Relation of Asthma Prevalence to the Big Five Personality Factors at the American State Level

Relations between state asthma prevalence for 2000 to 2005 and state means on the Big Five personality variables (Rentfrow, Gosling, & Potter: 2008) were examined for the 48 contiguous American states. With state socioeconomic status (SES). white percent, and urban percent controlled in a partial correlation, asthma rates significantly correlated with neuroticism (.42), extraversion (-.46), agreeableness (-.36), conscientiousness (-39), and openness (.39). Consequently, an additive state asthmatic personality profile variable was created. It significantly correlated with asthma prevalence (.46), and the partial correlation was stronger (.56) with demographics controlled. Hierarchical and stepwise regression analyses also showed that the asthmatic profile, or the combination of extraversion and neurotictsm, each accounted for approximately 23% of the asthma prevalence variance after the three demographic variables were controlled. It is suggested that these state-level results deserve systematic individual-level empirical verification with a sufficiently large, representative, and adequately assessed sample.