Personality-obesity associations are driven by narrow traits: A meta-analysis

Risk Factors for Overweight and Obesity in Later School-Aged Children: Focus on Lifestyle Behaviours and Psychosocial Characteristics

The study analysed the 12th wave (2019) of data from the Panel Study on Korean Children conducted by the Korea Institute of Child Care and Education. A total of 1174 children were selected as the subjects of the study. The results concerning the identifying factors influencing overweight and obesity in later school-aged children revealed that when compared to boys, girls were 1.66 times more likely to be overweight or obese. Moreover, for every one-hour increase in media usage time, the likelihood of being overweight or obese increased by 1.23 times, and for every one-point increase in body dissatisfaction, the probability of being overweight or obese increased by 2.07 times. However, among personality traits, neuroticism was associated with a 0.96 times lower likelihood of being overweight or obese. These findings underscore the significance of considering not only lifestyle factors but also psychosocial characteristics such as body dissatisfaction and neuroticism as predictive factors for overweight and obesity in later school-aged children, providing a basis for intervention.

Personality nuances and risk of dementia: Evidence from two longitudinal studies

Personality traits are broad constructs composed of nuances, operationalized by personality items, that can provide a more granular understanding of personality associations with health outcomes. This study examined the associations between personality nuances and incident dementia and evaluated whether nuances associations replicate across two samples. Health and Retirement Study (HRS, N = 11,400) participants were assessed in 2006/2008, and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA, N = 7453) participants were assessed in 2010/2011 on personality and covariates. Dementia incidence was tracked for 14 years in the HRS and 8 years in ELSA. In both HRS and ELSA, higher neuroticism domain and nuances (particularly nervous and worry) were related to a higher risk of incident dementia, whereas higher conscientiousness domain and nuances (particularly responsibility and organization) were associated with a lower risk of dementia. To a lesser extent, higher extraversion (active), openness (broad-minded, curious, and imaginative), and agreeableness (helpful, warm, caring, and sympathetic) nuances were associated with a lower risk of dementia, with replicable effects across the two samples. A poly-nuance score, aggregating the effects of personality items, was associated with an increased risk of incident dementia in the HRS and ELSA, with effect sizes slightly stronger than those of the personality domains. Clinical, behavioral, psychological, and genetic covariates partially accounted for these associations. The present study provides novel and replicable evidence for specific personality characteristics associated with the risk of incident dementia.

Why Should Diabetic Women Be Active?-The Role of Personality, Self-Esteem, Body-Esteem, and Imagery

Diabetes is one of the fastest spreading diseases in the 21st century. The aim of the study is twofold: (1) to find differences in personality traits, self-esteem, body-esteem, and imagery between healthy women and women with diabetes; (2) to verify whether there are differences in the analyzed factors among women with diabetes who engage in sports compared to those who do not. We used 3 questionnaires: Imagination in Sport-short form, Self-Esteem Scale (SES), and BFIS Personality, which were tested online. We found that women with diabetes were characterized by significantly higher neuroticism, lower extraversion, and higher conscientiousness (marginally significant). We also found that women with diabetes who practice sport rated their bodies more highly in terms of sexual attractiveness and made better use of imagined affirmations than women without diabetes who were not active. Our study provides new insights into diabetics in terms of women navigating the disease.

Self- and informant-reported personality traits and vaccination against COVID-19

As COVID-19 vaccines' accessibility has grown, so has the role of personal choice in vaccination, and not everybody is willing to vaccinate. Exploring personality traits' associations with vaccination could highlight some person-level drivers of, and barriers to, vaccination. We used self- and informant-ratings of the Five-Factor Model domains and their subtraits (a) measured approximately at the time of vaccination with the 100 Nuances of Personality (100NP) item pool (N = 56,575) and (b) measured on average ten years before the pandemic with the NEO Personality Inventory-3 (NEO-PI-3; N = 3,168). We tested individual domains' and either items' (in the 100NP sample) or facets' (in the NEO-PI-3 sample) associations with vaccination, as well as their collective ability to predict vaccination using elastic net models trained and tested in independent sample partitions. Although the NEO-PI-3 domains and facets did not predict vaccination ten years later, the domains correlated with vaccination in the 100NP sample, with vaccinated people scoring slightly higher on neuroticism and agreeableness and lower on openness, controlling for age, sex, and education. Collectively, the five domains predicted vaccination with an accuracy of r = .08. Associations were stronger at the item level. Vaccinated people were, on average, more science-minded, politically liberal, respectful of rules and authority, and anxious but less spiritual, religious, and self-assured. The 100NP items collectively predicted vaccination with r = .31 accuracy. We conclude that unvaccinated people may be a psychologically heterogeneous group and highlight some potential areas for action in vaccination campaigns.

A bottom-up approach dramatically increases the predictability of body mass from personality traits

Personality traits consistently relate to and allow predicting body mass index (BMI), but these associations may not be adequately captured with existing inventories' domains or facets. Here, we aimed to test the limits of how accurately BMI can be predicted from and described with personality traits. We used three large datasets (combined N ≈ 100,000) with nearly 700 personality assessment items to (a) empirically identify clusters of personality traits linked to BMI and (b) identify relatively small sets of items that predict BMI as accurately as possible. Factor analysis revealed 14 trait clusters showing well-established personality trait-BMI associations (disorganization, anger) and lesser-known or novel ones (altruism, obedience). Most of items' predictive accuracy (up to r = .24 here but plausibly much higher) was captured by relatively few items. Brief scales that predict BMI have potential clinical applications-for instance, screening for risk of excessive weight gain or related complications.

Body mass predicts personality development across 18 years in middle to older adulthood

OBJECTIVE

Various personality traits have longitudinal relations with body mass index (BMI), a measure of body weight and a risk factor for numerous health concerns. We tested these associations' compatibility with causality in either direction.

METHOD

Using three waves of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (N = 12,235, Mage  = 53.33 at baseline), we tested how accurately the Five-Factor Model personality domains and their items could collectively predict BMI and change in it with elastic net models. With multilevel models, we tested (a) bidirectional and (b) within-person associations between BMI and personality traits.

RESULTS

The five domains were able to predict concurrent (r = 0.08), but not future BMI. Twenty-nine personality items predicted concurrent and future BMI at r = 0.21 and r = 0.16 to 0.25, respectively. Neither the domains nor items could collectively predict change in BMI. Similarly, no individual trait predicted change in BMI, but BMI predicted changes in Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, and several items (|b*| = 0.03 to 0.08). BMI had within-person correlations with these same traits; time-invariant third factors like genetics or childhood environments therefore could not (fully) account for their relations.

CONCLUSIONS

Body weight may contribute to adults' personality development, but the reverse appears less likely.

Neuroticism facets and mortality risk in adulthood: A systematic review and narrative synthesis

OBJECTIVE

This systematic review sought to summarize comprehensively the research investigating the association between facets of neuroticism and mortality risk.

METHODS

A systematic review of prospective cohort studies utilizing rigorous reporting methods was conducted. Six electronic bibliographic databases, MEDLINE [Ovid], Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Web of Science, and SCOPUS, were searched for eligible studies using keywords encompassing personality traits and mortality. Articles from inception to January 2023 were reviewed. The risk of bias was also assessed.

RESULTS

Six of the 2358 identified studies met the inclusion criteria for extraction. Included studies had 335,715 participants, of whom 3.23% died. Participants ages at baseline ranged from 20 to 102, and 54% were female. Five of the six studies reported statistically significant associations between facets of neuroticism and mortality risk. Several underlying facets were reported to be associated with an increased mortality risk, namely vulnerability, cynicism, pessimistic, anxious, and depressive facets. Inadequacy, and worried-vulnerable were reported as protective. One study reported protective effects for impulsiveness, but this was not observed in a further follow-up study.

CONCLUSIONS

Various facets related to neuroticism are associated with an increased or decreased mortality risk. Encompassing all facets in a broad trait likely masks very important personality-health relations, which later impact longevity. Based on these findings, recommendations and future considerations are discussed.

HEXACO personality factors as predictors of physical activity, resting heart rate, body mass index, and healthy lifestyle behaviors

BACKGROUND

Personality traits are known factors that may influence levels of physical activity and other healthy lifestyle measures and behaviors that ultimately lead to health problems later in life.

Participants And Procedure

The aim of this study was to examine the association between personality traits (HEXACO) and levels of physical activity and resting heart rate (RHR) - measured using Fitbits, BMI, and a self-reported whole-person healthy lifestyle score for N = 2580 college students. Data were collected and analyzed for students enrolled in a University Success type course from August 2017 to May 2021. The relationships between HEXACO personality traits and various physical activity and healthy lifestyle behaviors were analyzed by building several multiple regression models using R version 4.0.2.

Results

In general, students who are extraverted were more physically active and students who are more open to experience had a higher RHR, even when controlling for gender. Females and males however had different profiles as to how personality influenced physical activity and other health-related measures. Male extraverts with high negative emotionality scores tend to be more physically active, whereas females tend to be more physically active when they were high in extroversion and conscientiousness, and low in openness to experience. BMI values were higher for female participants with high honesty-humility and low agreeableness and conscientiousness scores. Females also had a lower RHR for high honesty-humility and emotionality and low conscientiousness scores.

CONCLUSIONS

Personality can influence levels of physical activity, RHR, and BMI. This is especially true of women. Being aware of one's personality and the relationship of personality traits to levels of physical activity and other measures of leading a healthy lifestyle can be beneficial in determining strategies to improve long-term health outcomes.

Investigating general and specific psychopathology factors with nuance-level personality traits

Mental health disorders share substantial variance, prompting researchers to develop structural models that can capture both generalised psychopathology risk and disorder/symptom-specific variation. This study investigated the associations of the general and specific psychopathology factors with multiple personality trait hierarchy levels: broad domains, their facets and nuances (N = 1839 Estonian adults). A bi-factor model with a general 'p' factor and specific factors for internalising problems, thought disorders and substance use best represented psychopathology structure. Although traits' predictive accuracy varied across psychopathology factors, nuances (the lowest level personality units) provided higher predictive accuracy and higher discriminant validity than domains. For example, traits related to high vulnerability, depression and immoderation and low friendliness and achievement striving were most strongly associated with the p factor. Nuances may prove useful for predicting and understanding general and specific psychopathology forms.

The Modified Yale Food Addiction Scale May Be Simplified and Diagnostically Improved: The Same Prevalence but Different Severity and Risk Factors of Food Addiction among Female and Male Students

The Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS) is the most commonly used scale for measuring food addiction (FA). The previous approach to the YFAS and its subsequent versions assumed dichotomization of items, separating addiction symptoms and clinical significance items, and factorial validity testing on a subset of items. In this paper, we discuss the drawbacks associated with these procedures. In addition, we present a different analytical approach to investigate the validity of the modified YFAS (mYFAS) along with an alternative scoring method that overcomes limitations related to the previous approach. After establishing the structure of the mYFAS, we investigated the potential antecedents and consequences of FA separately for men and women. The sample consisted of 1182 Polish undergraduate students (613 women, 559 men, 10 missing values on gender) with a mean age of 20.33 years (SD = 1.68; range: 18–36). They were asked to complete self-report questionnaires measuring FA, personality traits (Big Five), self-esteem, narcissism, self-efficacy, social anxiety, loneliness, and well-being indicators. Due to the low content, factorial, and clinical validity, the first three items were excluded from the Polish version of the mYFAS. The six-item mYFAS demonstrated measurement invariance, allowing for meaningful comparisons between genders and yielded almost identical prevalence rates for men and women. The hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that, narcissism, and social anxiety predicted FA in both genders, whereas important gender differences in antecedents were also noted. In addition, FA was associated with body mass index (BMI) and most of the well-being indicators, even after controlling for relevant variables. The findings suggest that our modified analytical approach allows researchers to measure FA using a valid, useful, and simple tool.

The Role of Personality in the Mental and Physical Health of World Trade Center Responders: Self- versus Informant-Reports

Personality is linked to important health outcomes, but most prior studies have relied on self-reports, making it possible that shared-method variance explains the associations. The present study examined self- versus informant-reports of personality and multi-method outcomes. World Trade Center (WTC) responders and informants, 283 pairs, completed five-factor model personality measures and multi-method assessments of stressful events, functioning, mental disorders, 9/11-related treatment costs, BMI, and daily activity across three years. Self-reports were uniquely related to stressful events and functioning. Both self-reports and informant-reports showed incremental validity over one another for mental disorder diagnoses and treatment costs. For objective outcomes daily activity and BMI, informant-reports showed incremental validity over self-reports, accounting for all self-report variance and more. The findings suggest that informant-reports of personality provide better validity for objective health outcomes, which has implications for understanding personality and its role in mental and physical health.

Big Five personality traits and COVID-19 precautionary behaviors among older adults in Europe

OBJECTIVES

Taking precautions against COVID-19 is important among older adults who have a greater risk for severe illness if infected. We examined whether Big Five personality traits are associated with COVID-19 precautionary behaviors among older adults in Europe.

METHOD

We used data from the Survey of Health, Aging, and Retirement in Europe (N = 34 629). Personality was self-reported in 2017 using the BFI-10 inventory. COVID-19 precautionary behaviors - wearing a mask, limiting in-person contacts, keeping a distance to others, washing hands, and using a disinfectant - were assessed in the summer of 2020 through self-reports. Associations between personality and precautionary behaviors were examined with multilevel random-intercept logistic regression models. The models were adjusted for age, gender, and educational attainment.

RESULTS

Personality traits were differentially associated with precautionary behaviors, with higher openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism showing the most consistent associations. The pattern of associations between personality traits and precautionary behaviors varied depending on the specific behavior. The associations were relatively weak in comparison to those between sociodemographic factors and precautionary behaviors.

CONCLUSIONS

Among older adults, taking COVID-19 precautionary behaviors was most consistently related to higher openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism, suggesting that precautionary behaviors may be motivated by multiple psychological differences.

Brain Responses to High-Calorie Visual Food Cues in Individuals with Normal-Weight or Obesity: An Activation Likelihood Estimation Meta-Analysis

Overconsumption of high-calorie or unhealthy foods commonly leads to weight gain. Understanding people’s neural responses to high-calorie food cues might help to develop better interventions for preventing or reducing overeating and weight gain. In this review, we conducted a coordinate-based meta-analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies of viewing high-calorie food cues in both normal-weight people and people with obesity. Electronic databases were searched for relevant articles, retrieving 59 eligible studies containing 2410 unique participants. The results of an activation likelihood estimation indicate large clusters in a range of structures, including the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), amygdala, insula/frontal operculum, culmen, as well as the middle occipital gyrus, lingual gyrus, and fusiform gyrus. Conjunction analysis suggested that both normal-weight people and people with obesity activated OFC, supporting that the two groups share common neural substrates of reward processing when viewing high-calorie food cues. The contrast analyses did not show significant activations when comparing obesity with normal-weight. Together, these results provide new important evidence for the neural mechanism underlying high-calorie food cues processing, and new insights into common and distinct brain activations of viewing high-calorie food cues between people with obesity and normal-weight people.

Two genetic analyses to elucidate causality between body mass index and personality

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES

Many personality traits correlate with BMI, but the existence and direction of causal links between them are unclear. If personality influences BMI, knowing this causal direction could inform weight management strategies. Knowing that BMI instead influences personality would contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms of personality development and the possible psychological effects of weight change. We tested the existence and direction of causal links between BMI and personality.

SUBJECTS/METHODS

We employed two genetically informed methods. In Mendelian randomization, allele scores were calculated to summarize genetic propensity for the personality traits neuroticism, worry, and depressive affect and used to predict BMI in an independent sample (N = 3 541). Similarly, an allele score for BMI was used to predict eating-specific and domain-general phenotypic personality scores (PPSs; aggregate scores of personality traits weighted by BMI). In a direction of causation (DoC) analysis, twin data from five countries (N = 5424) were used to assess the fit of four alternative models: PPSs influencing BMI, BMI influencing PPSs, reciprocal causation, and no causation.

RESULTS

In Mendelian randomization, the allele score for BMI predicted domain-general (β = 0.05; 95% CI: 0.02, 0.08; P = 0.003) and eating-specific PPS (β = 0.06; 95% CI: 0.03, 0.09; P < 0.001). The allele score for worry also predicted BMI (β = -0.05; 95% CI: -0.08, -0.02; P < 0.001), while those for neuroticism and depressive affect did not (P ≥ 0.459). In DoC, BMI similarly predicted domain-general (β = 0.21; 95% CI:, 0.18, 0.24; P < 0.001) and eating-specific personality traits (β = 0.19; 95% CI:, 0.16, 0.22; P < 0.001), suggesting causality from BMI to personality traits. In exploratory analyses, links between BMI and domain-general personality traits appeared reciprocal for higher-weight individuals (BMI > ~25).

CONCLUSIONS

Although both genetic analyses suggested an influence of BMI on personality traits, it is not yet known if weight management interventions could influence personality. Personality traits may influence BMI in turn, but effects in this direction appeared weaker.

Vital personality scores and healthy aging: Life-course associations and familial transmission

OBJECTIVES

Personality traits are linked with healthy aging, but it is not clear how these associations come to manifest across the life-course and across generations. To study this question, we tested a series of hypotheses about (a) personality-trait prediction of markers of healthy aging across the life-course, (b) developmental origins, stability and change of links between personality and healthy aging across time, and (c) intergenerational transmission of links between personality and healthy aging. For our analyses we used a measure that aggregates the contributions of Big 5 personality traits to healthy aging: a "vital personality" score.

METHODS

Data came from two population-based longitudinal cohort studies, one based in New Zealand and the other in the UK, comprising over 6000 study members across two generations, and spanning an age range from birth to late life.

RESULTS

Our analyses revealed three main findings: first, individuals with higher vital personality scores engaged in fewer health-risk behaviors, aged slower, and lived longer. Second, individuals' vital personality scores were preceded by differences in early-life temperament and were relatively stable across adulthood, but also increased from young adulthood to midlife. Third, individuals with higher vital personality scores had children with similarly vital partners, promoted healthier behaviors in their children, and had children who grew up to have more vital personality scores themselves, for genetic and environmental reasons.

CONCLUSION

Our study shows how the health benefits associated with personality accrue throughout the life-course and across generations.

The finer details? The predictability of life outcomes from Big Five domains, facets, and nuances

Associations between personality traits and life outcomes are usually studied using the Big Five domains and, occasionally, their facets. But recent research suggests these associations may be driven by the items (reflecting personality nuances) chosen to measure these traits. Using a large dataset (N = 6126), we examined associations with 53 self-reported outcomes using domains, facets and items (markers for nuances), training and validating models in different sample partitions. Facets better predicted outcomes than domains (on average, 18.0% versus 16.6% of variance explained), but items provided the most accurate predictions (on average 20.9%). Removing domain and facet variance from items had no effect on their predictive validity, suggesting that outcome-related information was often in items' unique variances (i.e., nuance-specific). Item-based prediction also showed the highest discriminant validity. These observations, replicating previous findings, suggest that personality traits' valid associations with outcomes are often driven by narrow personality nuances.

Personality Features in Obesity

Obesity is a widespread and broadly consequential health condition associated with numerous medical complications that could increase mortality rates. As personality concerned individual's patterns of feeling, behavior, and thinking, it may help in understanding how people with obesity differ from people with normal-weight status in their typical weight-relevant behavior. So far, studies about personality and BMI associations have mainly focused on broad personality traits. The main purpose of this study was to explore the personality and health associations among a clinical group composed of 46 outpatients with overweight/obesity (mean age = 55.83; SD = 12.84) in comparison to a healthy control group that included 46 subjects (mean age = 54.96; SD = 12.60). Both the clinical and control groups were composed of 14 males and 32 females. Several personality and psychopathological aspects were assessed with the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI). The results of the analysis of variance of aligned rank transformed (ART) showed that patients with overweight/obesity reported higher scores for Somatic Complaints, Depression, and Borderline Features than the control group. Logistic regression highlighted specifically that the subscales of the Borderline Features assessing the Negative Relationship contributed to the increased risk of belonging to the clinical group. For the purpose of this study, the role of gender was considered. The present findings highlight the importance of focusing on assessing personality functioning in the health context and on specific characteristics of interpersonal relationships to promote more tailored treatments.

Big Five facets' associations with pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors

Climate change mandates us to understand why individuals do (not) behave pro-environmentally and personality traits are well suited for this purpose. Past research has mostly focused on how broad domain-level personality traits were associated with pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors. In two datasets (N = 501 and 287), we examined whether personality facets provided a more detailed picture of how personality traits were associated with pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors. It was found that some facets were the main drivers of domain-level associations. Furthermore, it was found that facets, collectively, predicted pro-environmental attitudes (r = .50 to .52) and behaviors (r = .29 to .42) in holdout datasets. This predictive ability was on par with the predictive ability of domains. Therefore, facets provided a greater understanding of how personality traits were associated with pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors. Furthermore, facets provided a similar predictive ability of pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors to that of domains.

Change in weight and personality in middle-aged and older adults

Objective: Personality is associated with weight change and the development of obesity across adulthood. The present study examines whether significant weight change, including weight loss and weight gain, is related to personality change in a large longitudinal sample of middle-aged and older adults.Design: Participants were adults aged 50-92 years (N > 5000; 59% women, Mean age = 65.51, SD = 8.20) drawn from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Personality, demographic, health and staff assessed weight and height were obtained at baseline and 8 years later.Main Outcome Measures: Personality traits.Results: Both weight loss and weight gain greater than 10% of baseline weight were related to a steeper decline in extraversion, openness and conscientiousness. Weight loss was further associated with the maintenance of neuroticism and to a steeper decline in agreeableness. This overall pattern of personality change was also associated with both unhealthy and healthy weight change. The associations were not moderated by BMI and generally remained significant after accounting for disease burden.Conclusion: The present study provides new evidence that both weight loss and weight gain are related to change in personality.

Less Animal-Based Food, Better Weight Status: Associations of the Restriction of Animal-Based Product Intake with Body-Mass-Index, Depressive Symptoms and Personality in the General Population

Restricting animal-based products from diet may exert beneficial effects on weight status; however, less is known about such a diet and emotional health. Moreover, personality traits, for example high neuroticism, may contribute to restrictive eating habits and potentially confound diet-health associations. We aim to systematically assess if restrictive dietary intake of animal-based products relates to lower weight and higher depressive symptoms, and if differences in personality traits play a significant role. Cross-sectional data from the baseline LIFE-Adult study were collected from 2011–2014 in Leipzig, Germany (n = 8943). Main outcomes of interest were dietary frequency of animal-derived products in the last year measured using a Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ), body-mass-index (BMI) (kg/m²), and the Center of Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Personality traits were assessed in a subsample of n = 7906 using the Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI). Higher restriction of animal-based product intake was associated with a lower BMI, but not with depression scores. Personality, i.e., lower extraversion, was related to higher frequency of animal product intake. Moreover, personality traits were significantly associated with depressive symptoms, i.e., higher neuroticism, lower extraversion, lower agreeableness, lower conscientiousness, and with higher BMI. These findings encourage future longitudinal studies to test the efficacy of restricting animal-based products as a preventive and therapeutic strategy for overweight and obesity.