Frontiers in Psychology · Oct 7, 2026

Personality traits and biological aging: the mediating role of coping behavior

By Peng S, Li Z, Huang T et al.

BACKGROUND: Evidence linking Big Five personality traits to clinical biomarker-based PhenoAge acceleration remains limited, and the behavioral pathways underlying these associations are not well understood. OBJECTIVE: This study examined the associations between Big Five personality traits and PhenoAge acceleration (PhenoAA), tested health-related coping behavior as a statistical mediator, and explored differences across genetic risk strata. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 119,250 European-ancestry participants from the UK Biobank. PhenoAA was derived from clinical biomarker-based PhenoAge after adjusting for chronological age. Multivariable linear regression, mediation analysis, inverse-probability-weighted sensitivity analysis, and exploratory analyses stratified by a genetic risk score (GRS) based on 29 single-nucleotide polymorphisms were performed. RESULTS: Neuroticism was positively associated with PhenoAA (β = 0.038, p < 0.001). Extraversion (β = -0.301, p < 0.001), conscientiousness (β = -0.314, p < 0.001), and agreeableness (β = -0.037, p < 0.01) were inversely associated with PhenoAA, while openness was not significant (β = -0.023, p > 0.05). Coping behavior statistically mediated the associations for neuroticism, extraversion, conscientiousness, and agreeableness, accounting for 15.4, 19.5, 12.3, and 28.2% of the total associations, respectively. Weighted sensitivity analyses showed similar patterns. In GRS-stratified analyses, neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness showed broadly consistent associations across low- and high-GRS groups. Agreeableness was inversely associated with PhenoAA only in the high-GRS group. Interaction tests did not provide evidence of genetic effect modification. CONCLUSION: Big Five personality traits were associated with PhenoAA, and coping behavior partly accounted for several of these associations. These findings support a biopsychosocial view of biological aging, but they should be interpreted as associations rather than causal relationships.

doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1876764Open accessPubMed 42909058Populations