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Does Personality Affect how People Perceive their Health?

Author

Listed:
  • Dusanee Kesavayuth
  • Robert Rosenman
  • Vasileios Zikos

    (School of Economic Sciences, Washington State University)

Abstract

We examine how personality relates to self-reported health satisfaction. With a nation-wide dataset from the United Kingdom, we provide evidence that personality influences how individuals report their satisfaction with their overall health. Using the classification of personality traits according to the Big Five factors, we show that Agreeableness, Conscientiousness and to a lesser extent Openness relate positively to health satisfaction, while Neuroticism relates negatively. Extraversion appears much less closely tied to health satisfaction. Perhaps most interesting, our results provide some evidence that personality traits mitigate the importance of the incidence of illness on health satisfaction.

Suggested Citation

  • Dusanee Kesavayuth & Robert Rosenman & Vasileios Zikos, 2013. "Does Personality Affect how People Perceive their Health?," Working Papers 2013-13, School of Economic Sciences, Washington State University.
    • Handle: RePEc:wsu:wpaper:rosenman-16
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    File URL: http://faculty.ses.wsu.edu/WorkingPapers/rosenman/WP2013-13.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    health satisfaction; personality; Big Five factors; illness; subjective well-being;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C25 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Discrete Regression and Qualitative Choice Models; Discrete Regressors; Proportions; Probabilities
    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General

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