Prediction of All-Cause Mortality by the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory Optimism-Pessimism Scale Scores: Study of a College Sample During a 40-Year Follow-up Period

• Published in: Mayo Clinic proceedings Vol. 81; no. 12; pp. 1541 - 1544
• Main Authors: Brummett, Beverly H., Helms, Michael J., Dahlstrom, W. Grant, Siegler, Ilene C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Rochester, MN Elsevier Inc 01.12.2006; Mayo Medical Ventures; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Epidemiology; Female; Follow-Up Studies; General aspects; Humans; Kaplan-Meier Estimate; Longevity; Male; Medical sciences; MMPI; Mortality; Proportional Hazards Models; Prospective Studies; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Students - psychology; Temperament; HR; PSM; UNCAHS; MMPI; CI; Medicine; Score; Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory; Evaluation scale; Mortality; Cause; Optimism pessimism; Prediction; Predictive factor; Epidemiology
• ISSN: 0025-6196; 1942-5546
• DOI: 10.4065/81.12.1541

To examine a measure of explanatory style, the Optimism-Pessimism (PSM) scale derived from college-entry Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory scores, as a predictor of all-cause mortality. A total of 7007 students entering the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill completed the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory during the mid-1960s. Of those students, 6958 had scores on the PSM scale and data for all-cause mortality through 2006. Scores on the PSM scale were evaluated as predictors of mortality using the Cox proportional hazards regression model, adjusted for sex. During the 40-year follow-up period, 476 deaths occurred. Pessimistic individuals who scored in the upper tertile of the distribution had decreased rates of longevity (hazard ratio, 1.42; 95% confidence interval, 1.13-1.77) compared with optimistic individuals who scored in the bottom tertile of the distribution. In a model that adjusted only for sex, a measure of optimistic vs pessimistic explanatory style was a significant predictor of survival during a 40-year follow-up period such that optimists had increased longevity.