A personality trait may provide clues to functioning in frontotemporal dementia

by American Academy of Neurology

edited by Sadie Harley, reviewed by Robert Egan

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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 in 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, 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.

Tracking personality and daily functioning

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.

Conscientiousness stands out among personality traits

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.

Potential support strategies, with a caveat

"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.

Publication details

Neurology (2026).

Journal information: Neurology

Clinical categories

NeurologyPsychology & Mental health Provided by American Academy of Neurology Who's behind this story?

Sadie Harley

BSc Life Sciences & Ecology. Microbiology lab background with pharmaceutical news experience in oil, gas, and renewable industries. Full profile →

Robert Egan

Bachelor's in mathematical biology, Master's in creative writing. Well-traveled with unique perspectives on science and language. Full profile →

Citation: A personality trait may provide clues to functioning in frontotemporal dementia (2026, November 10) retrieved 11 November 2026 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-11-personality-trait-clues-functioning-frontotemporal.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.