Affect Reactivity to Daily Stressors Mediates the Relationship Between Personality Traits and Physical Health

adults’ everyday life. Specifically, personality features have been associated with daily activities, affect reactivity, and mood. This symposium draws on Ecological Momentary Assessments and longitudinal analysis to understand how personality is manifested in daily life, and how daily emotional experiences accumulate over time to influence physical health. Lee and colleagues examine how personality is associated with daily activities and find that extraversion is positively associated with activity diversity in two adult samples. Pasquini and colleagues consider the within-person fluctuations in personality traits and demonstrate the possibility of using daily behaviors and affect as markers of extraversion and neuroticism. Zhang and Fingerman assess how positive and negative moods concurrently change in reaction to daily social contacts and confirm that narcissism moderates such associations. Finally, this symposium also focuses on the cumulative effect of daily emotions on physical health. Leger and colleagues address the long-term association between personality (e.g., neuroticism, conscientiousness) and physical health and identify the mediating role of negative reactivity to daily stressors. Collectively, the presentations provide an in-depth analysis of personality’s impact on concrete daily behaviors and emotions, as well as their profound long-term effect on physical health. Our discussion outlines future research directions and highlights how inter-individual differences, simultaneous life events, and social interactions intertwine to influence individuals’ behaviors that occur in natural settings.

have focused on the expression of personality in older adults' everyday life. Specifically, personality features have been associated with daily activities, affect reactivity, and mood. This symposium draws on Ecological Momentary Assessments and longitudinal analysis to understand how personality is manifested in daily life, and how daily emotional experiences accumulate over time to influence physical health. Lee and colleagues examine how personality is associated with daily activities and find that extraversion is positively associated with activity diversity in two adult samples. Pasquini and colleagues consider the within-person fluctuations in personality traits and demonstrate the possibility of using daily behaviors and affect as markers of extraversion and neuroticism. Zhang and Fingerman assess how positive and negative moods concurrently change in reaction to daily social contacts and confirm that narcissism moderates such associations. Finally, this symposium also focuses on the cumulative effect of daily emotions on physical health. Leger and colleagues address the long-term association between personality (e.g., neuroticism, conscientiousness) and physical health and identify the mediating role of negative reactivity to daily stressors. Collectively, the presentations provide an in-depth analysis of personality's impact on concrete daily behaviors and emotions, as well as their profound long-term effect on physical health. Our discussion outlines future research directions and highlights how inter-individual differences, simultaneous life events, and social interactions intertwine to influence individuals' behaviors that occur in natural settings.

SOCIAL ENCOUNTERS AND MOOD: THE MODERATING ROLE OF NARCISSISM
Karen Fingerman, and Shiyang Zhang, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, United States Social contacts may lead to more positive and less negative emotions in late life, yet we know little about how narcissism influences such associations, and whether contacts with close and not-close social partners impact mood differently. This study examined associations between social contacts, narcissism, and mood on the within-and between-person level. Older adults aged 65 + (N = 303) completed ecological momentary assessments in which they reported social contacts and mood every 3 hours for 5 to 6 days. Older adults had higher positive mood after contacting either close or not-close social partners, but only not-close social partners reduced negative mood. Multilevel models found positive associations between average social contacts number and positive mood among people scored lower on narcissism, and positive associations between social contacts and negative mood for those who scored higher on narcissism. Findings suggest the necessity of considering interpersonal differences in interventions targeting well-being. Broad and even participation across daily activities ("activity diversity") has been found to be associated with better health. Less is known about who has greater activity diversity. We examined whether personality traits are associated with activity diversity in two independent samples of adults. Data came from the Midlife in the United States Study II and Refresher (n=2623, Mage=54yrs) and Daily Experiences and Well-being in Late Life Study (n=308, Mage=74yrs) who responded to daily activity questions. We constructed activity diversity scores in each sample using Shannon's entropy. We focused on three personality traits -conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism -often associated with health. Higher extraversion was associated with greater activity diversity, replicated across the two samples. The associations were independent of conscientiousness and neuroticism (both were not significant), total activity time/frequency, age, gender, race, education, and self-rated health. Results suggest that future activity interventions may need to target those with lower extraversion. This study hypothesized that select ecological momentary assessment (EMA) survey items are sensitive to day-to-day fluctuations in personality traits Extraversion (E) and Neuroticism (N). As part of the Einstein Aging Study, 312 older adults (Mage=76.96 years, SD=4.85 years, range=70-90 years) completed up to 5 EMA surveys per day for 16 days and a Big Five trait personality measure. Parallel two-factor multilevel confirmatory factor analyses were conducted for E (Daily-E; Trait-E) and N (Daily-N; Trait-N). The E model showed good fit (CFI=.95; TLI=.94; RMSEA=.02) and a significant correlation of .20 between Daily-E and Trait-E factors. The N model showed poor fit (CFI=.68; TLI=.61; RMSEA=.06). Results suggest EMA items can be used as daily markers of Extraversion, yet results are unclear for Neuroticism due to poor model fit. Daily markers of Extraversion can be used to detect fluctuations in personality traits across days that may predict long-term personality change.

CAN ECOLOGICAL MOMENTARY ASSESSMENTS BE USED AS DAILY MARKERS OF PERSONALITY
relationship, yet no study has examined longitudinal associations between these factors. The current study examined the role of negative affect reactivity to daily stressors as a mediating pathway between personality and physical health outcomes using three waves of data spanning 20-years from a nationwide probability sample of 1,176 adults. Results indicate that Wave 1 neuroticism was associated with greater negative affect reactivity at Wave 2, which then predicted the development of chronic conditions and functional limitations at Wave 3. Higher conscientiousness was associated with less negative affect reactivity, which in turn predicted better physical health at Wave 3. Negative affect reactivity partially mediated both personality traits and physical. These findings highlight the usefulness of using a daily stress framework for understanding how personality impacts health over time, which has important implications for disease prevention.

ORAL HEALTH'S TRANSFORMATIVE IMPACT ON DIET AND SYSTEMIC HEALTH OUTCOMES Chair: Michèle Saunders
The 2020-25 Dietary Guidelines for Americans identified dental caries as a major diet-related chronic disease of public health concern and suggested in the section for adults over 60, "Good dental health is critical to overall health, as well as the ability to chew foods properly." Poor oral health can lead to chronic diseases and impede one's ability to chew fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and other nutrient-rich foods across the life span. Almost 90 percent of adults ages 20 to 64 years and 96 percent of those over 65 years of age have dental caries. The overall prevalence of complete tooth loss is 2.2 percent among adults ages 20 to 64 years and jumps to 17.3 percent for those over age 65. As a result of COVID-19, some seniors are not seeking regular oral health services, which increases the need for preventive oral health practices and consuming a healthy dietary pattern recommended in the new Dietary Guidelines. Recent research will underscore the importance of saliva and oral health in cancer patients on radiation and in other chronic diseases. Saliva has also been shown to reduce specific infections that are related to influenza and HIV. Participants in this session will gain understanding of factors linking poor oral health and nutrition practices to chronic diseases and guidance on critical preventive oral health practices to increase saliva flow and decrease dental caries through all stages of the life cycle. Promoting oral health is the responsibility of the interdisciplinary team overseeing older adults.

MINIMIZING COMPLICATIONS OF AGING THAT LEAD TO DRY MOUTH AND POOR ORAL HEALTH Athena Papas, Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, Boston,, Massachusetts, United States
Poor oral health causes severe pain and untreated infections to spread throughout the body. For older adults, the prevalence of root decay exceeds that of any other medical condition. Our research shows tooth loss and edentulousness were associated with increased mortality and inversely associated with BMI, waist circumference, blood pressure, and fasting blood glucose. Our Stop-it study found people who lost bone density had fewer teeth, problems chewing, and involuntary weight loss and frailty. 88% of the elderly take medications that cause loss of saliva. Sjögren's and radiation therapy for head and neck cancer patients heighten risk. Without saliva, patients have increased tooth decay, periodontal disease and fungal infections, salivary gland blockage, and problems swallowing and speaking. Dry mouth leads people to suck on candy that further increase caries. Substituting sugarfree gum for candy increases salivary flow and reduces dental caries. Brushing, flossing, and limiting sugar also lessen tooth decay.

NUTRITION, ORAL HEALTH, AND CHRONIC DISEASES INEXTRICABLY LINKED Teresa Marshall, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, United States
The 2020-25 Dietary Guidelines identified dental caries as a diet-related chronic disease of major importance. Preventing dental caries and other oral infectious diseases is critical to maintaining an individual's capacity to chew food, consume nutrient-rich diets, and sustain optimal nutrition status. Pain and infection from dental caries complicates consumption of adequate amounts of fruits, vegetables, dairy, and lean protein recommended in the Dietary Guidelines. Nutrition and dietary intake can affect the development and integrity of oral cavity and progression of oral diseases. Increased snacking throughout the day in place of three-meals daily raises the risk of obesity and dental caries throughout the life cycle. Older adults who make routine oral health preventive practices, such as brushing, cleaning between teeth, drinking fluoridated water, and chewing sugarfree gum to increase saliva flow can reduce dental caries and oral infectious diseases. Professionals must also consider the impact of sugar-sweetened beverages and sugar intake.

RESEARCH CONFIRMS EFFECTIVENESS OF ORAL HEALTH PREVENTIVE PRACTICES Michael Dodds, Mars Wrigley, Chicago, Illinois, United States
Lack of insurance or funds for dental services, lack of access to dental offices, fear of dentists, and avoidance of dental offices during COVID can lead to oral health problems in older adults. Brushing, flossing, and drinking fluoridated water can protect teeth when dentists are unavailable. Limiting intake frequency of carbohydrates and chewing sugarfree gum after eating add protection. A recent systematic review and metaanalysis confirmed the effectiveness of sugarfree gum in reducing caries, in children and adults who chewed sugarfree gum compared with those who did not chew. Chewing sugarfree gum significantly reduced caries increment, with a prevented fraction of 28 percent, roughly equivalent to the prevented fractions for fluoride toothpastes and supplements. A follow-up systematic review provides further evidence that chewing sugarfree gum reduces the numbers of Streptococcus mutans in the oral cavity. Finally, chewing sugarfree gum could alleviate symptoms of xerostomia and may reduce caries.