It is possible that the low neuroticism and higher extraversion will confer health benefits to these subjects. For example, people who are lower in neuroticism may be able to manage or regulate stressful situations more effectively than those with higher neuroticism levels. Similarly, high extraversion levels have been associated with greater subjective well-being, vitality, and longevity. A limitation of the current study is that it does not include facet-level data. Future research might employ the 30 facets of the NEO-PI-R, which could help identify which lower-order traits are driving the low neuroticism and high extraversion. Also, larger samples and prospective follow-up of offspring could facilitate the comparison for age-related diseases and mortality of offspring and other referent cohorts with and without personality traits (and facets) associated thus far with longevity. The findings of the current study suggest that personality is an important phenotype to include in studies that assess genetic and environmental determinants of longevity. Such studies will be possible soon with the availability of fruitful genomics technologies, ongoing recruitment of ever-growing samples of long-lived families (https://longlifefamilystudy.wustl.edu/), and collaborating centenarian studies that also enroll offspring.
