TY - JOUR
T1 - Extraversion personality, perceived health and activity participation among community-dwelling aging adults in Hong Kong
AU - Lai, Daniel W. L.
AU - Qin, Nan
N1 - Publisher copyright:
© 2018 Lai, Qin.
PY - 2018/12/12
Y1 - 2018/12/12
N2 - Activity participation is essential to the wellbeing of aging adults.
Divergent levels of activity participation within aging populations have
been explained from diverse perspectives, but the interaction effects
of key determinants, such as personality and health, are often ignored.
This study examines the effects of extravert personality on aging
adults’ activity levels by addressing its interaction with perceived
physical health and mental health. A sample of 304 adults aged 50 and
older was selected using systematic sampling from participants of an
institute for promoting active aging at a university in Hong Kong in
2017. Data on socio-demographic characteristics, perceived physical and
mental health, extraversion personality traits, and level of activity
participation were collected using a telephone survey. Most participants
(46.7%) reported moderate activity levels and over a quarter (26.6%)
reported high or low activity levels. Multi-nominal logistic regression
analyses show that extraversion was associated with an increased
likelihood of reporting moderate (OR = 1.85, p = .036) but not high (p
> .05) activity levels when adjusted for perceived physical and
mental health and socio-demographics, with low activity levels being the
constant comparison. Meanwhile, extraversion predicted both moderate
(OR = 3.84, p = .014) and high (OR = 5.06, p = .032) activity levels for
participants with poor or average perceived mental health. However, the
interaction effects of extraversion with perceived physical health or
mental health were not significant in predicting either moderate or high
activity levels (p > .05). The implications for enhancing activity
participation among aging adults are discussed in view of both
personality and perceived health status.
AB - Activity participation is essential to the wellbeing of aging adults.
Divergent levels of activity participation within aging populations have
been explained from diverse perspectives, but the interaction effects
of key determinants, such as personality and health, are often ignored.
This study examines the effects of extravert personality on aging
adults’ activity levels by addressing its interaction with perceived
physical health and mental health. A sample of 304 adults aged 50 and
older was selected using systematic sampling from participants of an
institute for promoting active aging at a university in Hong Kong in
2017. Data on socio-demographic characteristics, perceived physical and
mental health, extraversion personality traits, and level of activity
participation were collected using a telephone survey. Most participants
(46.7%) reported moderate activity levels and over a quarter (26.6%)
reported high or low activity levels. Multi-nominal logistic regression
analyses show that extraversion was associated with an increased
likelihood of reporting moderate (OR = 1.85, p = .036) but not high (p
> .05) activity levels when adjusted for perceived physical and
mental health and socio-demographics, with low activity levels being the
constant comparison. Meanwhile, extraversion predicted both moderate
(OR = 3.84, p = .014) and high (OR = 5.06, p = .032) activity levels for
participants with poor or average perceived mental health. However, the
interaction effects of extraversion with perceived physical health or
mental health were not significant in predicting either moderate or high
activity levels (p > .05). The implications for enhancing activity
participation among aging adults are discussed in view of both
personality and perceived health status.
KW - activity participation
KW - older adults
KW - Hong kong
KW - extraversion
KW - personality
KW - perceived health
UR - https://www.scopus.com/record/display.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85058385174&origin=inward
UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0227896
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0209154
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0209154
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 31929598
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 13
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
IS - 12
M1 - e0209154
ER -