Personality Traits and Body Weight Measures: Concurrent and Across–Time Associations

Abstract

We tested the possibility that the five-factor model of personality is associated with three measures of body weight and with changes in their levels over time and that these associations are gender specific. The study was conducted at two points of time, Time 1 (2664 participants) and Time 2 (1492 participants), over approximately 4 years, controlling for gender, age, education, and having a chronic disease. Body weight was assessed by body mass index, waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, and the five-factor model by Saucier's Mini-Markers. Cross-sectional regression results indicated that conscientiousness was negatively associated with the three body weight measures, whereas neuroticism and extraversion were positively associated with the three body weight measures. The longitudinal regression results indicate that extraversion was associated with an increase in two of the body weight measures. Neuroticism was associated with increase in all three body weight measures and more strongly for women than for men. Openness was associated with a decrease in all three body weight measures for women, but this association was not significant for men. These findings help identify personality traits that lead to risk of weight gain and point to the modifying role of gender.

The influence of hot and cool executive function on the development of eating styles related to overweight in children

“…Furthermore, it shows that not only inhibitory control (e.g., Jasinska et al, 2012) but also a broad range of hot and cool EF abilities, seems to affect changes in children's eating behavior over a 1-year period. The findings were stronger for girls than for boys, results which resemble those of other studies on covariates of body weight (e.g., Armon et al, 2013;Brummett et al, 2006;Mond et al, 2007). Additionally, the present findings come from a large population-based sample of elementary-school-aged children and thus extend results of EF deficits in clinical populations of overweight and obese children (e.g., Smith et al, 2011) to a non-clinical population.…”

“…Our findings also agree with reported gender differences for covariates of body weight. For example, a higher BMI is associated with lower levels of attention-focus, conscientiousness, and openness in females but not in males (e.g., Armon et al, 2013;Brummett et al, 2006;Mond et al, 2007). However, in the present study, the moderation by gender was significant only for the effect of affective decisionmaking on food responsiveness and the effect of delay of gratification on emotional overeating.…”

“…Furthermore, because gender effects are common for correlates between body weight and eating behavior (e.g., Armon, Melamed, Shirom, Shapira, & Berliner, 2013;Brummett et al, 2006), we also tested possible moderations by gender. According to our cross-sectional results (Groppe & Elsner, 2014), we expected to find associations between EF and eating behavior mainly in girls.…”

Personality and Body Weight

“…There is some evidence that a greater tendency to experience negative emotions and stress is associated with higher BMI and risk of obesity (Armon, Melamed, Shirom, Shapira, & Berliner, 2013; Sutin, Ferrucci, Zonderman, & Terracciano, 2011). Not all studies, however, find this relation (Chapman et al, 2009; Mõttus et al, 2013).…”

A Critical Analysis of the Assumptions of Type D Personality: Comparing Prediction of Health-Related Variables with the Five Factor Model

“…There is substantial evidence that Big Five personality traits such as neuroticism and extraversion can predict behavioral risk factors for chronic illness such as excess weight (Armon, Melamed, Shirom, Shapira, & Berliner, 2013), tobacco smoking (Cheng & Furnham, 2016), and alcohol and drug abuse (Lackner, Unterrainer, & Neubauer, 2013). Likewise, conscientiousness is a strong predictor of healthy behaviors such as commitment to a healthy lifestyle (Lodi-Smith et al, 2010) abstaining from alcohol consumption (Roberts, Walton, & Bogg, 2005), and adhering to long-term health goals (Booth-Kewley & Vickers, 1994).…”