of hea lth are not. However, much of this research involved narrow samples in which major health problems were uncommon. The present study was base d on a survey of persons aged 70 or over who were living in the commun ity. It was found that neuroticism correlated with some self-report me asures of health, but not others. Correlations with neuroticism emerge d when the self-report measures involved room for personal judgment. C orrelations with objective measures were near zero. Correlations betwe en neuroticism and self-reported health were much lower in men than in women. A small correlation was found between neuroticism and use of h ealth services, but only for women. The results support the hypothesis that neuroticism is related to the perception of health rather than t o objective health status.