Neuroticism is important to public health research partly because it is robustly correlated with a wide variety of both mental and physical health problems. Neuroticism appears to be correlated with a wider range of mental and physical health problems than other personality traits (Malouff, Thorsteinsson, & Schutte, 2005; Malouff, Thorsteinsson, & Schutte, 2006; Saulsman & Page, 2004), but it certainly is not the only personality trait of public health importance. For example, there is growing evidence that conscientiousness is related to physical health through positive health practices (Hagger-Johnson & Whiteman, 2007), and sensation seeking is inversely related to injuries from traffic accidents (Heino, van der Molen, & Wilde, 1996; Schwebel, Severson, Ball, & Rizzo, 2006). Thus, although the focus of this review is on neuroticism, other personality traits also are important to public health.
