Centenary Personality: Are There Psychological Resources that Distinguish Centenarians?

Abstract

The number of centenarians is increasing year by year. Considering that happier people are likely to live longer, we asked ourselves whether healthy centenarians share psychological resources or positive personality characteristics that have enabled them to face traumatic situations and the challenges life more successfully. To our knowledge this is an issue that has not been sufficiently researched. Mixed methodology was applied. Qualitative Study 1: Nineteen centenarians participated between 100 and 107 years old of which 16 were women. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews about their life story were done. Quantitative Study 2: The purpose was to control the results of Study 1. Fifteen proxies for the centenarians participated. Results: In Study 1, 35 psychological resources were identified, of which 19 were central or identifying resources of the centenarians, and 16 peripheral or the product of individual differences. The central resources were grouped into six categories: vitality, taking pleasure in interaction, commitment, control, intellectually motivated and positivity, with resilience and intelligence added. The results in Study 2 were completely concordant. In conclusion, analysis of the lives of healthy centenarians provides us with knowledge that could help in achieving a healthy old age. Additionally, the study opens up new lines of research.