Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, Hawai'i Newsletter
September 2007, Volume 1, Issue 9, page 6
By Helen Altonn
Lifestyle, Culture, and Health: The
"Personality" Study
Research Update, Kaiser Permanente Hawaii
December 2003, Volume 1(1)
More than 40 years ago, Jack Digman, a University of Hawai'i professor of
psychology, asked elementary school teachers to make in-depth personality assessments of
more than 2,000 of their students in first to sixth grades. The Personality and Health
Study is contacting these children, who are now in their mid- to late-forties, to
determine the relation of childhood personality to adult health and health behaviors.
This extraordinary cohort provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to examine
how childhood personality may provide an early indication of the health risks to be faced
once children grow up. The study, funded by the National Institute on Aging, is also
evaluating how culture interacts with personality in determining health. Participants are
37% Japanese, 21% Native Hawaiian, 18% European, and 24% Filipino, Chinese, Okinawan,
Korean, or other Pacific Island ancestry. 75% still live in Hawaii, and 25% reside on the
mainland or in foreign countries.
Location and recruitment efforts began in 2000 with a survey of the cohort.
Recently, 66 new participants joined our follow-up study for a total of 1,123 members of
the original study population. Over the next four years, we will obtain survey information
about participants' personality traits, health behaviors/beliefs, and health outcomes.
They also will be invited to a clinic visit for a brief physical exam and interview that
includes assessments of adult personality, cognition, stressful life events, and coping
strategies. Constructs from the Theory of Planned Behavior also will be assessed to
evaluate the more complex versions of the proposed health-behavior model.
The effects on these models of cultural variables, socioeconomic status, and
gender will be examined. We hope to continue to follow the cohort for decades to come.
Possible applications from the results will include the development of
culturally/personality-sensitive health promotion programs for children to forestall the
development of adult illnesses.
Back to the Future
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, October 31, 2002
By Helen Altonn
500 Kauaians sought to take part in Health Study
The Garden Island, October 15, 1999
By Paul C. Curtis
In 1967, about 500 Kaua'i sixth graders participated -- probably unknowingly --
in a personality survey largely based on teacher observations. Now more than 30 years
later, that same group of people is being sought to participate in a follow-up survey
designed to study lifestyle, culture and health over their life spans.
The National Institutes of Health have awarded a $1 million grant to the Oregon
Research Institute to collaborate with the University of Hawai'i at Manoa to conduct the
study. "It's a multi-faceted study, and the idea is, if we can understand more about
the kinds of things that fit into health and illness, then we might be able to help people
have a healthier experience over their life span," said Dr. Joan Dubanoski, project
director. "If we can learn more, then we can create programs for children that are
culturally sensitive and help them learn more about what goes into a healthy lifestyle, a
healthy life span, " stated Dubanoski.
Some 2,000 sixth-graders from Kaua'i and O'ahu participated in the original
study. They were born in 1954 or 1955, were 11 or 12 at the time of the teacher
observations, and are 43 or 44 now. On Kaua'i, participants were students at 'Ele'ele,
Holy Cross, Kapa'a, Kekaha, Koloa, St. Catherine, Waimea Canyon and Wilcox elementary
schools. Individuals agreeing to participate in this year's study, which is a paper and
pencil survey form, will be paid $25 for their time. Because the earlier research and
latest fact-finding involve the state's unique blend of ethnic groups, the federal
government is also interested in survey results. "A number our ethnic groups show
marked longevity, and all the groups have a lot to teach us," added Dubanoski, who
has an office in Manoa on O'ahu. "And this is one reason the federal government is so
interested in our work, because it's such an unusual sample cross-culturally," she
said.
"Now there's an opportunity to follow these children and to look at their
present health status," said Dr. Anthony J. Marsella, principal investigator for the
study and a professor of psychology at UH-Manoa. Because he knows the sixth graders of
Kaua'i and O'ahu in 1967 are likely all over the world today, the researchers are
interested to see how folks have changed or not changed over the years relative to their
geographic location. The earlier study generated data which in turn led to important
research in health, education and industry, Dubanoski said. The information from the baby
boomers originally surveyed and data from the follow-up study is expected to yield vital
information relevant to health-care policy and planning for the 78 million baby boomers
nationwide. Anything done to maintain the health of this group of citizens will reduce
health care costs and promote a higher quality life span experience, researchers believe.
The longevity of Hawai'i residents also suggests that participants can
contribute valuable information related to maintenance of optimal health and well-being
across the life spans. Researchers have been using telephone directories, the Internet,
and other public data bases to try to locate original study participants, Dubanoski said.
In addition to those sixth-graders studied on this island, students in grades one, two,
five and six at the following O'ahu schools were also rated by their teachers in 1967:
'Aikahi, Ka'ewai, Kapunahala, Makaha, Noelani, Nu'uanu, Wai'ahole and Wai'anae elementary
schools. Invitations to participate in the survey were mailed today. Those responding will
be sent a consent form and a survey form, which is expected to take about an hour to
complete. Participants need not fill in any information they're not comfortable
disclosing. "We're not going to intrude in people's homes in person or by
phone," Dubanoski said.
The survey contains questions about diet, exercise, outlooks on life, beliefs
about health and illness, and similar themes. Responses of individuals will be kept
confidential. Only group statistics will be reported. Participants will be eligible, if
they wish, to participate in an ongoing study of lifestyle, culture and health. Both
Marsella and the project's principal co-investigator, Dr. Thomas M. Vogt of Kaiser
Permanente on O'ahu, have done cross-cultural studies before. Marsella can be reached at
808-956-6701, or via e-mail at marsella@hawaii.edu. The 1967 survey was designed at
UH-Manoa, and approved by the state Department of Education and teachers, Dubanoski said.
Folks who were at these schools in those grades in 1967 who do not receive the invitation
and wish to participate can contact Dubanoski at dubanosk@hawaii.edu. The project also has
a Web site, http://www.lifestyle.hawaii.edu.
