Antonio Terracciano Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Geriatrics
Biosketch
Dr. Antonio Terracciano is a Professor in the Department of Geriatrics at Florida State University College of Medicine. With funding from the National Institute on Aging, his research examines the interplay of psychological, cultural, and genetic factors in shaping physical and mental health across the lifespan. His work focuses on how personality evolves with age, varies across cultures, and contributes to longevity and resilience against neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease. Dr. Terracciano also investigates how psychosocial factors like personality, loneliness, purpose, well-being, and subjective age are related to cellular, metabolic, immune, and neurodegeneration biomarkers. Additionally, his research examines the cognitive, behavioral, and personality changes that occur during the progression of dementia, starting from its preclinical stages.
Guest Researcher – National Institute on Aging, NIH
Affiliate – Pepper Institute on Aging and Public Policy
Associate – Institute for Successful Longevity
Education
Doctoral degree from the Seconda Università degli Studi di Napoli and Università degli Studi di Cagliari
Honors/Awards
Fellow, Association for Psychological Science
Fellow, Society for Personality and Social Psychology
Fellow, The Gerontological Society of America
Editorial Board Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences
Editorial Board Journal of Research in Personality
Editorial Board Psychology and Aging
Associate Editor Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology
Fulbright Scholar (2020-2021, Finland)
Fellowships from Milano Ricerche
Fellowships from Foundation Adriano Buzzati-Traverso
Fellowships from Telethon Italy
National Institute on Aging “On the Spot”, “Staff Recognition”, “Special Act”, and “Employee of the month” Awards
Who’s Who in America
Giuseppe Pilia Foundation Award
Tallahassee Senior Services Advisory Council
Research Focus
Aging, personality traits, health, dementia, obesity, genetics, cross-cultural studies
Publications
Selected recently published work
- Deason KG, Luchetti M, Karakose S, Stephan Y, O'Súilleabháin PS, Hajek A, Sutin AR, & Terracciano A (2025). Neuroticism, loneliness, all-cause and cause-specific mortality: A 17-year study of nearly 500,000 individuals. Journal of Affective Disorders, 368, 274-28.
- Terracciano A, Luchetti M, Karakose S, Stephan Y, & Sutin AR (in press). Personality traits and measures of neuropsychiatric symptoms. Aging and Mental Health.
- Luchetti M, Aschwanden D, Sesker AA, Zhu X, O’Súilleabháin PS, Stephan Y, Terracciano A, & Sutin AR (in press). A meta-analysis of loneliness and risk of dementia using longitudinal data from >600,000 individuals. Nature Mental Health.
- Stephan Y, Sutin AR, Luchetti M, Aschwanden D, Karakose S, & Terracciano A (2024). Balance, strength, and risk of dementia: Findings from the Health and Retirement Study and the English Longitudinal Study on Ageing. Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, 79, glae165.
- Terracciano A, Luchetti M, Karakose S, Stephan Y, & Sutin AR (2023). Loneliness and risk of Parkinson’s disease. JAMA Neurology, 80, 1138-1144.
- Terracciano A, Luchetti M, Stephan Y, Löckenhoff CE, Ledermann T, & Sutin AR (2023). Changes in personality before and during cognitive impairment. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 24, 1465-1470.
- Stephan Y, Sutin AR, Luchetti M, Aschwanden D, & Terracciano A (2023). Personality and risk of incident stroke in 6 prospective Studies. Stroke, 54, 2069-2076.
- Terracciano A, Cenatus B, Zhu X, Karakose S, Stephan Y, Marcolini S, De Deyn PP, Luchetti M, Sutin AR (2023). Neuroticism and white matter hyperintensities. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 165, 174-179.
- Sutin AR, Luchetti M, Aschwanden D, Zhu X, Stephan Y, & Terracciano A (2023). Loneliness and risk of all-cause, Alzheimer’s, vascular, and frontotemporal dementia: A prospective study of 492,322 individuals over 15 years. Intergenerational Psychogeriatrics, 35, 283-292.
- Sutin AR, Brown J, Luchetti M, Aschwanden D, Stephan Y, & Terracciano A (2023). Five-factor model personality traits and the trajectory of episodic memory: Individual-participant meta-analysis of 471,821 memory assessments from 120,640 participants. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 78, 421-433.
- Terracciano A, Walker K, An Y, Luchetti M, Stephan Y, Moghekar AR, Sutin AR, Ferrucci L, Resnick SM (2023). The association between personality and plasma biomarkers of astrogliosis and neuronal injury. Neurobiology of Aging, 128, 65-73.
- Stephan Y, Sutin AR, Luchetti M, Aschwanden D, Cabibel V, Terracciano A (2023). Measures of physical performance as mediators between personality and cognition in two prospective studies. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 107, 104902.
- Sutin AR, Luchetti M, Aschwanden D, Stephan Y, Sesker AA, & Terracciano A (2023). Sense of meaning and purpose in life and risk of incident dementia: New data and meta-analysis. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 105, 104847.
- Kekäläinen T, Terracciano A, Tirkkonen A, Savikangas T, Hänninen T, Stigsdotter Neely A, Sipilä S, & Kokko K (2023). Does personality moderate the efficacy of physical and cognitive training interventions? A 12-month randomized controlled trial in older adults. Personality and Individual Differences, 202, 11957.
- Terracciano A, Piras MR, Sutin AR, Delitala A, Curreli NC, Balaci L, Marongiu M, Zhu X, Aschwanden D, Luchetti M, Oppong R, Schlessinger D, Cucca F, Launer LJ, & Fiorillo E (2022). Facets of personality and risk of cognitive impairment: Longitudinal findings in a rural community from Sardinia. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 88, 1651-1661.
- Aschwanden D, Sutin AR, Luchetti M, O’Súilleabháin PS, Stephan Y, Sesker AA, Lee, JH, & Terracciano A (2022). The bite is worse than the bark: Associations of personality with memory discrepancy. Psychology & Aging, 37, 575-590.
- Terracciano A, Bilgel M, Aschwanden D, Luchetti M, Stephan Y, Moghekar AR, Wong DF, Ferrucci L, Sutin AR, Resnick SM (2022). Personality associations with amyloid and tau: Results from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging and meta-analysis. Biological Psychiatry, 91, 359-369.
- Sutin AR, Luchetti M, & Terracciano A (2021). Sense of purpose in life and healthier cognitive aging. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 25, 917-919.
- Terracciano A, Aschwanden D, Stephan Y, Cerasa A, Passamonti L, Toschi N, Sutin AR (2021). Neuroticism and risk of Parkinson's Disease: A meta-analysis. Movement Disorders, 36, 1863-1870.
- Luchetti M, Terracciano A, Yannick S, Aschwanden D, & Sutin AR (2021). Personality traits and memory: A multilevel analysis across 27 countries from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. Psychological Science, 32, 1047-1057.
- Terracciano A, Aschwanden D, Passamonti L, Toschi N, Stephan Y, Luchetti M, Lee JH, Sesker AA, O'Súilleabháin PS, & Sutin AR (2021). Is neuroticism differentially associated with risk of Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, and frontotemporal dementia? Journal of Psychiatric Research, 138, 34-40.
- Aschwanden D, Strickhouser JE, Luchetti M, Stephan Y, Sutin AR, & Terracciano A (2021). Is personality associated with dementia risk? A meta-analytic investigation. Ageing Research Reviews, 67: 101269.
- O'Súilleabháin PS, Turiano NA, Gerstorf D, Luchetti M, Gallagher S, Sesker AA, Terracciano A, & Sutin AR (2021). Personality pathways to mortality: Interleukin-6 links conscientiousness to mortality risk. Brain Behavior and Immunity, 93, 238-244.
- Stephan Y, Sutin AR, Luchetti M, & Terracciano A. (2021). Personality and headaches: Findings from six prospective studies. Psychosomatic Medicine, 83, 118-124.
- McCrae RR, De Bolle M, Löckenhoff CE, & Terracciano A (2021). Lifespan trait development: Toward an adequate theory of personality. In The Handbook of Personality Dynamics and Processes (pp. 621-641). Academic Press.
- Luchetti M, Lee JH, Aschwanden D, Sesker AA, Strickhouser JE, Terracciano A, Sutin AR (2020). The trajectory of loneliness in response to COVID-19. American Psychologist, 75, 897-908.
- Sutin AR, Stephan Y, Luchetti M, & Terracciano A (2020). Loneliness and risk of dementia. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 75, 1414-1422.
- Stephan Y, Sutin AR, Luchetti M, Canada B, & Terracciano A (2020). Personality and HbA1c: Findings from six samples. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 120, 104782.
- Terracciano A, Artese A, Yeh J, Edgerton L, Granville L, Aschwanden D, Luchetti M, Glueckauf RL, Stephan Y, Sutin AR, Katz P. (2020). Effectiveness of powerful tools for caregivers on caregiver burden and on care recipient behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia: a randomized controlled trial. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 21, 1121-1127.
- Luchetti M, Terracciano A, Aschwanden D, Lee JH, Stephan Y, & Sutin AR. (2020). Loneliness is associated with risk of cognitive impairment in the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 35, 794-801.
- Sutin AR, Gamaldo AA, Stephan Y, Strickhouser JE, & Terracciano A (2020). Personality traits and subjective and objective experience of sleep. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 27, 481-485.
Additional Information
Dr. Antonio Terracciano is a Professor in the Department of Geriatrics at Florida State University College of Medicine. With funding from the National Institute on Aging, his research examines the interplay of psychological, cultural, and genetic factors in shaping physical and mental health across the lifespan. His work focuses on how personality evolves with age, varies across cultures, and contributes to longevity and resilience against neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease. Dr. Terracciano also investigates how psychosocial factors like personality, loneliness, purpose, well-being, and subjective age are related to cellular, metabolic, immune, and neurodegeneration biomarkers. Additionally, his research examines the cognitive, behavioral, and personality changes that occur during the progression of dementia, starting from its preclinical stages.
Guest Researcher – National Institute on Aging, NIH
Affiliate – Pepper Institute on Aging and Public Policy
Associate – Institute for Successful Longevity
Doctoral degree from the Seconda Università degli Studi di Napoli and Università degli Studi di Cagliari
Fellow, Association for Psychological Science
Fellow, Society for Personality and Social Psychology
Fellow, The Gerontological Society of America
Editorial Board Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences
Editorial Board Journal of Research in Personality
Editorial Board Psychology and Aging
Associate Editor Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology
Fulbright Scholar (2020-2021, Finland)
Fellowships from Milano Ricerche
Fellowships from Foundation Adriano Buzzati-Traverso
Fellowships from Telethon Italy
National Institute on Aging “On the Spot”, “Staff Recognition”, “Special Act”, and “Employee of the month” Awards
Who’s Who in America
Giuseppe Pilia Foundation Award
Tallahassee Senior Services Advisory Council
Aging, personality traits, health, dementia, obesity, genetics, cross-cultural studies
Selected recently published work
- Deason KG, Luchetti M, Karakose S, Stephan Y, O'Súilleabháin PS, Hajek A, Sutin AR, & Terracciano A (2025). Neuroticism, loneliness, all-cause and cause-specific mortality: A 17-year study of nearly 500,000 individuals. Journal of Affective Disorders, 368, 274-28.
- Terracciano A, Luchetti M, Karakose S, Stephan Y, & Sutin AR (in press). Personality traits and measures of neuropsychiatric symptoms. Aging and Mental Health.
- Luchetti M, Aschwanden D, Sesker AA, Zhu X, O’Súilleabháin PS, Stephan Y, Terracciano A, & Sutin AR (in press). A meta-analysis of loneliness and risk of dementia using longitudinal data from >600,000 individuals. Nature Mental Health.
- Stephan Y, Sutin AR, Luchetti M, Aschwanden D, Karakose S, & Terracciano A (2024). Balance, strength, and risk of dementia: Findings from the Health and Retirement Study and the English Longitudinal Study on Ageing. Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, 79, glae165.
- Terracciano A, Luchetti M, Karakose S, Stephan Y, & Sutin AR (2023). Loneliness and risk of Parkinson’s disease. JAMA Neurology, 80, 1138-1144.
- Terracciano A, Luchetti M, Stephan Y, Löckenhoff CE, Ledermann T, & Sutin AR (2023). Changes in personality before and during cognitive impairment. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 24, 1465-1470.
- Stephan Y, Sutin AR, Luchetti M, Aschwanden D, & Terracciano A (2023). Personality and risk of incident stroke in 6 prospective Studies. Stroke, 54, 2069-2076.
- Terracciano A, Cenatus B, Zhu X, Karakose S, Stephan Y, Marcolini S, De Deyn PP, Luchetti M, Sutin AR (2023). Neuroticism and white matter hyperintensities. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 165, 174-179.
- Sutin AR, Luchetti M, Aschwanden D, Zhu X, Stephan Y, & Terracciano A (2023). Loneliness and risk of all-cause, Alzheimer’s, vascular, and frontotemporal dementia: A prospective study of 492,322 individuals over 15 years. Intergenerational Psychogeriatrics, 35, 283-292.
- Sutin AR, Brown J, Luchetti M, Aschwanden D, Stephan Y, & Terracciano A (2023). Five-factor model personality traits and the trajectory of episodic memory: Individual-participant meta-analysis of 471,821 memory assessments from 120,640 participants. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 78, 421-433.
- Terracciano A, Walker K, An Y, Luchetti M, Stephan Y, Moghekar AR, Sutin AR, Ferrucci L, Resnick SM (2023). The association between personality and plasma biomarkers of astrogliosis and neuronal injury. Neurobiology of Aging, 128, 65-73.
- Stephan Y, Sutin AR, Luchetti M, Aschwanden D, Cabibel V, Terracciano A (2023). Measures of physical performance as mediators between personality and cognition in two prospective studies. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 107, 104902.
- Sutin AR, Luchetti M, Aschwanden D, Stephan Y, Sesker AA, & Terracciano A (2023). Sense of meaning and purpose in life and risk of incident dementia: New data and meta-analysis. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 105, 104847.
- Kekäläinen T, Terracciano A, Tirkkonen A, Savikangas T, Hänninen T, Stigsdotter Neely A, Sipilä S, & Kokko K (2023). Does personality moderate the efficacy of physical and cognitive training interventions? A 12-month randomized controlled trial in older adults. Personality and Individual Differences, 202, 11957.
- Terracciano A, Piras MR, Sutin AR, Delitala A, Curreli NC, Balaci L, Marongiu M, Zhu X, Aschwanden D, Luchetti M, Oppong R, Schlessinger D, Cucca F, Launer LJ, & Fiorillo E (2022). Facets of personality and risk of cognitive impairment: Longitudinal findings in a rural community from Sardinia. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 88, 1651-1661.
- Aschwanden D, Sutin AR, Luchetti M, O’Súilleabháin PS, Stephan Y, Sesker AA, Lee, JH, & Terracciano A (2022). The bite is worse than the bark: Associations of personality with memory discrepancy. Psychology & Aging, 37, 575-590.
- Terracciano A, Bilgel M, Aschwanden D, Luchetti M, Stephan Y, Moghekar AR, Wong DF, Ferrucci L, Sutin AR, Resnick SM (2022). Personality associations with amyloid and tau: Results from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging and meta-analysis. Biological Psychiatry, 91, 359-369.
- Sutin AR, Luchetti M, & Terracciano A (2021). Sense of purpose in life and healthier cognitive aging. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 25, 917-919.
- Terracciano A, Aschwanden D, Stephan Y, Cerasa A, Passamonti L, Toschi N, Sutin AR (2021). Neuroticism and risk of Parkinson's Disease: A meta-analysis. Movement Disorders, 36, 1863-1870.
- Luchetti M, Terracciano A, Yannick S, Aschwanden D, & Sutin AR (2021). Personality traits and memory: A multilevel analysis across 27 countries from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. Psychological Science, 32, 1047-1057.
- Terracciano A, Aschwanden D, Passamonti L, Toschi N, Stephan Y, Luchetti M, Lee JH, Sesker AA, O'Súilleabháin PS, & Sutin AR (2021). Is neuroticism differentially associated with risk of Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, and frontotemporal dementia? Journal of Psychiatric Research, 138, 34-40.
- Aschwanden D, Strickhouser JE, Luchetti M, Stephan Y, Sutin AR, & Terracciano A (2021). Is personality associated with dementia risk? A meta-analytic investigation. Ageing Research Reviews, 67: 101269.
- O'Súilleabháin PS, Turiano NA, Gerstorf D, Luchetti M, Gallagher S, Sesker AA, Terracciano A, & Sutin AR (2021). Personality pathways to mortality: Interleukin-6 links conscientiousness to mortality risk. Brain Behavior and Immunity, 93, 238-244.
- Stephan Y, Sutin AR, Luchetti M, & Terracciano A. (2021). Personality and headaches: Findings from six prospective studies. Psychosomatic Medicine, 83, 118-124.
- McCrae RR, De Bolle M, Löckenhoff CE, & Terracciano A (2021). Lifespan trait development: Toward an adequate theory of personality. In The Handbook of Personality Dynamics and Processes (pp. 621-641). Academic Press.
- Luchetti M, Lee JH, Aschwanden D, Sesker AA, Strickhouser JE, Terracciano A, Sutin AR (2020). The trajectory of loneliness in response to COVID-19. American Psychologist, 75, 897-908.
- Sutin AR, Stephan Y, Luchetti M, & Terracciano A (2020). Loneliness and risk of dementia. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 75, 1414-1422.
- Stephan Y, Sutin AR, Luchetti M, Canada B, & Terracciano A (2020). Personality and HbA1c: Findings from six samples. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 120, 104782.
- Terracciano A, Artese A, Yeh J, Edgerton L, Granville L, Aschwanden D, Luchetti M, Glueckauf RL, Stephan Y, Sutin AR, Katz P. (2020). Effectiveness of powerful tools for caregivers on caregiver burden and on care recipient behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia: a randomized controlled trial. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 21, 1121-1127.
- Luchetti M, Terracciano A, Aschwanden D, Lee JH, Stephan Y, & Sutin AR. (2020). Loneliness is associated with risk of cognitive impairment in the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 35, 794-801.
- Sutin AR, Gamaldo AA, Stephan Y, Strickhouser JE, & Terracciano A (2020). Personality traits and subjective and objective experience of sleep. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 27, 481-485.