Personality traits and oral self-care behaviors: Longitudinal findings from the normative aging study

We examined the persistence of oral self-care behaviors (toothbrushing and 'other oral self-care behaviors' (using dental floss, gum stimulators, mout hwash, or a water irrigation device)) over time and whether personality tra its are associated with the performance of such behaviors. Using data from the VA Normative Aging Study/Dental Longitudinal Study, we examined whether the personality traits of anxiety/neuroticism or extraversion from two dif ferent personality measures (the 16PF and EPI-Q) were related to the perfor mance of two types of oral self-care behaviors over thirteen years. Oral se lf-care behaviors were relatively stable and consistent over time, and a su mmary measure was developed to reflect their average frequency. Regression analyses showed that both measures of neuroticism/anxiety were negatively a ssociated with toothbrushing, while both measures of extraversion were posi tively associated with the performance of other oral self-care behaviors. R esults are similar to other findings demonstrating a link between personali ty traits and health behaviors; these results are also discussed in terms o f their import for future oral health promotion activities.