Personality Disorders and Disordered Aging: Personality Pathology as Risk Factor for Unhealthy Aging

As a risk factor for disordered aging, personality pathology has an important role to play in understanding the processes behind healthy aging. Personality pathology has historically been understudied in older adulthood, in part due to ongoing conceptual and definitional issues. Aging research looks to benefit from the emergence of dimensional, trait-based models of personality disorder diagnosis that address some of the age-related limitations underlying the previous categorical model. Epidemiological research confirms that personality pathology, though changed in manifestation, remains prevalent in later life. Personality disorders have been linked to a variety of unhealthy aging outcomes, including mortality, work disability, depression, suicide, physical morbidity, and cognitive decline. Although little research has examined intermediate mechanisms, interpersonal stress and dysfunction may be one pathway that accounts for these relationships. Finally, researchers have begun to identify ways to help individuals with personality pathology to experience healthier aging, whether through treatment interventions or fostering particular life contexts. Future work in this area will not only improve the lives of those who suffer from pathology, but also identify mechanisms that explicate the nature of healthy aging.