Stability of Cloninger's temperament traits following a health event: Subjective and objective health status analysis from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966

Abstract

Personality/temperament traits are often presumed to remain stable across various life outcomes. This longitudinal study challenges this assumption by examining changes of Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory traits following a severe health event, utilizing data from the population-based Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966, combined with Finnish register data (N = 3195). We explore both health conditions diagnosed in healthcare settings and changes in individuals' self-reported health to discern the relationship between alterations in objective and subjective health and changes in temperament traits between ages 31 and 46. Our findings suggest that changes in health generally don't relate to alterations in three of the four temperament traits—novelty seeking, reward dependence, and persistence. However, we observe a significant shift in the fourth temperament trait, harm avoidance, following a health change. Both females and males reporting a decline in self-reported health become significantly more harm avoidant, irrespective of whether they experience an objective health event. Our results indicate that harm avoidance may not be entirely stable over time, and health changes, particularly regarding subjective health, are linked to variations in harm avoidance. Our results emphasize the need for caution when using harm avoidance as a predictor, particularly in the context of diverse health outcomes.