Low Conscientiousness Predicts Daily Functioning Issues in FTD

Researchers have identified a link between personality shifts and functional decline in patients living with frontotemporal dementia, News-Medical reported.

The study, published November 10, 2026, in the medical journal Neurology®, suggests that specific changes in a person’s character may predict how well they can manage the complexities of daily life. Specifically, lower levels of conscientiousness—a trait encompassing organization, reliability, and planning—were associated with increased difficulty in completing everyday activities.

While the findings do not prove that personality changes cause functional problems, they show a correlation that could change how caregivers prepare for the progression of the disease. For families managing frontotemporal dementia, the transition often begins not with memory loss, but with a change in how a loved one interacts with the world.

“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,” said Katherine P. Rankin, PhD, study author at the University of California, San Francisco.

The research focused on 111 individuals in the early stages of the most common form of frontotemporal dementia, which primarily affects behavior and personality. The participants had an average age of 63. To track changes, family members and caregivers provided data comparing the participants’ current personality traits to those they possessed approximately 10 years before the onset of the disease.

The researchers examined the five main personality traits: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. According to the study, all five traits underwent substantial changes after the disease began. Participants showed decreases in openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness, while neuroticism—the tendency toward anxiety, depression, and stress—increased.

When looking at how these shifts impacted autonomy, current personality traits accounted for approximately 40% of the variation in functional scores. These scores were based on a questionnaire regarding the ability to manage 10 complex daily activities, such as shopping, preparing meals, and managing personal finances.

Interestingly, the participants’ personality traits from before they developed the disease were not associated with their current daily functioning scores. Among the individual traits measured, conscientiousness stood out as the only one independently associated with everyday functioning. Those with lower levels of conscientiousness were more likely to struggle more with their daily tasks.

Understanding these behavioral markers could allow medical professionals to implement support strategies before a crisis occurs. If a decline in conscientiousness is detected, clinicians might suggest specific interventions to preserve a patient’s independence for longer periods.

“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,” Rankin said.

Despite the promise of these findings, the study noted a limitation regarding the data collection process. Because caregivers provided the information for both the personality assessments and the functional ability scores, there is a possibility that the association between the two measures was inflated.

The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Larry L. Hillblom Foundation.