Prediction of the Reminiscence Functions in Older Adults on the Basis of the Five Personality Factor Model

Objectives The aim of the present study is to examine the prediction of the reminiscence functions in older adults on the basis of the five personality factor model. Materials & Methods 242 elderly adults older than 60 were recruited from retirement clubs of the city of Shiraz via available sampling method. The participants completed the Reminiscence Functions Scale and Goldberg's International Personality Item Pool. Forty participants were deleted from the sample because they did not complete the questionnaires fully. All the participants took part in the study with their conscious consent. To conduct the necessary descriptive and inferential statistical operations, SPSS (Version 16) was used. Mean, standard deviation and Pearson correlation coefficient were utilized to analyze the data in the descriptive statistics section, And in inferential statistics section, simultaneous multiple regression was used to predict reminiscence functions. Results According to the results of the multiple regression analysis, Neuroticism predicted the reminiscence functions of Bitterness Revival (beta=0.28, P = 0.001) and Intimacy Maintenance (beta=0.25, P = 0.001) and Extraversion predicted the reminiscence functions of Teach/Inform (beta=0.18, P < 0.05). Conclusion The results indicated that people with higher levels of psychological distress tend to rehash and ruminate on bitter memories and hold onto memories of intimate social relations who are no longer part of their lives. Moreover, extravert people tend to share memories to transmit a lesson of life and share personal ideologies and experiences. Clinicians should focus on more adaptive functions of reminiscence (e.g., identity, problem solving and teach/inform) and teach such functions.