Young adults who do not cope well with stress or who have have a hostile attitude may have an increased risk of experiencing thinking and memory problems later in life, a new study has found.

US researchers assessed the personalities and attitudes of over 3,100 people with an average age of 25. The participants' cognitive abilities were then assessed when they were an average of 50 years old.

In order to assess hostility, the participants were asked about aggressive behaviour, negative feelings towards relationships and a lack of trust for others.

They were also asked how they coped with stress and were divided into four groups based on their answers.

The study found that those displaying the highest levels of hostility and poorest levels of coping performed significantly worse in memory and thinking tests at the age of 50, compared to those with the lowest levels of hostility and best coping skills.

The results stood even when other factors were taken into account, such as difficult life events and depression.

"We may not think of our personality traits as having any bearing on how well we think or remember things, but we found that the effect of having a hostile attitude and poor coping skills on thinking ability was similar to the effect of more than a decade of ageing," explained the study's author, Dr Lenore Launer, of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

She said that if this link is found in further studies, ‘it will be important to understand whether these personality traits are amenable to change that would lead to interventions that promote positive social interactions and coping skills, to see if they could play a role in reducing people's risk for memory and thinking problems in middle age'.

Details of these findings are published in the journal, Neurology.