Frequent mental distress among those 65 and over in the 50 American states: intelligence and neuroticism as developmental factors

This study determined (1) whether state resident levels of intelligence and neuroticism in the general populations of the 50 states of the USA are independently related to state frequent mental distress (FMD) prevalence among older adults, and (2) whether such state intelligence and neuroticism levels account for any relations found between FMD prevalence and older adult poverty, educational attainment, chronic conditions, health behavior, and clinical care quality. Using 2019 data, Pearson correlations and multiple regression determined relations between FMD for persons 65 years and over and each of the seven potential predictors. FMD correlated significantly with intelligence (-.62), neuroticism (.38), poverty (.58), chronic conditions (.50), health behavior (-.47), and clinical care quality (-.45). Multiple regression showed that intelligence and neuroticism were independent predictors of FMD, and that older adult poverty level was the only independent predictor of FMD from a pool consisting of educational attainment, chronic conditions, health behavior, and clinical care quality variables as other potentially independent predictors. However, with intelligence and neuroticism statistically controlled in a sequential multiple regression equation, none of these five other variables was retained as a significant predictor of FMD. It is cautiously speculated that the resulting state-level relations largely mirror and are based on the accumulation of individual-level relations, that the foundational dispositions of intelligence and neuroticism may foster the development of FMD among older adults, and that older adult poverty, educational attainment, chronic conditions, health behavior, and clinical care quality also stem in part from state resident levels of intelligence and neuroticism.