EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 PM ET, November 10, 2026
A personality trait may provide clues to functioning in frontotemporal dementia
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4:00 P.M. ET, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2026
Highlights:
- Frontotemporal dementia often results in early changes in personality or behavior before there are changes in cognitive skills.
- A new study examines whether personality changes are linked to daily independence in frontotemporal dementia.
- The researchers studied 111 people with the type of frontotemporal dementia that mainly affects personality and behavior.
- People with frontotemporal dementia who have lower conscientiousness were more likely to have worse scores on everyday functioning.
- The study does not prove that personality changes cause problems with functioning. It only shows an association.
MINNEAPOLIS — Frontotemporal dementia often results
in early changes in personality or behavior before changes in cognitive skills.
People with this condition who have lower levels of conscientiousness, a
personality trait related to organization, reliability and planning, may be
more likely to have problems with their ability to complete everyday
activities, according to a study published November 10, 2026, in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
The study does not prove that personality changes cause problems
with functioning. It only shows an association.
“Changes in personality can be among the most challenging
symptoms of frontotemporal dementia for individuals and their families,” said study
author Katherine P. Rankin, PhD, of the University of California, San
Francisco. “Our study found that a person’s level of conscientiousness was
closely associated with how well they managed complex everyday activities. These
findings may help predict who may have problems with functioning, which could
allow doctors and caregivers to implement strategies to support people’s daily functioning.”
Conscientiousness includes organization, planning,
reliability and persistence.
The study involved 111 people with the type of frontotemporal
dementia that mainly affects behavior and personality, which is the most common
type of frontotemporal dementia. Other types mainly affect language or
movement.
The participants were in the early stages of the progressive
disease and had an average age of 63.
Family members or caregivers completed questionnaires about
the participants’ current personality traits and those from about 10 years
before they developed the disease. The assessment looked at the main five
personality traits of openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness
and neuroticism.
The family members and caregivers also completed a
questionnaire on the participants’ ability to manage 10 complex daily
activities during the previous month. These included managing finances,
shopping and preparing meals.
The researchers found substantial changes in all five
personality traits after the disease onset. People had decreased openness,
conscientiousness, extraversion and agreeableness and increased neuroticism.
Neuroticism is defined as the tendency to experience negative emotions such as
anxiety, depression and stress.
People’s personality traits after disease onset were
associated with their everyday functioning. Current personality traits
accounted for approximately 40% of the variation in functional scores. People’s
personality traits before they developed the disease were not associated with
the daily functioning scores.
When researchers looked at individual personality traits,
conscientiousness was the only trait independently associated with everyday
functioning. People with lower conscientiousness were more likely to have worse
scores on everyday functioning.
“Asking family members and giving brief personality assessments may become a useful tool in anticipating people’s future challenges with organization, planning and completing their daily tasks,” Rankin said. “This could allow for educating caregivers and implementing interventions such as simplifying routines, adding structure to people’s tasks and helping people get started on tasks.”
A limitation of the study was that caregivers provided
information about both personality and everyday functioning, which could lead
to inflated associations between the two measures.
The study was supported by the
National Institutes of Health and the Larry L. Hillblom Foundation.
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