Personality Traits and Perceived Social Support on Cognitive Functioning of Elderly Attending Adeoyo Maternity Teaching Hospital (AMTH), Yemetu, Ibadan.

Cognitive health is one of the most important problems for older people, since cognitive decline can lead to a loss of functional status, thus the need to identify factors affecting this decline. Psychological traits, social support have been implicated in several studies. However, the few studies on personality traits, and prospective changes in cognition with advancing age have been mixed. Based on this, this study investigates the role of personality traits, social support in cognitive functioning of aged person. The study adopted a cross sectional research design. This study was conducted in Adeoyo Maternity Teaching Hospital Yemetu Ibadan. The study population comprised the elderly attending AMTH Yemetu Ibadan. The total number of 208 was used for this study. Structured standardized questionnaire was used to gather data. Both descriptive and inferential statistics was used in the analysis of the data collected in testing the stated hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. There was significant positive relationship among extraversion (r (208) = .18, p<.01), agreeableness (r (208) = .19, p<.01), conscientiousness (r (208) = .24, p<.01) and openness to experience (r (208) = .24, p<.01) and cognitive functioning. However, significant inverse relationship existed between Neuroticism (r (208)= -.38, p<.01) on cognitive functioning. The Big-five personality traits and perceived social support jointly predicted cognitive functioning and accounted for 28% of the change observed in the self-report cognitive functioning (R2 = 0.28, F (6,202) = 13.05, p<.01). Neuroticism (β = -.36, t= -5.54, p<.01), conscientiousness (β = .18, t= 2.92, p<.05), openness to experience (β = .16, t= 2.55, p<.05) and perceived social support (β = .17, t= 2.68, p<.01) independently and significantly predicted cognitive functioning. This have large implications for strategies to prevent or delay the onset of cognitive impairment.