Impact of Personality Features and Interpersonal Problems on Anxiety Among Older Adults

Abstract Introduction: Anxiety is a significant mental health problem among older adults and is associated with multiple other mental disorders, poor psychosocial functioning, and reduced quality of life. Personality traits and disorders, along with interpersonal problems, may play a significant role in anxiety, but these relationships are not well understood among older adults. This study examined relationships between anxiety with normative personality traits, personality disorder (PD) features, and interpersonal problems. Method: Community-dwelling older adults (N = 130) completed the Geriatric Anxiety Scale (GAS), Coolidge Axis Two Inventory (CATI), Big Five Inventory-2 (BFI-2), and Circumplex Scales of Interpersonal Problems (CSIP). Results: Anxiety was positively correlated with 13 of 14 CATI PD scales, ranging from .23 (Narcissistic) to .61 (Depressive). Regarding normative personality, anxiety was associated with Agreeableness (-.23), Conscientiousness (-.30), Extraversion (-.31), and Negative Emotionality (.56). Regarding interpersonal problems, anxiety was positively related to all eight CSIP scales: Self-Sacrificing (.30), Domineering (.31), Exploitable (.40), Intrusive (.41), Self-centered (.47), Nonassertive (.50), Socially Inhibited (.60), and Distant/Cold (.62). Regression analyses indicated that PD features accounted for the most variance in anxiety (53%), followed by interpersonal problems, (46%) and normative personality traits (33%). Discussion: Anxiety appears to be meaningfully associated with PD features, several aspects of normative personality, and interpersonal problems, suggesting that these variables may play a role in the development of anxiety, or vice versa. Our findings especially speak to the growing awareness of the deleterious impact of PD features on clinical syndromes in later life, as evidenced by strong comorbidities with anxiety.

pain that can be recurring and severe, which are associated with decreased quality of life.This study aims to characterize overall symptom load by utilizing the Brief Symptom Scale in community dwelling older adults who experience mild to severe pain.Data were extracted from the UAB Study of Aging II, a prospective, population-based study of mobility among community-dwelling older adults 75 years and older.Selfreported pain in the past 4 weeks and symptoms (e.g., pain, tired, nausea, depression, anxiety, shortness of breath) were included.The SPSS version 27.0 statistical package was used for analysis.Sixty-six percent were Non-Hispanic White, 58% were female, 40% lived in housing designed especially for the disabled, 49% were widowed, and 30% had a High School degree or GED.The mean age was 81 years (standard deviation 4.8).Of interest, over one third of the sample (38.1%) experienced moderate to severe pain, upper back pain was the most common area where pain occurred and feeling tired was the most common symptom.As the aging population continues to increase, so will the prevalence rates for pain.Findings suggests older adults with pain have multiple concomitant symptoms.Because the elderly represents a fragile and large group of the population, it is important to pay close attention to these symptoms.

THE MODERATING ROLE OF DEPRESSION ON MOMENTARY PAIN-AFFECT ASSOCIATIONS IN OSTEOARTHRITIS
Emily Behrens, 1 Kyrsten Hill, 2 Dylan Smith, 3 Jason DeCaro, 4 Brian Cox, 4 and Patricia Parmelee, 5 1.University of Alabama, Alabama, United States, 2. The University of Alabama,Tuscaloosa,Alabama,United States,3. Stony Brook University,Stony Brook,New York,United States,4.University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States, 5. University of Alabama, University of Alabama, Alabama, United States Previous research has found a reciprocal relationship between pain and depression, in which each influences the severity of the other (Chou, 2007;Hawker et al., 2011, Kroenke et al., 2011;Schieir et al., 2009).Studies have found that depressed individuals exhibit stronger pain-mood associations than never-depressed individuals (Conner et al., 2006;Tennen et al., 2006).The current study investigated main and interactive effects of depressive symptoms on the momentary associations between pain and mood.Experience sampling (ESM) data was used from a multi-site study examining individuals with knee osteoarthritis (OA).Participants completed self-report measures of global depression and momentary pain, negative affect (NA), and positive affect (PA).Cross-sectional associations among momentary pain and affect were examined in a series of hierarchical multilevel models that nested the 28 ESM calls (Level 1) within participants (Level 2).A parallel set of multilevel models tested lagged associations among momentary variables.Depression significantly moderated the contemporaneous (p < .001)and lagged (p < .003)associations between pain and NA, suggesting that depression intensifies the momentary pain-NA linkage.There were no significant interaction effects for PA.These findings extend existing knowledge by illustrating how depressive symptoms influence the everyday experience of OA pain and its impact on affective well-being.(Supported by AG041655, P. Parmelee and D. Smith, Co-PIs) Tomiko Yoneda, 1 Alejandra Marroig, 2 Emily Willroth, 3  Eileen Graham, 3 Scott Hofer, 1 Daniel Mroczek, 3 and  Graciela Muniz-Terrera, 4 1 Cognitive dispersion is the degree of within-person variation in performance across cognitive tasks at the same testing occasion.Existing literature indicates that cognitive dispersion may be an early marker of poor brain health, dementia and mortality.Limited research, however, has examined individual differences in cognitive dispersion.Although personality traits are associated with individual differences in cognitive functioning, no research has examined personality and cognitive dispersion.In this project, we execute a pre-registered, coordinated analysis of seven diverse, international longitudinal studies of aging (Ntotal=33,581; mean age range=56.4-71.2) to investigate the extent to which the Big Five personality traits are associated with cognitive dispersion.For methodological approach, see /osf.io/wrnjq/.Cognitive dispersion scores were derived from cognitive test results, and independent linear regression models were fit independently in each study to examine personality traits as predictors of dispersion scores, adjusting for mean cognitive performance and socio-demographics (age, sex, education).Results from individual studies were synthesized using random-effects meta-analyses.Results revealed minimal evidence for associations between cognitive dispersion and personality traits in independent analyses or in meta-analyses.Based on the meta-analytic estimates, only higher levels of openness were associated with greater cognitive dispersion.Mean cognitive scores were negatively associated with cognitive dispersion across the majority of studies, indicating that individuals with higher mean performance had less dispersed cognitive scores.Our study contributes to the replicability and transparency efforts characteristic of open science by pre-registering our study and drawing on the collaborative network of the Integrative Analysis of Longitudinal Studies of Aging and Dementia (IALSA).Introduction: Anxiety is a significant mental health problem among older adults and is associated with multiple other mental disorders, poor psychosocial functioning, and reduced quality of life.Personality traits and disorders, along with interpersonal problems, may play a significant role in anxiety, but these relationships are not well understood among older adults.This study examined relationships between anxiety with normative personality traits, personality disorder (PD) features, and interpersonal problems.Method: Community-dwelling older adults (N = 130) completed the Geriatric Anxiety Scale (GAS), Coolidge Axis Two Inventory (CATI), Big Five Inventory-2 (BFI-2), and Circumplex Scales of Interpersonal Problems (CSIP).Results: Anxiety was positively correlated with 13 of 14 CATI PD scales, ranging from .23 (Narcissistic) to .61(Depressive).Regarding normative personality, anxiety was associated with Agreeableness (-.23), Conscientiousness (-.30), Extraversion (-.31), and Negative Emotionality (.56).Regarding interpersonal problems, anxiety was positively related to all eight CSIP scales: Self-Sacrificing (.30), Domineering (.31), Exploitable (.40), Intrusive (.41), Self-centered (.47), Nonassertive (.50), Socially Inhibited (.60), and Distant/Cold (.62).Regression analyses indicated that PD features accounted for the most variance in anxiety (53%), followed by interpersonal problems, (46%) and normative personality traits (33%).Discussion: Anxiety appears to be meaningfully associated with PD features, several aspects of normative personality, and interpersonal problems, suggesting that these variables may play a role in the development of anxiety, or vice versa.Our findings especially speak to the growing awareness of the deleterious impact of PD features on clinical syndromes in later life, as evidenced by strong comorbidities with anxiety.

PATHOLOGICAL TRAITS AND INTERPERSONAL DIFFICULTIES IN DEPRESSED OLDER ADULTS: CLINICAL VERSUS COMMUNITY SAMPLING
George Lederer, 1 David Freedman, 2 Lauren Atlas, 3 Shira Kafker, 4 Ira Yenko, 4 Angel Mak, 4 Dimitry Francois, 5 and Richard Zweig, 4 1.Jacobi Medical Center, Scarsdale,New York,United States,2. Lenox Hill Hospital,Brooklyn,New York,United States,NEW YORK,New York,United States,4. Yeshiva University,Bronx,New York,United States,5. NY,White Plains,New York,United States Personality pathology, represented by high neuroticism and low agreeableness in the Five Factor Model of Personality, has been identified as a predictor of depression in mixed-age samples and preliminary studies of older adults.Research on older people, however, has not examined the differential impact of pathological personality traits and processes on depression or examined them across treatment settings.This secondary analysis examined personality traits and processes as predictors of depression, evaluated the moderating effect of interpersonal problems, and assessed stratification of these personality variables across community and clinical settings.Older adults (N=395) ranging in age from 55 to 99 (M = 72.06;SD = 10.10) from inpatient psychiatric, outpatient medical, and community settings completed selfreport measures of personality traits (NEO-FFI Agreeableness and Neuroticism), processes (Inventory of Interpersonal Problems), and depression (GDS-30).Higher neuroticism predicted worsened depressive symptoms (β = .765,p < .001),as did lower agreeableness (β = -.163,p = .002)and more interpersonal problems (β = .459,p < .001).Findings partially supported the stratification of personality traits and processes by setting.Interpersonal problems moderated neither the neuroticism-depression or agreeableness-depression relationships.Personality traits and processes predict depression in older adults across care settings but do not significantly interact.Levels of pathological traits and processes vary across community and clinical settings.Previous research on the relationship between personality traits and cognitive abilities has primarily focused on cross-sectional studies or on specific personality traits in relation to selected cognitive dimensions.The present study extends existing research by exploring associations among 20-year personality change profiles and 10-year cognitive change in middle-aged and older adults.The present study included 2,652 participants of the Midlife in the United States study (MIDUS) ranging in age between 20 -74 years (M = 46.61,SD = 11.26) at the first of the three measurement occasions.Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) was used to capture profiles of change across the Big Five personality traits of extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness, and emotional stability combined.Results of the LPA identified three personality change subgroups: Decreasers, Maintainers, and Increasers.Across the 20 years, the Decreasers showed greater decreases on the Big Five personality traits, the Maintainers remained mostly stable, and the Increasers showed greater personality trait increases.Also, the Maintainers and Decreasers were significantly older than the Increasers.Longitudinal multilevel models were used to examine the relationship between these three personality change profiles and cognitive change.Age, sex, education, physical activity, functional health, and selfrated health were added as covariates.Results show that cognitive decline was greater for the Decreasers and less for the Increasers compared to the other personality change profiles.The results have implications for developing interventions to target personality trait change in middle and later adulthood as a potential means for reducing declines in cognitive functioning.

THE INTERPERSONAL CIRCUMPLEX AND THE ALTERNATIVE MODEL
. University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, 2. Universidad de la República, Uruguay, Instituto de Estadística, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay, 3. Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, United States, 4. University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom Olivia Noel, 1 Daniel Segal, 2 Katie Granier, 3 Marissa Pifer, 3 and Lisa Stone, 3 1.Peak View Behavioral Health, Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States, 2. University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States, 3. University of Colorado Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States

OF PERSONALITY DISORDERS: RELATIONSHIPS AMONG OLDER ADULTS
Lisa Stone, 1 and Daniel Segal, 2 1.University of Colorado Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States, 2. University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States