Personality and change in physical activity across 3–10 years

Abstract

Objective

To examine the association between personality traits, defined by the Five-Factor Model, and the initiation and termination of physical activity across adulthood.

Design

Longitudinal analysis of participants from nine samples (N > 28,000).

Main Outcome Measures

Physical activity status at follow-up.

Results

A random-effect meta-analysis revealed that higher conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness were related to a higher likelihood of initiation of physical activity over time among individuals who were physically inactive at baseline and to a lower risk of termination of physical activity among those who were physically active at baseline. In contrast, higher neuroticism was associated with a lower probability of initiation of physical activity and a higher likelihood of termination over time. Although not hypothesised, agreeableness was also associated with better physical activity outcomes over time.

Conclusion

This study provides the largest and the longest evidence of a replicable association between personality and change in physical activity status. Personality may motivate both the initiation and termination of physical activity.

Keywords:

• physical activity change
• personality
• five-factor model
• meta-analysis
• longitudinal study

Acknowledgements

WLSG and WLSS: This research uses data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS) of the University of Wisconsin- Madison. Since 1991, the WLS has been supported principally by the National Institute on Aging (AG-9775, AG-21079, AG-033285, and AG-041868), with additional support from the Vilas Estate Trust, the National Science Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, and the Graduate School of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Since 1992, data have been collected by the University of Wisconsin Sur- vey Center.

MIDUS: MIDUS is sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Successful Midlife Development (MIDUS I), the National Institute on Aging (P01-AG020166; MIDUS II), and grants from the General Clinical Research Centers Program (M01-RR023942, M01-RR00865) and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (UL1TR000427).

HRS: Study is sponsored by the National Institute on Aging (NIA- U01AG009740) and conducted by the University of Michigan.

MIDJA: The MIDJA study (Midlife in Japan) was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Aging (5R37AG027343).

ELSA: Funding for the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing is provided by the National Institute on Aging [Grants 2RO1AG7644-01A1 and 2RO1AG017644] and a consortium of UK government departments coordinated by the Office for National Statistics.

LISS: The LISS panel data were collected by CentERdata (Tilburg University, The Netherlands) through its MESS project funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research.

NHATS: The National Health and Aging Trends Study is sponsored by the National Institute on Aging (Grant number NIA U01AG032947) through a cooperative agreement with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The US National Study was supported by a planning grant from the Council on Research and Creativity at the Florida State University. BHPS: The support of both the Economic and Social Research Council and the University of Essex is gratefully acknowledged. The work reported in this article is part of the scientific program of the Institute for Social and Economic Research, incorporating the ESRC Research Centre on Microsocial Change and the UK Longitudinal Studies Centre (ULSC).

NSHAP: The National Health, Social Life and Aging Project is supported by the National Institutes of Health, including the National Institute on Aging, the Office of Women’s Health Research, the Office of AIDS Research, and the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research.

Authors’ contributions

Pauline Caille performed statistical analyses, contributed to the interpretation of data and to the writing of the manuscript. Yannick Stephan and Antonio Terracciano performed statistical analyses and contributed to the writing and revising of the manuscript. Nelly Héraud, Angelina Sutin, Martina Luchetti and Brice Canada contributed to the writing and revising of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflict of interest.

Funding

The project was financially supported by the French Agency for Research and Technology [ANRT, CIFRE 2018/0198]. The sponsor had no influence on the conduct of this study, the analysis of the data, or the writing of this report.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are publically available on websites mentioned below:

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