Openness to experience and all-cause mortality: A meta-analysis and requivalent from risk ratios and odds ratios

Objectives. To test the prediction that Openness to Experience (O) is a protective factor with respect to all-cause mortality. To provide a method of calculating a standard effect size estimate (requivalent) from relative risk (RR) and odds ratios (OR). Methods. A meta-analysis of 11 (N = 19, 941) studies linking O to all-cause mortality is reported. Analyses are conducted on the total sample and on sub-samples with and without other mortality risk factors (e. g., age, social class) controlled. The same analyses are also conducted on the studies that used indices of O based on standard measures of the five-factor model (FFM: NEO and Goldberg's adjective markers). This paper also provides a means of calculating an requivalent from RR and OR. Results. The results show that for all studies O is a protective factor (r =.051) and this effect is slightly higher (r =.064) when only FFM measures are used. When risk factors are not controlled, the protective effect for O is.091 for all studies and.097 for FFM indices. However, a predicted attenuation is observed when standard mortality risk factors are controlled to.028 for all measures and.036 for FFM measures. Conclusions. While O is protective with respect to all-cause mortality, the effect is attenuated by other mortality risk factors and future work needs to explore the complex independent, moderating, and mediating processes linking O to all-cause mortality.