Personality Pathology Predicts Increased Informant-Reported, but Not Performance-Based, Cognitive Decline: Findings From Two Samples

Research on the relationship between normal-range personality and cognitive aging has demonstrated consistent, modest effects. The current investigation increases our understanding of unhealthy cognitiveaging by testing whether personality disorders (PDs), specifically borderline, avoidant, and obsessive–compulsive PDs, show prospective associations with the onset of cognitive problems. Interpersonalstressful life events and social support were expected to mediate these relationships. The currentinvestigation used data from 2 longitudinal studies of older adulthood: the Alzheimer’s disease ResearchCenter cohort (ADRC, N = 434, Mage = 69.95, 56% women) and the St. Louis Personality and AgingNetwork study (SPAN, N = 1,058, Mage = 65.92, 54% women). The ADRC study administered a batteryof neuropsychological tests to assess cognitive ability/memory. Borderline PD was measured with acomposite from the NEO Five-Factor Inventory. The SPAN study administered self-, informant, andinterview measures of the three PDs; a free-recall task; and an informant report measure of cognitiveproblems. Borderline PD features exhibited cross-sectional correlations with memory (ADRC: r=-.11;SPAN: all rs = -.08), general cognitive ability (ADRC: r = -.11), and informant-reported cognitiveproblems (rs ranged from.15 to.39). Most importantly, borderline PD features predicted an increase ininformant-reported cognitive problems in SPAN participants (standardized bs =.13 and.15) over a 2-year period, but they did not predict a deterioration in the performance-based cognitive measures ineither study. Avoidant and obsessive– compulsive PDs exhibited little association with cognitive aging.Neither