Scientists Followed 22,000 People for Up to 28 Years – One Word Predicted Who Lived Longer

When people talk about living longer, the advice is usually the same: don’t smoke, stay physically active, eat well, sleep enough, and take care of your health.

A large study published in 2025 looked at another factor that rarely comes up in those conversations: personality.

More than 22,000 adults from four long-running US studies were followed for periods ranging from 6 years to almost 28 years. Researchers compared mortality records with the way participants rated themselves on simple personality adjectives.

So what exactly did the researchers measure, which words stood out, and what can this study really tell us about living longer?

What the 2025 Personality and Longevity Study Looked At

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The study, published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research, combined data from four major longitudinal studies in the United States:

• the Health and Retirement Study;
• the Midlife in the United States Study;
• the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project;
• the National Health and Aging Trends Study.

Together, they included more than 22,000 participants.

The follow-up periods weren’t identical. Mortality was tracked for 18 years in one cohort, almost 28 years in another, 6 years in a third, and about 9.5 years in the fourth.

Participants had completed questionnaires based on the Big Five personality traits: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness.

Instead of looking only at those five large categories, the researchers also examined the individual adjectives used to measure them.

For example, the extraversion questions included words such as active and lively. Conscientiousness included organized, responsible, hardworking, and thorough. Agreeableness included helpful.

Researchers call these narrower characteristics personality nuances and allowed them to see whether one particular part of a broad personality trait might be more closely associated with mortality than another.

“Active” Had the Strongest Association With Lower Mortality

Among all the individual personality items, active produced the strongest result.

In the pooled analysis, a one-standard-deviation higher score on the “active” item was associated with approximately a 21% lower mortality risk.

The statistical result was a hazard ratio of about 0.79.

That figure is often easier to understand as 21%, but there is an important distinction: researchers weren’t comparing people who simply ticked “active” with everyone else. Participants rated how well personality descriptions applied to them, and the researchers analyzed differences in those scores.

Several other personality items also showed associations with lower mortality:

• Lively
• Organized
• Responsible
• Hardworking
• Thorough
• Helpful

The pooled hazard ratios for these characteristics ranged from approximately 0.87 to 0.91.

That translates into smaller reductions in relative mortality risk than the result for “active,” but the pattern appeared often enough across the different samples to attract the researchers’ attention.

Psychological characteristics have appeared in other longevity research as well. Studies have found associations between optimism and longevity, for example, although no single personality characteristic determines how long someone will live.

Being “Active” Didn’t Simply Mean Going to the Gym

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The word “active” can easily make this study sound like another piece of exercise research, but it was being measured as part of personality.

It reflects qualities such as energy, vigor, engagement, and pace of life.

Of course, personality and behavior overlap. Someone who sees herself as active may also move more. Someone who is organized or responsible may be more consistent with appointments, medication, routines, or other health-related behaviors. Helpful people may remain more socially connected.

The researchers tested some of these possibilities.

Their fuller analysis included factors such as disease burden, BMI, smoking, physical activity, and depressive symptoms.

Those factors weakened many of the personality associations, which makes sense. Some of the relationship between personality and mortality appears to operate through health and behavior.

But they didn’t explain everything.

After those additional factors were considered, associations involving active, helpful, caring, organized, responsible, hardworking, and thorough were only partly accounted for.

The study therefore leaves room for other pathways connecting these characteristics with long-term health.

The same general question has appeared in research on other psychological factors. A sense of purpose in life, for instance, has also been studied in connection with health and longevity.

Why the Researchers Looked Beyond the Big Five Personality Traits

The Big Five model groups personality into five broad areas:

• Extraversion
• Agreeableness
• Conscientiousness
• Neuroticism
• Openness

These categories are useful, but they’re also broad.

Two people can have similar overall extraversion scores while being different in important ways. One might be extremely sociable but not particularly energetic. Another might be active and lively without being especially talkative.

The same applies to conscientiousness. Being organized, responsible, hardworking, and thorough are related qualities, but they aren’t identical.

By separating the individual questionnaire items, the researchers could see which parts of those larger personality categories were most closely associated with mortality.

The results need some nuance here.

Individual personality items generally added only limited predictive information beyond their corresponding broad personality domain.

However, when researchers considered all of the individual items together, their combined predictive value was stronger than that of the five broad personality domains together.

So the value wasn’t simply that one adjective replaced an entire personality type. Looking at the smaller components gave researchers a more detailed picture.

The Personality Characteristics Most Strongly Linked to Lower Mortality

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Active had the strongest individual association. In the initial pooled model, each one-standard-deviation increase was associated with about a 21% lower mortality risk.

Lively was another extraversion-related item associated with lower mortality.

Organized was associated with about a 14% lower mortality risk in the initial analysis.

Responsible was associated with roughly a 12% lower risk.

Hardworking and thorough were each associated with reductions of around 15% in the initial analysis.

Helpful also showed a consistent association with lower mortality.

These percentages became smaller after the fuller health and lifestyle adjustments, so they shouldn’t be read as promises or as the effect of deliberately changing one behavior.

They tell us that these characteristics were statistically associated with mortality across the cohorts.

Does Personality Matter More Than Diet or Exercise?

No.

The study didn’t show that personality is more important than physical activity, diet, smoking, sleep, medical care, or other established influences on health.

Physical activity and smoking were among the factors researchers explicitly included in their fuller models.

There is also separate research looking specifically at the chances of reaching age 100.

A JAMA Network Open study of people aged 80 and older found that healthier lifestyle scores were associated with a greater likelihood of becoming a centenarian. Exercise, not smoking, and dietary diversity were important components.

So the established habits associated with living longer haven’t suddenly become irrelevant.

The personality study adds another possible piece to the picture.

Some Personality Characteristics Were Initially Linked to Higher Mortality Too

The researchers also found associations in the opposite direction.

In the initial analysis, higher scores on several neuroticism-related items were associated with higher mortality risk:

• Moody – about 9% higher;
• Worrying – about 7% higher;
• Nervous – about 9% higher.

A higher score on calm was associated with about a 5% lower risk.

Those numbers shouldn’t be taken out of context, because the picture changed after researchers added the health, behavioral, and psychological variables.

Once disease burden, BMI, smoking, physical activity, and depressive symptoms were considered, those factors completely accounted for the association between the neuroticism-related characteristics and mortality.

In other words, the study doesn’t support telling an anxious or nervous person that their personality itself is shortening their life.

The researchers suggest that traits related to neuroticism may be connected with mortality through factors such as stress vulnerability, health behaviors, depression, and health management.

It’s also possible for health to influence the way people describe themselves. Someone living with illness or depression may understandably rate words such as “active,” “nervous,” or “moody” differently.

That is one of the reasons this type of research can establish associations but cannot prove cause and effect.

There is broader research examining mental habits and longevity, but no personality questionnaire can tell an individual how long he or she will live.

Can You Become More Active, Organized, or Helpful?

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Personality tends to be fairly stable, but it isn’t completely fixed throughout adulthood.

Behavior is easier to change than an entire personality trait.

If you want to be more active, that can mean walking more, getting out of the house, taking part in activities you enjoy, seeing people, traveling, working on projects, or simply spending less of the day sitting.

Becoming more organized can start with a calendar, reminders for medical appointments, a regular sleep schedule, or keeping medications and important documents in predictable places.

Being more helpful doesn’t require turning your life into a volunteer program. Checking on someone, offering practical help, sharing a skill, or making time for friends and family all count as real behavior.

None of these actions comes with a guarantee of a longer life based on this study.

They can still improve daily life, relationships, and health habits even without attaching a number of extra years to them.

Other studies have also examined psychological characteristics such as forgiveness, optimism, social connection, and purpose in relation to health and well-being.

How Strong Is the Evidence?

This wasn’t a study based on a few hundred volunteers followed for a year or two.

It included more than 22,000 participants, used four independent US cohorts, and included follow-up periods extending to almost 28 years.

The researchers also found several associations repeatedly across different samples rather than relying on one isolated result.

Still, there are limits to what the study can tell us.

• It was observational. The study can show that personality characteristics and mortality were associated, but it cannot prove that one caused the other.
• Personality was self-reported. Answers can be influenced by health, mood, circumstances, and how each participant interprets a word.
• Health can affect personality ratings. Someone who is already becoming ill may feel less active or lively.
• The cohorts were from the United States. The exact results may not be identical in other countries and cultures.
• Many factors influence longevity. Personality is only one part of a much larger picture involving genetics, health, behavior, environment, medical care, and chance.

The researchers also performed sensitivity analyses designed to reduce the possibility that people who were already seriously ill were driving the findings.

Even with a large sample and decades of follow-up, this study cannot tell us that becoming more organized will add a certain number of years to someone’s life.

What the Study Adds to What We Already Know About Longevity

Research has linked broad traits such as conscientiousness with longevity for years.

This study gives researchers a closer look at which parts of those broad traits may be involved.

Instead of stopping at “conscientious people tend to live longer,” researchers can now examine organization, responsibility, hard work, and thoroughness separately.

Instead of treating extraversion as one characteristic, they can distinguish being active or lively from being talkative or outgoing.

That distinction produced some striking differences.

For example, “active” showed a strong association with lower mortality, while “talkative” didn’t show the same consistent pattern.

That gives researchers much more precise questions to investigate next.

Conclusion: Personality May Be One Part of the Longevity Picture

There is no personality type that guarantees a long life.

But after following more than 22,000 people across four US studies, researchers found that some very specific personality characteristics were associated with mortality over periods extending to almost 28 years.

Active had the strongest individual association with lower mortality. Lively, organized, responsible, hardworking, thorough, and helpful also stood out.

Health, smoking, physical activity, BMI, and depressive symptoms explained part of those associations, but they didn’t fully account for several of the favorable traits.

That leaves researchers with an interesting question: what else connects these personality characteristics with health over decades?

We don’t have the complete answer yet.

For now, eating well, moving regularly, not smoking, getting medical care, staying socially connected, and taking care of your mental health remain far more useful than trying to redesign your personality because of one study.

Still, if being more active, organized, responsible, engaged, or helpful also makes everyday life better, there’s little downside to working more of those behaviors into your routine.

This article is for informational purposes only and is not medical advice.

FAQs About Personality and Longevity

Which personality characteristic had the strongest link with longer life?

The personality item “active” showed the strongest association with lower mortality in the 2025 study. A one-standard-deviation higher score was associated with about a 21% lower mortality risk in the initial pooled analysis.

Which other personality traits were associated with lower mortality?

Lively, organized, responsible, hardworking, thorough, and helpful were among the individual characteristics most consistently associated with lower mortality risk.

Does being organized make you live longer?

The study found an association between higher scores on “organized” and lower mortality risk. It didn’t prove that becoming more organized causes someone to live longer.

Does personality matter more than exercise or diet?

No. The study didn’t establish that personality matters more than exercise, diet, smoking, medical care, or other major influences on longevity. Physical activity and smoking were among the variables included in the researchers’ analyses.

Did researchers study people who lived to 100?

No. This particular study examined mortality during follow-up periods ranging from 6 years to almost 28 years. It wasn’t specifically a study of centenarians.

Were anxiety and nervousness linked to shorter lives?

Moody, worrying, and nervous were initially associated with higher mortality risk. However, those associations were completely accounted for after researchers considered clinical, behavioral, and psychological factors including disease burden, BMI, smoking, physical activity, and depressive symptoms.

Can changing your personality help you live longer?

This study can’t answer that question. It examined associations between personality characteristics and mortality; it didn’t test whether deliberately changing personality changes lifespan. People can change behaviors associated with traits such as activity, organization, and helpfulness, but the study doesn’t show that doing so will extend life.

Violeta Loredana

Violeta-Loredana Pascal is a communications expert, business mentor, and the founder of Earth’s Attractions and PRwave INTERNATIONAL. A pioneer in the Romanian digital PR landscape since 2005, she holds a degree in Communication and Social Sciences from SNSPA Bucharest. Violeta is a senior trainer at AcademiadeAfaceri.ro, where she leverages over 20 years of experience to teach professional courses in PR strategy and workplace productivity. By blending high-level business consulting with a passion for holistic travel and wellness, she empowers solopreneurs to overcome procrastination, build profitable brands, and design a life of purposeful adventure.