Differences regarding the five-factor personality model in patients with subjective cognitive decline and mild cognitive impairment

Personality and dementia are connected in different ways. Abroad knowledge about personality and prodromal stages of dementia might be helpful to identify dementia as early as possible. Hence, personality differences between three cognitively impaired groups on the basis of patients' self-assessments of personality traits and connections between personality and cognitive functioning were examined via across-sectional study. The sample consisted of cognitively impaired patients (N=133), aged50 and older, who came to amemory clinic due to cognitive complaints. The test procedure encompassed acognitive screening, the Neuropsychological Test Battery Vienna (NTBV), and self-assessment questionnaires such as the Big Five Plus One Personlichkeitsinventar (B5PO). While patients with subjective cognitive decline (SCD) did not differ from those with non-amnestic mild cognitive impairment (naMCI) concerning the different personality traits, patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) showed significantly lower scores for extraversion (p<0.05), openness (p<0.001), and empathy (p<0.001) than patients with SCD as well as patients with naMCI. Thus, cognitively impaired groups mainly differ concerning personality traits depending on whether they do show memory decline or not.