Does personality explain social inequalities in mortality?
GROUND: The ‘indirect-selection’ hypothesis proposes that some quality of the individual, a personality characteristic or intelligence, leads to both socioeconomic position (SEP) and health. We aim to quantify the contribution of personality measures to the associations between SEP and mortality. METHODS: Of the GAZEL cohort, 14 445 participants aged 39-54 years in 1993 and followed-up over 12.7 years, completed the Bortner-Type-A-scale, the Buss-Durkee-Hostility-Inventory and the Grossarth-Maticek and Eysenck-Personality-Stress-Inventory. Indicators of SEP, such as father’s social class, education, occupational grade and income, were assessed at baseline. Relative indices of inequality in Cox regression models were used to estimate associations. RESULTS: In age-adjusted analyses, risk of death was inversely associated with SEP among men and women. Among men, the attenuation in this association depended on the measures of SEP and was 28-29% for ‘neurotic-hostility’, 13-22% for ‘anti-so
