Conscientious Individuals Live Longer
Personality traits such as conscientiousness, emotional stability, and an internal locus of control significantly influence one's lifestyle and longevity. Not only can personality traits influence health through beneficial and harmful habits but can also have a direct effect on mortality. Higher conscientiousness reduces the risk of premature death by 20 percentage points, while higher neuroticism increases it by 12 percentage points. These are the findings from a new study by Ksenia Rozhkova, Junior Research Fellow at the Laboratory for Labour Market Studies of the HSE Faculty of Economic Sciences.
Scientists have long been interested in the factors that influence life expectancy and mortality. While the impact of healthy and harmful habits and lifestyles on health has been extensively studied and is generally well understood, the influence of personality traits has only been recognised in recent years. Today, an increasing number of studies focus on the role of the so-called non-cognitive skills. They are personality traits which, while not directly related to intellectual abilities, significantly influence a person's life and behaviour. The conventional set of traits for research has been the Big Five: agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, openness to experience, and neuroticism (or emotional instability). Another important factor is the locus of control, which refers to whether a person attributes their successes or failures to internal or external factors. These characteristics are significantly related to various aspects of life, including job satisfaction and even alcohol consumption.
Ksenia Rozhkova, Junior Research Fellow at the HSE Faculty of Economic Sciences, decided to investigate how non-cognitive skills impact life expectancy. To accomplish this, she analysed data on more than 10,000 participants in the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS-HSE), examining how the Big Five traits and locus of control influence self-assessed health, lifestyle, and the risk of premature death.
She found that non-cognitive skills indeed predict various aspects of a person's health. Thus, more conscientious people tend to enjoy better health, assessing their health as poor 1.5% less often than those with lower conscientiousness. In contrast, emotionally unstable individuals often experience significantly poorer health. Thus, a one standard deviation increase in neuroticism reduces the likelihood of good self-assessed health by 4 percentage points. Other Big Five traits appear to be less significant. Additionally, a person's perception of their health depends on how they typically attribute their successes and failures. People with an internal locus of control—those who take responsibility for what happens in their lives—are 4 percentage points more likely to assess their health as good.
The study also revealed a significant link between non-cognitive skills and lifestyle. Conscientiousness and openness to experience increase the likelihood of exercising and decrease the likelihood of smoking, whereas neuroticism has the opposite effect. Openness to experience increases the probability of physical activity by 3 percentage points for men and 5 percentage points for women. Conscientiousness in men decreases the probability of smoking by 3 percentage points and the probability of drinking alcohol by 2 percentage points. For women, this effect is insignificant. Extroverts, both men and women, drink by 1.5-2% more often. Emotional instability increases the likelihood of smoking by 2 percentage points for men and 1 percentage point for women. The internal locus of control proved to be one of the most significant factors in assessing habits. An internal locus of control is positively associated with physical activity in both genders (increasing the probability by 2-3 percentage points) and negatively associated with smoking in men (reducing the probability by 4 percentage points).
The Big Five traits also affect life expectancy, all else being equal, when considering both beneficial and harmful habits. Conscientiousness and neuroticism were found to have the most significant effects. A one standard deviation increase in conscientiousness lowers the risk of death by 20 percentage points for men and 12 percentage points for women. Openness to experience has a significant positive effect for women: a one standard deviation increase reduces the mortality risk by 13 percentage points. For men, neuroticism has emerged as the most significant factor reducing life expectancy: a one standard deviation increase in neuroticism raises the risk of mortality by 12 percentage points. However, this trait does not affect life expectancy in women. An internal locus of control is associated with reduced mortality risks for both men (by 11 percentage points) and women (by 10 percentage points).
According to the author, a person's attitude toward health depends on their non-cognitive skills. It is not just that more conscientious, open-minded, and emotionally stable individuals tend to adopt healthier habits (such as exercising more frequently). Conscientious people generally put more effort into both their work and everyday life: they take better care of their health, consult with healthcare professionals more frequently, and follow their advice.
Ksenia Rozhkova
'Commitment to a healthy lifestyle is the most obvious link between non-cognitive skills and health. Other factors include investment in education: research consistently shows that more educated individuals tend to live longer, and that non-cognitive skills (such as conscientiousness, openness to experience, neuroticism, and locus of control) influence whether a person pursues education. Various behavioural patterns beyond lifestyle also affect one's health—for example, emotional stability correlates with attitudes toward vaccination, including in the context of the recent pandemic.'
Neurotic individuals are more likely to experience stress and less likely to seek medical advice, which can contribute to premature death. Understanding this connection could transform the traditional approach to investing in human capital. 'Factors that shape non-cognitive skills during childhood have far-reaching consequences in adulthood, affecting not just health but also other aspects of life. There is an extensive body of research exploring the relationship between non-cognitive skills and various areas such as the labour market, education, social mobility, and more. When productive skills are developed early, individuals are more likely to complete their schooling, pursue higher education, obtain a degree, secure good jobs, and gain access to high-quality medical services, among other benefits. Developing non-cognitive skills is a long-term endeavour, and health is a crucial component in the broader mosaic of social well-being,' Rozhkova concludes.
See also:
Scientists Test Asymmetry Between Matter and Antimatter
An international team, including scientists from HSE University, has collected and analysed data from dozens of experiments on charm mixing—the process in which an unstable charm meson oscillates between its particle and antiparticle states. These oscillations were observed only four times per thousand decays, fully consistent with the predictions of the Standard Model. This indicates that no signs of new physics have yet been detected in these processes, and if unknown particles do exist, they are likely too heavy to be observed with current equipment. The paper has been published in Physical Review D.
HSE Scientists Reveal What Drives Public Trust in Science
Researchers at HSE ISSEK have analysed the level of trust in scientific knowledge in Russian society and the factors shaping attitudes and perceptions. It was found that trust in science depends more on everyday experience, social expectations, and the perceived promises of science than on objective knowledge. The article has been published in Universe of Russia.
Scientists Uncover Why Consumers Are Reluctant to Pay for Sugar-Free Products
Researchers at the HSE Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience have investigated how 'sugar-free' labelling affects consumers’ willingness to pay for such products. It was found that the label has little impact on the products’ appeal due to a trade-off between sweetness and healthiness: on the one hand, the label can deter consumers by implying an inferior taste, while on the other, it signals potential health benefits. The study findings have been published in Frontiers in Nutrition.
HSE Psycholinguists Launch Digital Tool to Spot Dyslexia in Children
Specialists from HSE University's Centre for Language and Brain have introduced LexiMetr, a new digital tool for diagnosing dyslexia in primary school students. This is the first standardised application in Russia that enables fast and reliable assessment of children’s reading skills to identify dyslexia or the risk of developing it. The application is available on the RuStore platform and runs on Android tablets.
Physicists Propose New Mechanism to Enhance Superconductivity with 'Quantum Glue'
A team of researchers, including scientists from HSE MIEM, has demonstrated that defects in a material can enhance, rather than hinder, superconductivity. This occurs through interaction between defective and cleaner regions, which creates a 'quantum glue'—a uniform component that binds distinct superconducting regions into a single network. Calculations confirm that this mechanism could aid in developing superconductors that operate at higher temperatures. The study has been published in Communications Physics.
Neural Network Trained to Predict Crises in Russian Stock Market
Economists from HSE University have developed a neural network model that can predict the onset of a short-term stock market crisis with over 83% accuracy, one day in advance. The model performs well even on complex, imbalanced data and incorporates not only economic indicators but also investor sentiment. The paper by Tamara Teplova, Maksim Fayzulin, and Aleksei Kurkin from the Centre for Financial Research and Data Analytics at the HSE Faculty of Economic Sciences has been published in Socio-Economic Planning Sciences.
Larger Groups of Students Use AI More Effectively in Learning
Researchers at the Institute of Education and the Faculty of Economic Sciences at HSE University have studied what factors determine the success of student group projects when they are completed with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). Their findings suggest that, in addition to the knowledge level of the team members, the size of the group also plays a significant role—the larger it is, the more efficient the process becomes. The study was published in Innovations in Education and Teaching International.
New Models for Studying Diseases: From Petri Dishes to Organs-on-a-Chip
Biologists from HSE University, in collaboration with researchers from the Kulakov National Medical Research Centre for Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Perinatology, have used advanced microfluidic technologies to study preeclampsia—one of the most dangerous pregnancy complications, posing serious risks to the life and health of both mother and child. In a paper published in BioChip Journal, the researchers review modern cellular models—including advanced placenta-on-a-chip technologies—that offer deeper insights into the mechanisms of the disorder and support the development of effective treatments.
Using Two Cryptocurrencies Enhances Volatility Forecasting
Researchers from the HSE Faculty of Economic Sciences have found that Bitcoin price volatility can be effectively predicted using Ethereum, the second-most popular cryptocurrency. Incorporating Ethereum into a predictive model reduces the forecast error to 23%, outperforming neural networks and other complex algorithms. The article has been published in Applied Econometrics.
Administrative Staff Are Crucial to University Efficiency—But Only in Teaching-Oriented Institutions
An international team of researchers, including scholars from HSE University, has analysed how the number of non-academic staff affects a university’s performance. The study found that the outcome depends on the institution’s profile: in research universities, the share of administrative and support staff has no effect on efficiency, whereas in teaching-oriented universities, there is a positive correlation. The findings have been published in Applied Economics.