Personality traits predict dietary habits in middle-to-older adults

ABSTRACT

Personality traits are consistently associated with health behaviors, but little research has examined the role of personality on eating habits among middle-to-older adults. The current study (n = 665) examined the associations between traits and dietary habits and whether healthy eating predicted health at age 60, with the Hawaii Personality and Health Cohort. Eating healthy foods was associated with higher agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness, and predicted better self-rated health and lower BMI. Eating unhealthy foods was associated with lower agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness, and predicted lower self-rated health. Results were not moderated by SES.

KEYWORDS:

• Personality
• diet
• BMI
• health
• adulthood
• socioeconomic status

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Notes

1. The only item that did not load substantially on either factor was poi. Future research may need larger, or targeted samples to better understand the role of personality on culturally important, though potentially less widely consumed foods, such as poi. For frequency of responses to all items, see Supplemental Table 1.

Additional information

Funding

Preparation of the manuscript and data collection was supported by Grant R01AG020048 from the United States Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging.