In an aging society, identifying predictors of successful lifespan development and optimal aging is imperative. Personality traits predict numerous aging-related outcomes,with associations reported decades before older age – potentially as early as adolescence. Yet, most previous research has focused on personality assessed in adulthood or late life. We identified and synthesized the existing literature examining the links between adolescent personality (mean/median group age = 10-25 years) and any outcome in older adulthood (mean/median group age ≥ 60).
Based on 33 studies (Ntotal=102,650 participants) spanning more than five decades, adolescent personality traits were associated with multiple late-life outcomes, including cognition (e.g., memory), health (e.g., dementia, diabetes, longevity), and psychosocial and socioeconomic measures (e.g., well-being, wisdom, occupational outcomes). Notably, meta-analytic results indicated that higher adolescent conscientiousness was associated with a modest reduction in mortality risk across the lifespan (HR=0.949, 95% CI [0.921, 0.979], 95% prediction interval [0.899, 1.002], k=5). Direct evidence on midlife pathways was limited; although patterns were consistent with developmental theories highlighting candidate pathways such as education, no single midlife factor emerged as dominant.
Overall, the findings support the value of adopting a lifespan perspective on personality and aging by suggesting that individual differences in adolescent traits may contribute to long-term aging trajectories through cumulative developmental processes, though evidence was uneven across traits, outcomes, and datasets. Future research using more diverse cohorts, harmonized personality assessments, repeated measurements, and explicit tests of mechanisms is needed to clarify how early personality contributes to aging outcomes across the life course.
